Land of My Fathers - 2000 Years of Welsh History

Disgrifiad Cymraeg / Welsh Description

Wythfed argraffiad o hanes cynhwysfawr, darluniadol Cymru o'r cyfnod cynnar a ysgrifennwyd yn llawn angerdd cariadus gan un o Gymry mwyaf yr 20fed ganrif. Cyhoeddwyd gyntaf yn 1992. 71 llun du-a-gwyn a 15 map.

Disgrifiad Saesneg / English Description

The eighth edition of a comprehensive illustrated history of Wales from earliest times written with loving passion by one of the greatest Welshmen of the 20th century. First published in 1992. 71 black-and-white illustrations and 15 maps.

Dosbarthu

Byddwn yn dosbarthu eitemau sydd mewn stoc o fewn 3 diwrnod gwaith, fel arfer drwy Royal Mail Tracked 48. Ar gyfer archebion o flaen llaw, byddwn yn dosbarthu’r eitem o fewn 3 diwrnod gwaith ar ôl ei derbyn gan ein cyflenwr.

Dispatch

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Adolygiad y Cyhoeddwr / Publisher Review

First published by Gwasg John Penry in 1971 as Aros Mae , Gwynfor Evans's single volume history of the Welsh quickly established itself as a Welsh-language classic. The author's own English translation appeared three years later, joining the lists of Y Lolfa in 1992, a popular edition that is now in its sixth impression. The Welsh, both those with and those deprived by the circumstances outlined here of their ancient tongue, are his intended audience. A translation is usually second best, and that is sometimes the case here: the Welsh title is original and evocative, the English version verges on cliché. What is extraordinary about the volume is its combination of breadth of reading and depth of reflection with a wilfully consistent vision of the national tradition. For this is not a history written from within the Academy, but the testament of a market gardener who became the towering figure of twentieth-century Welsh politics through his inspirational work as president of Plaid Cymru, the Party of Wales. Gwynfor's Wales is constructed in his own image. It is a Christian Wales, making few concessions to fashionable multiculturalism, and a peace-loving, decentralised Wales that abhors equally the warmongers and the Dic Siôn Dafydds who despise her traditions and sell Wales short. Like the early Christian annalists, he doesn't have a good word for the Vikings. The gentry are scorned; true nobility resides in the gwerin . His hold on the Welsh literary tradition is secure and insightful, as evidenced in the delightful chapter on Dafydd ap Gwilym. Academic historians will find much to contest: his treatment of the Saxon Settlements, for example, or his interpretation of the Act of Union as a measure of purposeful cultural assimilation. Perhaps some literary critics will also be stirred to judgement. For this is history as prophetic utterance: Gwynfor by turns rebukes, inspires, chides and teaches his people but it is his love for them and their land down the ages that shines through on every page. There are some comical typographical errors: there was no Armenian tradition within the ranks of Welsh nonconformity, but there were significant numbers of Arminians (p. 324). It is frustrating to be told that 'Tudur Jones tells us' something we should know (p.108) without being given any source. Footnotes (preferably) and/or a bibliography would add immensely to the usefulness of future editions and, since the volume concludes when it was written in 1971, it would be wonderful if the author could be persuaded to write a further chapter covering the last quarter of the twentieth century. That century ended with his crowning achievement, the establishment of a National Assembly of Wales.