Customer Reviews

Highland Songs of the Forty-Five (Scottish Gaelic Texts ; V. 15)

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An excellent book for anyone who wants to learn about the beliefs and values of Highlanders. The book is a collection of songs in Gaelic with good translations and some tunes. There are historical notes and a short biography for each poet. The songs,all contempory, deal with the Rebellion of 1745; the songs of Alexander MacDonald in particular show the progress of rebellion; his early poems were meant to stir up support for the rising and the later ones to keep up the courage of those involved. There are songs in praise of the tartan plaid, of the Highland clans and 'Bonnie Prince Charlie'. A great book for the serious academic as well as the romance novelist or Celtic musician.

a Charadean (Friends); For those with the Gaelic, native speakers or learners, or those merely interested in Gaelic music and history, this book serves as a wealth of information. Not only did the late, great Dr. Campbell put forth a magnificent volume of poetry, but an extremely important and generally overlooked primary source for those interested in the Jacobite period in general and the '45 in particular. For only here can be found the ideas and beliefs of the most important people in the Jacobite struggle - the Gaelic people themselves. Regardless of one's political viewpoint, it must be recognized that it is what the contemporary Gaels themselves thought and felt that is central to an understanding of why these people rose not once, but four times in sixty years, in an effort to restore the dynasty they viewed as the only rightful heirs to the throne. In these days of "debunking" historical revisionism, much of it generated by Whig (and latterly) Marxist/Leveller agendas, it is both interesting and important to see what the Loyal Clans of the Great Glen felt about the Cause.