The Celts: A Sceptical History

The Celts are a misleading concept, combining distinct peoples with no one land or history. Simon Jenkins argues that this concept fuels prejudices and misconceptions that divide the British Isles.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 304 pages
Publication date: 30 March 2023
Publisher: Profile Books Ltd

A WATERSTONES BEST HISTORY BOOK OF 2022

Simon Jenkins, as ever, writes with clarity and insight. Times
One of the liveliest commentators in Britain, always worth reading and pleasingly contrarian. Jeremy Paxman, Guardian

Who were the Celts? Were they a people, a civilization, 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.

Weight: 254g
Dimension: 127 x 197 x 20 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781788168816
Edition number: Main