"The Celtic character and imagintation are still a vital part of our inheritance and whilst the purest strain is probably in ireland, in Scotland and Wales too their influence is unmistakable.

The Celts began to grow powerful and to spread across Europe from about 1200 B.C. They were, and are, taller and fairer than the Mediterranean people. They used chariots and were fond of display, achieving superb workmanship in drinking vessels, weapons and jewellery. They started landing in Britain in about the eighth century B.C. and in the East they spread as far as Asia Minor.

In this book, Nora Chadwick, a Celtic scholar of international repute, describes the rise and spread of the Celts and their arrival in the British Isles, and includes an appreciation of their religion, art and literature in these islands. The Celts is a study of the people whose extraordinary individualistic and imaginative qualities have contributed so much to the world we live in today."--Page 4 of cover