Initial Reading List

Celtic reading lists are very easy to find, just a quick tour of internet sites can produce a lot of reading material for the new student often without knowing which books are about what subjects and which are written by qualified people. Many times books are on these lists but are difficult to find due to being out of print or just expensive. We have taken a different approach to this reading list and built it with the newcomer in mind. The books on this list were chosen based on being available, affordable, and good sources of information leaning toward books with an academic approach. In order to help the person who may be newer to this sort of study, we have divided the list into subject areas and listed the books under the areas which they best address and we have ordered each section so that the book appearing at the top of any section is the most preferred and recommended book. This will allow the student to focus on subjects of interest and on books that will actually meet the learning goals of the student while minimizing the time and money wasted on lower quality books or books that turn out not to meet the needs of the student.

The list here is by no means exhaustive and is designed to serve as a starting point for research. We recommend that the student use the bibliographies of the initial books to identify texts for future research. A firm start with these books will also allow the student to separate the wheat from the chaff in less academic and more “pop” oriented publications.

Celtic Culture
Simon James: World of the Celts 1993 ISBN 0-500-0567-8
Barry Cunliffe: The Celts: A Very Short Introduction 2003 ISBN 0192804189
Barry Cunliffe: The Ancient Celts 2000 ISBN 0140254226

Historical Overview
Helen Litton: The Celts An Illustrated History 1997 ISBN 0-86327-577-X
John Haywood: The Historical Atlas Of The Celtic World ISBN 0-500-05109-7

Druids
Miranda J. Green: The World Of the Druids 1997 ISBN 0-500-05083
Stuart Piggot: The Druids 1985 ISBN 0-500-27363-4

Celtic Art
Lloyd & Jennifer Laing: Art of the Celts 1992 ISBN 0-500-20256-7
Megaw & Megaw: Celtic Art: From Its Beginnings to the Book of Kells  2001 ISBN 050028265X

Gods
Miranda J. Green: The Gods Of The Celts 1986 ISBN 1-85833-731-3

Cosmology
Alwynn & Brindley Rees: Celtic Heritage  1961, 1991 ISBN 0-500-27039-2 (Part 2 is the section covering cosmology in this comprehensive book.)

Mythic Structures and Concepts
Miranda J. Green: Celtic Myths 1998 ISBN 0-292-72754-2
Proinsias MacCana: Celtic Mythology 1996 ISBN 0-7607-0190-3

Celtic Myth Reference
Miranda J. Green: Dictionary of Celtic Myth and Legend 1992 ISBN 0-500-01516-3

Irish Law
Fergus Kelly: A Guide to early Irish Law 1998 ISBN 0901282952 

Myths Welsh
Jeffery Gantz: The Mobinogion 1976 ISBN 0140443223

Myths Irish
Tom P. Cross & Clark H. Slover: Ancient Irish Tales 1969 ISBN 0389202541

Celtic Religion
Ronald Hutton: The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles 1991 ISBN 0-631-18946-7
Anne Ross: Pagan Celtic Britain 1996 ISBN 0-89733-435-3

Religious Studies ‘General’
Lawrence Cunningham & John Kelsay The Sarcred Quest: An Invitation to the Study of Religion, 3rd edition 2001, ISBN 0130209945
Mercea Elliade: The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion, 1968 ISBN  015679201X

Celtic Warriors
Dáithì Ó Hógáin: Celtic Warriors 1999 ISBN 0-312-20509-0

Ogam
Damian McManus: A Guide To Ogam 1991 ISBN 1-870684-17-6

The Fey Ones
W.Y. Evans-Wentz: The Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries 1990 ISBN 0-8065-1160-5 (Note that this book was written in the early 20th century and the interpretations contained therein are very much a product of the time and popular spiritual views of that period, the value of this book is in the tales so carefully gathered and detailed by the author.)