Many of you may not know that Osprey also produces hardcover books in addition to its very popular softcover series. This is one of the more recent books on the little-known and nearly mythical Celts. Thanks to a desire by the 'winning' side to erase all memories and artifacts of the Celts, recent research has turned up a considerable amount of information on these peoples and in particular how they fought.

Stephen Allen has put all this into one lavishly illustrated volume, divided into a number of sections, each with its own subsection. To give you an idea of what is here, the major sections are: Out of the Mist, The Warrior and his World, The Eagle and the Raven, and Twilight.

Basically, the Celts first arose around the Danube river around 400BC or so and soon began to migrate as their society grew. They eventually moved south and east, sacking Rome and taking over much territory once controlled by the Gauls. They also moved into the Balkans and by 278 BC, had crossed over into Asia Minor. This eventually led to overextension and a series of defeats pushed the Celts back. They allied themselves with the Hannibal and the Gauls against Rome in the Second Punic War, the eventual result of which brought Gaul and Celtic territory under the general control of Rome as one of their client states. Uprisings later resulted in more Roman control and eventual suppression. Meanwhile, many Celts retreated to the British Isles where they basically remained, occasionally fighting and losing to the Romans as they pushed their influence into northern England, where they stopped to build Hadrian's wall specifically to keep out the Celts.

Throughout the book, there is a look into the everyday life of the Celtic warrior. His equipment, tactics, political structure, literature, arts and beliefs, all woven into a fascinating read. This is further enhanced by an outstanding choice of photos of artifacts and modern day extant Celtic sites. These Osprey hardcover books are an outstanding value for the money and you can buy these with confidence that you are getting the best.

March 2007

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