St. Patrick of Ireland by Philip Freeman
St Patrick did not drive the snakes out of Ireland (the island had no snakes), nor did he engage in epic battles of supernatural power with Irish druids. But the facts revealed in this eminently readable biography are no less astonishing than the myths that surround him. Born in Britain in the late fourth century, Patrick was raised as a Roman citizen and a Christian nobleman, Just before his sixteenth birthday, he was captured by Irish pirates and enslaved. He spent six years tending sheep in Ireland, escaped and returned home to his astonished parents. Soon afterward, he announced that God wanted him to become a priest and convert the Irish to Christianity. Patrick spent the rest of his life in Ireland, leaving behind two remarkable letters that reveal more about him than we know about almost any contemporary figure. Philip Freeman brilliantly reconstructs daily life in the British Isles during the last days of the Roman Empire, putting Patrick's achievements in context with the beliefs of the day. The Patrick who emerges is even more extraordinary than the patron saint of legend - a passionate, courageous and very human figure who exerted an incalculable impact on the course of Irish history.
"Lively and lucid"
-- The New York Times Book Review
"With uncommon insight and clear, unadorned prose, Philip Freeman supplants old myths with a true-life tale no less wondrous....[A] fine biography."
-- Tim McNulty, The Seattle Times
"Mr. Freeman's book succeeds where others have failed by giving us a wholly human portrait of Patrick the boy, the slave and the missionary."
-- Michael Judge, The Wall Street Journal
"Freeman's imaginative but fact-based reconstructions of significant events in Patrick's life, such as his kidnapping, read like the most exciting popular fiction."
-- Library Journal
-- The New York Times Book Review
"With uncommon insight and clear, unadorned prose, Philip Freeman supplants old myths with a true-life tale no less wondrous....[A] fine biography."
-- Tim McNulty, The Seattle Times
"Mr. Freeman's book succeeds where others have failed by giving us a wholly human portrait of Patrick the boy, the slave and the missionary."
-- Michael Judge, The Wall Street Journal
"Freeman's imaginative but fact-based reconstructions of significant events in Patrick's life, such as his kidnapping, read like the most exciting popular fiction."
-- Library Journal
Philip Freeman is the Fletcher Jones Chair of Western Culture at Pepperdine University and was formerly professor of classics at Luther College and Washington University. He earned the first joint PhD in classics and Celtic studies from Harvard University, and has been a visiting scholar at the Harvard Divinity School, the American Academy in Rome, the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, and the Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington, DC. He is the author of several books including Alexander the Great, St. Patrick of Ireland, Julius Caesar, and Oh My Gods. Visit him at PhilipFreemanBooks.com.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780743256346 |
| ISBN 10 | 0743256344 |
| Title | St. Patrick of Ireland |
| Author | Philip Freeman |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Simon & Schuster |
| Year published | 2006-03-06 |
| Number of pages | 240 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |