Manners, Customs and History of the Highlanders of Scotland/No 1871144

Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) was a prolific writer, among his novels were Rob Roy (1818), Ivanhoe (1819), and The Talisman (1825). This is a modern edition of the non-fiction book he published on the Scots Highlanders, detailing the unique aspects of their culture and social values in the hard years following the '45. It is almost refreshing for me, largely used to reading books written in an age that pretends to be fair and respectful to everybody, to see his harshly biased account of these 'tribal savages'-yet, at the same time, he also records many of their good features (politeness, civility, and generosity being surprisingly high on the list) and thus lends further credibility to his book. Using Clan MacGregor, the 'Children of the Mist' as his primary source, Scott paints a fascinating account of the Highlanders that reads like high adventure, and uses lots of particular incidents he had personally witnessed as examples to prove his points, making this an excellent, and rather unique source on the Highlanders for the modern reader-perhaps as accurate of one as we will ever have.