The Highland Clearances

A powerful, well researched book. Structurally it is a bit hard to remain with the theme but the excellent chronology in the Appendix is a big help. The maps are reasonable but could have been improved by another showing modern towns, villages etc. The author appears to have made considerable efforts to remain rational but the tale he has to tell is too powerful to remain supressed and the emotions come through. It is quite understandable. This book blows away the chocolate box, sanitised version of the highlander. The kilt and bagpipes etc. were proscribed by a vengeful government after the rebellion was crushed in 1746. The greedy former feudal chiefs, deprived of their authority now betrayed their own people. Aided and abetted by opportunistic Lowland Scots and the Scottish and English authorities, the chiefs drove their clansmen off their lands and out of their houses and replaced them with more profitable sheep. The methods used to evict the people were brutal and often went to extremes. The Presbyterian church, with few exceptions supported the clearences. Sheep were given priority over people. The evictions continued from 1785 to 1852, long after slavery was outlawed by the British Government. The methods of eviction, the forced emigrations overseas equalled if not exceeded those of the slave traders. How would you have liked two square feet of deck as your share of the ship to Canada, and you had to pay for it? Britains loss of many thousands of highlanders became the gain of the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand as these hardy people formed new lives and communities far from their homelend. This book should be read by all. Never again can I contemplate Scotland or Scots without seeing past the modern, tourist image and recalling the brutal reality of former times. The activities and methods of Al Quaeida and other terrorist groups are not new. Let all read this book and let us all resolve that man's inhumanity to man will not be tolerated, anywhere, ever.

Unnecessarily emotional? I went to Scotland this year, and there are still memories of the Clearances. Not only were the people mistreated, but the land still bears the scars of the clan chiefs and assorted "carpetbagger" land owners from England who made it habitable for their sheep. A well written book that shows what happens when love of money wins out over love of kin and land.

My father was born in Sutherland, and I have been there several times, and still have relatives there. The book moved me emotionally,probably because of my direct connection to the area and the people.The author portrays those times very realistically,especially the betrayal by some of the clan chiefs.One might almost make an analogy between what happened in the highlands of Scotland to what occurred in North America with the Native Indians.The only differance is that it would appear the Native Indians are going to make someone pay.

Anyone who believes that the "ethnic cleansing" we are witnessing today in Yugoslavia is something new, should read this gripping history.

Well researched, lucid review of the highland clearances, with vivid descriptive examples of conflict and black-house burning.