Status
Available
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Series
Collections
Publication
Folio Society (2003), Edition: First in This Edition, Hardcover
Description
In the terrible aftermath of the moorland battle of Culloden, the Highlanders suffered at the hands of their own clan chiefs. Following his magnificent reconstruction of Culloden, John Prebble recounts how the Highlanders were deserted and then betrayed into famine and poverty. While their chiefs grew rich on meat and wool, the people died of cholera and starvation or, evicted from the glens to make way for sheep, were forced to emigrate to foreign lands. 'Mr Prebble tells a terrible story excellently. There is little need to search further to explain so much of the sadness and emptiness of the northern Highlands today' The Times.
User reviews
LibraryThing member mbmackay
A good coverage of the human tragedy of the highland clearances. I had previously read Set Adrift on the World by James Hunter, but that book is limited to the area under the control of the Duke and Duchess of Sutherland. Prebble's book has a more extensive coverage and seems to provide information
Both books focus on the human tragedy. The details are deeply disturbing and make for troubling reading. I think the Prebble book delivers this aspect better than Hunter's book. Prebble is more opinionated, while Hunter is better documented.
But both books lack context. What were the details of land tenure in the highlands? Were there similar problems elsewhere in the UK? How did the de-fanging of the clans after Culloden change the nature of the relationship between Lairds and tenants? Did the creation of the Free Church ameliorate suffering? (Established church ministers were effectively appointed and paid by the local landowner.) What about the financial impact of the Poor Law on landlords - was this significant enough to warrant depopulation?
I am still waiting for the definitive book on the clearances.
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about clearances across the whole of the highlands.Both books focus on the human tragedy. The details are deeply disturbing and make for troubling reading. I think the Prebble book delivers this aspect better than Hunter's book. Prebble is more opinionated, while Hunter is better documented.
But both books lack context. What were the details of land tenure in the highlands? Were there similar problems elsewhere in the UK? How did the de-fanging of the clans after Culloden change the nature of the relationship between Lairds and tenants? Did the creation of the Free Church ameliorate suffering? (Established church ministers were effectively appointed and paid by the local landowner.) What about the financial impact of the Poor Law on landlords - was this significant enough to warrant depopulation?
I am still waiting for the definitive book on the clearances.
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LibraryThing member vicarofdibley
a story told based on the ethnic cleansing of the highlanders of Scotland by lowlanders and supporters of the english crown following Culloden
LibraryThing member ksmyth
Prebble weaves a well-told narrative about the clearance of highland farms for sheep over the 18th and 19th centuries. Told through many first hand accounts, Prebble shares the uncaring neglect of the great landlords, and the profiteering self-interest of their chief factors. Through all Prebble
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and his witnesses chronicle the suffering of the clansmen and their families, cut loose from centuries of tradition to fend for themselves on the very poor coasts, or seek a new, less certain beginning in Canada or Australia. Show Less
LibraryThing member DinadansFriend
About replacing men with sheep, and peopling Canada in the process, this is often the last book in a trilogy. However Prebble wrote another on various mutinies in the Highland regiments of the British Army that I wish was also included. You could make it a five book set with the one on George IV's
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famous whiskey fuelled visit to the Highlands, if you are looking for the source of the very romantic Scotticism that we are sometimes subjected to nowadays. I find this look at the clearances Prebble's most useful book for the social historian. Show Less
Subjects
Language
Original publication date
1969
Physical description
9.13 inches
Local notes
Covers the forced displacements of the population of the Scottish Highlands during the 18th and 19th centuries.
In boxed set of the Highland Trilogy about the fall of the clan system in Scotland.
In boxed set of the Highland Trilogy about the fall of the clan system in Scotland.