The Atlantic Celts: Ancient People or Modern Invention?
The Celtic peoples hold a fundamental place in the British national conscious-ness. In this book Simon James surveys ancient and modern ideas of the Celts and challenges them in the light of revolutionary new thinking on the Iron Age peoples of Britain. Examining how ethnic and national identities are constructed, he presents an alternative history of the British Isles, proposing that the idea of insular Celtic identity is really a product of the rise of nationalism in the eighteenth century....
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In this book Simon James surveys ancient and modern ideas of the Celts and challenges them in the light of revolutionary new thinking on the Iron Age peoples of Britain. Examining how ethnic and national identities are constructed, he presents an alternative history of the British Isles, proposing that the idea of insular Celtic identity is really a product of the rise of nationalism in the eighteenth century. He considers whether the 'Celticness' of the British Isles is a romantic fantasy, even a politically dangerous falsification of history which has implications in the current debate on devolution and self-government for the Celtic regions.
Preface7Introduction91The debate on Celtic identity152Standard histories: assumptions, limitations and objections263How the Celts were created, and why434Current ideas on ethnicity, and the insular Ancient Celts675Towards a new ethnic history of the isles866Conclusion: are the modern Celts bogus?136Glossary145Further reading147Bibliography150Index155Illustration acknowledgments160
