This lively and original account of early Celtic Christianity - which was of far greater importance in the development of Western culture than we commonly realize - is told against the background of European history of the first seven centuries A.D. It focuses on the lives of Saints Brendan, Columba, and Columbanus, who lived active and effective lives in the cause of the early Church. Brendan, one of the founding fathers of Christianity in Ireland, was known in legend as a voyager and was thought to have reached the Western Hemisphere long before the Vikings. Columba took Celtic Christianity to Scotland and helped to re-establish it in Wales and in the North and West of England. Columbanus was the great Irish missionary to continental Europe, where he and his followers helped to convert the heathen invaders from the East. When Rome, in the person of St. Augustine, Pope Gregory's apostle to the Angles, penetrated again to England, a showdown between Roman and Celtic Christianity was inevitable. The dramatic confrontation occurred at the Council of Whitby in 664. Rome, with its organization and authority, won, and Celtic Catholicism went into eclipse. But some of its influence persisted all over Europe, and it had a large share in shaping the culture that ultimately emerged from the dark ages. This book's fascination is the picture that it gives of the movements of peoples, the shaping of new countries, and the development of ideas during those too-little-known centuries.

Describes and locates, in a series of area tours, the principal cities, historical sites, landmarks, natural formations, and other places of interest and importance in the two Irelands

Product Description: Brendan Lehane reveals in his witty and informative book that wild places still exist in rich abundance in Ireland. You can climb a mountain, bathe in a sea, watch thousands of birds co-existing on off-shore stacks, fish for salmon with a good chance of catching one, and hear the dusk calls of the corncrake at a river's reedy mouth all in a day...read more

Retells the stories of Christ's birth, Christmas trolls, ghosts, the Nutcracker, the Lord of Misrule, and Father Christmas describes special holidays associated with Christmas, and includes lyrics to traditional songs

Retells the stories of King Arthur, the quest for the Holy Grail, the knights of the Round Table, the warriors of Ireland, and the Scandinavian hero, Sigurd

A history of the expeditions in search of the Northwest Passage, which connects the North Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, vividly describes the explorers' experiences

Tells the stories of witches, enchanters, and sorcerers, and discusses legends and folklore concerning Merlin, Nostradamus, and magic

Graphs, charts, and color illustrations contribute to a detailed survey of the survival abilities of plants, their use as food, their uses to heal, kill, and alter consciousness, and their role in all religions