The Celts Author:Frank Delaney They have been called 'one of the great barbarian peoples of the world.' An impression of the Celts persists which portrays them as wild, excitable, warlike, ferocious, uncivilised--in their latter manifestations much given to drink, song and entertainment. In truth, despite their numerical smallness, they made a major and exciting contribution ... more »to western civilisation, as Frank Delaney shows in his new book, a companion to his BBC2 television series. The Celts is a personal quest in which Delaney discovers the truth about his forefathers.
Beginning in the plains of Hungary, through Austria, Switzerland, southern Germany and France into Scotland, Wales and the west of Ireland, he traces the origins, growth, flowering and eventual decline of a people whose very name conjures romance and adventure. In this first major popular book on the subject, Delaney brushes away the cliches and feyness of the Celts and describes a people once so significant and powerful that they sacked Rome, penetrated the sacred heart of Greece by pillaging Delphi and attracted the name 'the fathers of Europe.' With lavish colour and black and white illustrations, The Celts is far more than the book of the television series, extending beyond the six BBC 2 programmes. With the enthusiasm that hallmarks his two previous books, James Joyce's Odyssey and Betjeman Country, Frank Delaney once again informs as he entertains.« less