This book, a companion volume to the BBC2 television series, aims to trace the origin, growth, flowering and eventual decline of the Celts, a people who are traditionally portrayed as wild, excitable, warlike, ferocious and uncivilized. Despite their numerical smallness the author contends that they made a major contribution to Western civilization. The author originated the Radio 4 programme "Bookshelf" and the Frank Delaney series on BBC television. His previous books are "James Joyce's Odyssey" and "Betjeman Country".