Customer Reviews

Highland Clansman 1689-1746 (Warrior)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

this boock is an excellent source for re-enactors and should be read before any other further sources. Unfortunately, Stuart Reid is always so pro-governmental forces.

For nearly 60 years the clans of Highland Scotland proved to be an almost constant thorn in the side of a series of British monarchs. Fiercely independent, the clans comprised an agricultural peasantry dominated by a warrior aristocracy.

They held most forms of authority outside of the clan in contempt and did not submit to London meekly. Their first loyalty was to the exiled house of Stuart and in a series of rebellions in 1689, 1715 and finally in 1745 the Highland clans rose against the ruling monarch. The author examines in detail the society that produced these fierce fighters and the tactics they used in battle including the feared 'Highland Charge'. The social structure of the clans, their organisation, equipment and clothing are closely examined, including an interesting section on the development of the Scottish plaid that culminated in the famous Highland kilt. Weapons and tactics are all studied at length, and a final evaluation of the Highland clansman's effectiveness is achieved by an in-depth analysis of their performance in the three major battles of Killiecrankie, Prestonpans and Culloden.

As the Scottish clan system developed, their interaction with one another often led to conflict. Special attention in this book is given to the rise and fall of the Jacobite cause under `Bonny Prince Charlie' in the 1745 rebellion,great illustration by Angus McBride which gives the reader a unique insight into the life of the Highlander's.

Clouded with errors and thoroughly biased. For the clearly anti-Highland Stuart Reid to write on the Highlander (again) is like an Iraqi government official discussing the Kurds. Despite the text the illustrations by Angus McBride are excellent and almost make this book worth the money.

I rather enjoy this title, the art plates & all, but I have to ask why currently available titles are being sold for such drastically outrages prices? $140+ for this? Go to the source & get it for much cheaper!

I need not elaborate upon what previous reviewers have said about the pro-British stance of this text. This is a valuable book however, for the beautiful and detailed plates (perhaps the best Angus McBride I have ever seen) and the highly detailed plate commentary.

This assault on Scottish culture and history is one of the most shameless hatchet jobs I have ever read. The spurious evidence that the author states (read: "makes up") too advance his anti-Scot and anti-Clan agenda is completely absurd, such as that Clansmen would "throw away perfectly good swords, as soon as they got their hands on rusted unserviceable firelocks" or "It is likely that all or most of the swords they (Highlanders) are credited as caring were in fact dirks." If you believed this book you would think that the Scots were less intelligent and tactful than Neanderthals. The Author of this book a clearly still fighting the Jacobite wars for the Brits. The illustrations by Angus McBride are the only good thing about this book.

Stuart Reid clearly has an Anglophile agenda when it comes to this subject. It appears the sole purpose to Reid's never-ending industrial assembly of these anti-Highland (as the other reviewer stated) publications is to advance the English viewpoint. If I had read Reid only, I would be under the impression that the Highland clans appeared out of nowhere in the 17th century purely to peck at Reid's worldview 300 years later. While the prejudiced and wooden writing of Reid sinks this book, it does have the genuine talent of Angus McBride at work. If only the illustrations could be purchased separately from the text!