HOW THE IRISH SAVED CIVILIZATION by Thomas Cahill
In this entertaining and compelling narrative, Thomas Cahill tells the story of how Europe evolved from the classical age of Rome to the medieval era. Without Ireland, the transition could not have taken place. Not only did Irish monks and scribes maintain the very record of Western civilization -- copying manuscripts of Greek and Latin writers, both pagan and Christian, while libraries and learning on the continent were forever lost -- they brought their uniquely Irish world-view to the task.
As Cahill delightfully illustrates, so much of the liveliness we associate with medieval culture has its roots in Ireland. When the seeds of culture were replanted on the European continent, it was from Ireland that they were germinated.
ANGELA'S ASHES by Frank McCourt
Born in Depression-era Brooklyn to Irish immigrant parents, Frank McCourt was later raised in the slums of Limerick, Ireland. His mother, Angela, had no money to feed her children since Frank’s father, Malachy, rarely worked, and when he did, he drank his wages. Angela’s Ashes is the story of how Frank endured – wearing shoes repaired with tires, begging for a pig’s head for Christmas dinner, and searching the pubs for his father.
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