Britain B.C.

Britain B.C.: Life in Britain and Ireland Before the Romans | Francis Pryor

pan

This book irked me. The problem is with the title. Pryor calls this a book about the life of Britain and Ireland before Rome. But he rarely talks about how prehistoric Britons lived their lives, and Ireland seldom makes an appearance. Instead, he jumps around archaeology sites, describing his involvement, when he met his coworkers, giving away personal information about them. The jumping around makes it difficult to follow, and incredibly boring.

Bookwomble Ooo, I've had this in my tbr since it was published - feels even less likely I'll get to it now. Pity, as I've found him a good TV presenter on this subject. 2y

RosePressedPages @Bookwomble If you like archaeology, then I think you‘ll like this book. I went in expecting a history book similar to The Picts (another subject we know only a little about) so I wasn‘t happy with it. I‘d be interested to check out his tv work though. 2y

73 likes2 comments

GingerAntics

Britain B.C.: Life in Britain and Ireland Before the Romans | Francis Pryor

pick

Dense and intense. I liked that this book tied modern society to ancient society. It made it relevant and argued for including pre-Roman, indigenous, history into the story of British history in schools (a fair argument that has and is being made about American history as well).
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GingerAntics If history and archaeology are your thing, you‘ll probably like this book. If they‘re not, this book is so full of scholarship this probably is going to bore you to death. Fair warning. #BritainBC #FrancisPryor #LifeBeforeTheRomans 5y

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GingerAntics

Britain B.C.: Life in Britain and Ireland Before the Romans | Francis Pryor

@Graywacke if Pryor is to believed, the idea of individual freedom is far older than America (few thousand years longer at least). Interesting thought. People often think of individualism as modern (and worsening by the generation), but it may be as old as humanity. 🤷🏼‍♀️ Who knew?
#BritainBC #FrancisPryor #LifeBeforeTheRomans

CarolynM I think he's right. 5y

GingerAntics @CarolynM he makes a compelling argument. I have a feeling he‘s right as well. I also know that there is an equal argument to be made that people were very tribally minded, so there was still this sense of the greater good to some extent. 5y

CarolynM I think individuality and community can and should exist together. I's all about the balance. 5y

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GingerAntics @CarolynM I totally agree. I think it‘s modern thought that makes us believe it has to be one of the other, that the two mentalities cannot work together. 5y

Graywacke Individual freedom vs community. Hmm. Need the latter to have enough leisure to worry about the former... 5y

GingerAntics @Graywacke I totally agree with that. Then I think of the staunch individualists on the American frontier in the 19th century who completely avoided community and civilisation, and I‘m trying to figure out how they ever had any freedom to do what they wanted while trying to survive, but they did claim to be happy...or waxing poetic about how happy they were in their writings. 5y

Graywacke @GingerAntics the biggest individualists can be seen as just glorified land thieves. Actually all pioneers were, in a sense, even if it wasn‘t their temperament. No one worked their way up to a homestead, you just took it and you were called pioneer. (My soapbox is giving me mean looks... my apologies to the Wilders... ) (edited) 5y

GingerAntics @Graywacke 🤣 Hey, soap box! Play nicely! 😂 I agree with all of that. No one seemed to care if that land belonged to anyone else, especially if that person/group wasn‘t white. It was really dumb. I absolutely HATE when people talk about “civilising the west.” You mean white washing the west. Smh 5y

10 likes8 comments

GingerAntics

Britain B.C.: Life in Britain and Ireland Before the Romans | Francis Pryor

I love things that tie ancient history to modern history. I loved the conclusion for this reason.
#BritainBC #FrancisPryor #LifeBeforeTheRomans

7 likes

GingerAntics

Britain B.C.: Life in Britain and Ireland Before the Romans | Francis Pryor

In some ways, this is great. In some ways, this is bad.
#BritainBC #FrancisPryor #LifeBeforeTheRomans

16 likes

GingerAntics

Britain B.C.: Life in Britain and Ireland Before the Romans | Francis Pryor

💙💙💙
This is just the book I‘m looking for. I can‘t stand books that try to assert that every pre-Christian civilisation is somehow, unknowingly striving for Christianity, and they‘re all relieved when it finally reaches them. 🙄
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#BritainBC #FrancisPryor #LifeBeforeTheRomans #ManOfScience

Bookwomble Are there books like that in the mainstream? Sheesh! Did you see Pryor's TV show based on the book? He's a great presenter - enthusiastic but not annoyingly so. 5y

GingerAntics @Bookwomble here in the state there sure are. I don‘t find them to be highly academic. They tend to ignore any and all evidence that contradicts them (like their reactions to their first contact with Christians or even Christians initial reactions to them) and just act like it doesn‘t exist. I had to read a few in grad school. Luckily the professors seemed to dislike them as much as we did. They usually aren‘t as upfront about their bias. 5y

GingerAntics @Bookwomble I didn‘t know there was a TV show. I‘ll have to check it out. His writing style is quite engaging. I imagine just from that he‘d be interesting to watch. 5y

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GingerAntics

Britain B.C.: Life in Britain and Ireland Before the Romans | Francis Pryor

I‘ve been saying this for ages, and I love that history (and archaeology... and now science) backs me up on this.
#BritainBC #FrancisPryor #LifeBeforeTheRomans #humanity #humane

9 likes

GingerAntics

Britain B.C.: Life in Britain and Ireland Before the Romans | Francis Pryor

This needs to be shouted from the bloody roof tops right now on both sides of the pond!!!
#BritainBC #FrancisPryor #LifeBeforeTheRomans #reality #history #archaeology #whyhistorymatters

8 likes

GingerAntics

Britain B.C.: Life in Britain and Ireland Before the Romans | Francis Pryor

This is a fair assessment. This is part of why I actually wanted to be an archaeologist at one point in my life. Indiana Jones certainly didn‘t hurt, either. 😂
(Yes, I know real archaeologists hate those movies.)
#BritainBC #FrancisPryor #LifeBeforeTheRomans #Archaeology #IndianJones

julesG We are so alike! I wish we lived closer to each other 5y

GingerAntics @julesG as long as we‘re not within 6 feet of each other. 😂🤣😂 5y

8 likes2 comments

GingerAntics

Britain B.C.: Life in Britain and Ireland Before the Romans | Francis Pryor

I‘m not sure this is how I would describe the English language, but it‘s certainly a hybrid.
#BritainBC #FrancisPryor #LifeBeforeTheRomans #English

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GingerAntics

Britain B.C.: Life in Britain and Ireland Before the Romans | Francis Pryor

💙💙💙
Yes. We shall see, Pryor.
#BritainBC #FrancisPryor #LifeBeforeTheRomans

6 likes

GingerAntics

Britain B.C.: Life in Britain and Ireland Before the Romans | Francis Pryor

So far behind on posting about this book.
😂🤣😂 This would have been a GREAT subtitle.
#BritainBC #FrancisPryor #LifeBeforeTheRomans #the99percent

6 likes

GingerAntics

Britain B.C.: Life in Britain and Ireland Before the Romans | Francis Pryor

Hoping this will be better than the Flanagan. Judging by the one review here on Litsy, it‘s going to be much better. Also, since it specifically mentions the Romans in the subtitle, I feel like it dovetails nicely with #JuliusCaesar for the #Shakespearereadalong. lol
#BritainBC #FrancisPryor #LifeBeforeTheRomans

Bookwomble I've had this to read for a looong time! Never sends to be quite the right time for me. 5y

GingerAntics @Bookwomble same here. I‘ve had it a while, and I think I finally went to this one after the Flanagan book was so bla. It seems this one is really the one I should have read. 5y

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shanaqui

Britain B.C.: Life in Britain and Ireland Before the Romans | Francis Pryor

pick

Exhaustive and probably for some people exhausting, but I was riveted.

1 like

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