Book Review: Irish History and Mythology by History Brought Alive

I received a free copy of this book from Booksirens.com.

The annals of history are deep and convoluted and I think that’s what I love most about them. Too often though, history is written by the well-intentioned scribe who fail to see the biases that their own experiences or view of the world infiltrate their work like a silent disease.

Many who write about the Emerald Isle can be found amongst them.  I mean, what’s not to love about the rich and storied past of Ireland? If you want battles and epic tales, there you shall find them. If you seek magic and mythology, the rolling hills and megalithic sites will enchant you. If you want to encounter the Otherworld or catch a glimpse of the Good Neighbors, proceed at your own risk. But if you want an accurate and true historical account, you will need to invent a time machine and travel back more than a thousand years to pre-Christian Ireland and listen to the tales told by word of mouth, and even then, something is probably missing.

I was very excited to read this brief introduction to Irish history and mythology. I am always looking for solid accurate information about the land of my ancestors, but sadly such is hard to find. Normally, I enjoy and appreciate the meticulous way that History Brought Alive researches the information in their books and highly recommend their books to anyone who loves history or wants a quick dose to learn more about it.

Unfortunately, this one didn’t impress me as much as some of the others. You see, for centuries, maybe longer, the people of Ireland didn’t write much down, instead recounted their history, stories, and folklore orally and relied on their minds to keep a record of the past. When Christian monks arrived and began writing things down, you can be sure that some of the written history we can find today is laced with their personal beliefs and the ideologies of the time.

One example, which can be read in more detail in this book, is that some of the Celtic and Irish deities were made into Christian Saints. Some of the rituals became incorporated into the Christian doctrine to no doubt persuade the pagan population to convert to Christianity.

As such, some of the details over the centuries have become fuzzy. One particular thing this book fails to mention accurately or completely is the lore regarding The Morrigan. This book refers to Her as a triple goddess, made up of three other deities. While some believe this, many more believe that An Morrigan was a Goddess in her own right and that while several other Goddesses have been referred to as Na Morrigna, she has appeared in the Tain Bo Cuailnge and the Tain Bo Regamna as an individual (for more on this see anything by Lora O’Brien or Morgan Daimler).

Overall, the book does a decent job covering some of the political history of Ireland but it let me down on the mythology and folklore side of things. It’s for that reason that I give it only 3 stars.

I do still recommend you read it if you are interested in the Emerald Isle, just keep in mind that it is incomplete, and like most recorded history, only one version of the story.