Customer Reviews

The Highland Clearances

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Chronologically the last piece of Prebble's "Highland Trilogy", this book chronicles the forced removal of the Highland peoples from their land so that sheep farming could be introduced. I found this book a little difficult to follow. In the other two books there is a defining event around which actions before and after are connected. In "The Highland Clearances" there is no seminal event to serve as a focus. Instead we're given a thorough exposition on the extirpation of a way of life. In that regard the book is very good. Prebble weaves drama with scholarly detail. One comes away with a profound understanding of how laissez-faire economics, prejudice, and unwavering loyalty to the feudal system all clashed. Prebble clearly sides with the evicted peoples and it's easy to see why. But he offers no explanation as to why there wasn't more armed resistance to the "factors" and their writs of removal. Forced evacuation from one's land stirs the emotions and the lack of resistance to it is puzzling. So is the fact that the resistance was usually staffed by women, whose blood was shed more often than that of their husbands. An explanation for why the menfolk didn't participate in the meager defences is never given. Probably my biggest objection to the book is that there is a shuffling timeline presented whereas a chronological exposition would have made the book more accessible. Still, Prebble was a great author who knew his subject matter very well. I recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in Scottish history.

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.

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.

John Prebble continues the story of the end of highland life in: The Highland Clearances. I was moved with the vivid retelling of actual evictions of the Highland people. From being thrown out into the street by officers of the law or deputies, having their belonging tossed out and the roofs pulled down on their homes was heart wrenching. The Chiefs with mounting debts and loss of authority after Culloden turned their backs on the clans and looked to the sheep and easy money. They became more lowlander friendly and helped encourage and force emigration onto the highlanders. The result was the spread of Scottish names and lore and culture through the former British Empire Colonies of Canada, Australia, America and South Africa. The Clearances started in Sutherland and spread rapidly through Ross, Argyll and even the Isles. The Highlanders' culture had changed little through the centuries and now was all but wiped out. Cattle and men gave way to glens of Sheep. How surprised the English and British government was when the regiments of Highland soldiers used in the American Revolution and in France in the early 1800's disappeared by the 1850's. The Crimean war raged and the Government looked to the Highlands for soldiers and put out a call and all that answered were the bleats of Sheep. I have read a lot Scottish history and am enamored by the Highland way of life and the battle and struggles of the clans. I had yet to read about the end of that culture until now. After this book I mourn their loss. Today we have the stories and clan societies and Highland games but the glens are still bare and much today are legend and myth. The Highland Clearances ties the history I love with the present. I now know why my MacDonald Grandparents were from Canada. I will not forget.

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.