Who were the Celts Were they a people,a civilisation,an empire,or a fiction of historical imagination They flit as ghosts through Europe's ancient past,purported ancestors of the Irish,Welsh,Scottish,Cornish and Bretons.
Yet they have never been identified with any one land,or with any one history or language. Simon Jenkins argues compellingly that the'Celts'is a misleading concept,bundling together quite distinct peoples. The word keltoi first appears in Greek,applied generally to aliens or'barbarians'- and theories of Celticism continue to fuel many of the prejudices and misconceptions that divide the British Isles to this day.
Fascinating and increasingly relevant,who the Celts were - or weren't - goes to the heart of the ongoing argument over the future of a dis-United Kingdom.
Publisher: Profile Books LtdISBN: 9781788168816Number of pages: 304Weight: 240 gDimensions: 196 x 126 x 20 mmEdition: Main
MEDIA REVIEWS
Praise for Simon Jenkins:
'A lucid and handsomely illustrated narrative'- TheTimes
'Where Jenkins excels is in his very journalistic approach... The historical events are joined up,and work as narrative'- Time Out
'Immediately accessible'- Prospect
'This is traditional,kings-and-things,great-men history with all its dates and famous quotations in place... Jenkins has a newspaper columnist's aphoristic verve'- Spectator
'Full of good writing and lively anecdotes... Food for thought'- New Statesman
'A characteristically bold,wry,fluent,combative gallop through English history'- Max Hastings
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