Bibliography

Please note, commentary has been stripped to keep the resources mentioned.

Dear all: Over at Whiteoak we are looking at our basic Celtic/Druid reading list and thinking about updating it. Some are saying that Ann Ross's book Pagan Celtic Britain, for example, is now badly out of date as far as Celtic scholarship. I was wondering if any of you have any suggestions for books that are more current or opinions about the list in general. Here is what we are working with:

In response to: Dear all: Over at Whiteoak we are still grappling with the book list. In your esteemed opinions, is Ann Ross's PAGAN CELTIC BRITAIN hopelessly out of date?

For the intermediate level, I would still encourage reading it, but with the caveat that the ahistorical, pan-Celtic approach is dated. There have been new finds and so on as well, but in the main it's not the material but the style of analysis which has dated.

Ross largely ignores time and distance when drawing comparisons; it's an assumption of a hermetically sealed parallel culture developing in isolation. To counter that I would strongly recommend Haywood, John; The Historical Atlas of the Celtic World. (0500051097) for a clear and visual presentation of the geographic and temporal development, and Wells, Peter S. Beyond Celts, Germans and Scythians: Archaeology and Identity in Iron Age Europe. Duckworth Debates in Archaeology Series. (0715630369) for an idea of cross-cultural interactions and the construction of cultural identity.

From Ellen: If so, which parts are problematic? Or is it still basic reading for Celtic scholars? And if it is hopeless, what is a good replacement? (We already added the Kruta et al book, The Celts from Rizzoli) thanks

Kruta et al is very good, much more detailed than Ross, but also a little indigestible due to the sheer amount of content. One would not imagine a student reading it cover to cover. On the other hand, taken section by section along with other material as part of a structured reading and discussion group over a year or so, it would work very well.

*The Four Ancient Books of Wales, W. F. Skene
*Light of Brittania, Owen Morgan
*The Flaming Door, Eleanor Merry
*Thumb of Knowledge

Several of the books I mentioned above (*) are from Kessinger Publishing, which reprints late 1800's and early 1900's esoteric texts. Therefore I wouldn't say it is exactly recent research ... more like classic hard-to-find sources for your own research. Plenty of Druidic themes to be found there ... some good, some bad, and some plain silly romantic foofoo. But any good researcher shouldn't overlook these. - Allen

In response to: Well, I'm doing a short paper/presentation on the history of bards from the Old Irish period up until about 1650. I am also, however, looking into some side topics for my own interest. Ogham isn't my primary interest, but early Celtic music definitely is. Does that help with focus?

Melanie, Yes, that helps. I knew you were doing a paper on Irish bards, but I didn't know exactly what it was about Egan's article that interested you. On the subject of early Celtic music, may I recommend the following books and articles: