The Scottish Clearances

Allen Lane, 2018-11-27. hardcover. Very Good/Very Good. 6x1x9. 2018 Allen Lane / Penguin Books (London), 6 1/4 x 9 1/2 inches tall x 2 1/4 inches thick hardcover in publisher's unclipped dust jacket, grey paper-covered boards, black lettering to spine, grey endpapers, illustrated with black-and-white photographs, xxii, 462 pp. plus 8 unnumbered pages of plates. Very slight rubbing to covers, with mild bumping to the lower tip of the front cover and slight abrasions to paper cover along spine. Otherwise, a very good to near fine copy - clean, bright and unmarked - in a dust jacket with slight staining to the rear cover but which is nicely preserved and displayed in a clear archival Brodart sleeve. Note that this is a heavy and oversized book, so additional postage will be required for international or priority orders. ~R~ [3.0P] Eighteenth-century Scotland is famed for generating many of the enlightened ideas which helped to shape the modern world. But there was in the same period another side to the history of the nation. Many of Scotland's people were subjected to coercive and sometimes violent change, as traditional ways of life were overturned by the 'rational' exploitation of land use. The Scottish Clearances is a superb and highly original account of this sometimes terrible process, which changed the Lowland countryside forever, as it also did, more infamously, the old society of the Highlands. Based on a vast array of original sources, this pioneering book is the first to chart this tumultuous saga in one volume, with due attention to evictions and loss of land in both north and south of the Highland line. In the process, old myths are exploded and familiar assumptions undermined. With many fascinating details and the sense of an epic human story, The Scottish Clearances is an evocative memorial to all whose lives were irreparably changed in the interests of economic efficiency. This is a story of forced clearance, of the destruction of entire communities and of large-scale emigration. Some winners were able to adapt and exploit the new opportunities, but there were also others who lost everything. The clearances created the landscape of Scotland today, but it came at a huge price.