Part One (Continental Celts) deals with language, early bronze age Europe, Celtic migrations, Celts in Anatolia Italy and Iberia, trade routes, religion, the Roman conquest of Gaul and the kingdom of Brittany, among other topics. This section includes a diagram of the development of the Celtic language group.

Part Two discusses inter alia: prehistoric Celtic Britain and Ireland, the Roman conquest of Britain, the Picts and the Scots, King Arthur and the golden ages of Wales and Ireland.

Part Three investigates the Celtic Diaspora to places like Canada, the USA, Australia and South Africa, the Celtic languages today, the Celtic countries and the Celtic League which includes Ireland, Scotland, Wales, the Isle of Man, Cornwall and Brittany.

Of the surviving languages, Welsh has the greatest number of speakers, followed by Breton. Scottish Gaelic still survives in the Outer Hebrides and Irish is still spoken by small numbers in western parts of Eire. Manx and Cornish are "hobby" languages with less than 100 speakers each.

The book concludes with a list of further reading and an index. The text is enhanced with more than 200 illustrations of which 180 are in full colour and 54 beautiful maps. It is an extensive reference work filled with fascinating facts and illuminating history.


Superb atlas   September 25, 2002
 8 out of 9 found this review helpful

A whole host of historians such as Rankin, Moscati, Chadwick, Martel, Eluere, Markale, Aedeen, Powell, and Litton have all edited or written books entitled simply "The Celts," not to mention the dozens and even hundreds of other books with other titles on the Celts, so if anything there is virtually a plethora of works out there available on the subject, especially in the way of traditional histories.

Which bring me to the present volume. For something a little different on the Celts, try Haywood's book. The book skillfully combines text with the many maps, graphics, and photos. Among the book's several strengths are the many pictures showing Celtic art and the maps which provide a graphical display of the important events of the time. There are 54 maps and 160 illustrations in the book. The photos show the Celts to be superb craftsman and metal-workers, and before reading this book, I didn't know they have been around since at least 1200 B.C. and lasted all the way down to late ancient times in the 3rd or 4th century A.D. Compared to the Greeks and Romans, who left major monuments, many texts, and various archeological finds, we have comparatively little in the way of remains for the Celts, but Haywood does a fine job of detailing and discussing what we do know of these somewhat mysterious and shadowy tribesman of Northern Europe.

Haywood is especially skilled at linking the text with the maps, and to give another plug for this fine author, he did a really great job with his Atlas of World History, which is one of the best historical atlases out there, especially considering it's up to 1/4 the cost of some of the more famous "big guns" like the Dorling-Kindersley and Hammond atlases of world history. Hammond also writes much better than most atlas writers, who prose only too often is a good substitute for late-night television as a soporific. If I recall correctly, Barry Cunliffe is the author of 40 books on history and archeology himself, and in the introduction he describes the book as "an incomparable source." I would have to agree with him, and altogether this is a fine book to read, browse, pore over the maps, or whatever, by a talented scholar and presenter of history.


Simply Excellent   October 17, 2001
 6 out of 7 found this review helpful

This is simply excellent. Concise, informative text and attractive, well-researched maps. I have to agree with Barry Cunliffe in his introduction to this book - it really is an 'incomparable source'.