Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia [5 volumes]

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The most comprehensive reference resource on Celtic culture; an encyclopedia written by and for scholars, yet accessible to all. From the Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies in Aberystwyth, John T. Koch, one of the world's foremost Celtic scholars, has assembled work from leading researchers worldwide to produce the first encyclopedic treatment of the Celts and Celtic scholarship. This encyclopedia covers the entirety of the Celtic world, both through time and across geography. Although emphasizing the areas where Celtic languages and traditions survive into the present, the work does not slight the reaches of the Celtic empire, which was the largest language and cultural group on earth prior to the rise of Rome. In some 1,500 articles, many representing original research by the finest Celtic scholars, the work covers the Celts from prehistory to the present, giving comprehensive treatment to all topics from myth to music, religion to rulers, literature to language, government to games, and all topics in between. Entry into the rich world of Celtic scholarship has been difficult: The available information must be teased out of dense scholarly tomes or lightweight books emphasizing such popular elements of Celtic tradition as wee people, Druids, and blue-painted pagans. While this work treats those topics within its broad scope, the information is presented as scholarship, without the pop patina.

Reviews

"This five-volume reference work contains everything and anything one wants to know in regards to Celtic culture. ... This work can be considered one of the most authoritative and comprehensive compilations on this topic." - American Reference Books Annual "This book is a cornucopia of information about the Celts, both past and present" - Cambria

Author Bio

John T. Koch, PhD, is reader at the University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies in Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, Wales.