Articles
A HIGHLANDS & ISLANDS READING LIST
Here you can find a list of books that I have read and enjoyed for the insights that they provide into the history (both human & natural) and culture of the Highlands & Islands of Scotland.
14/03/2016
Here you can find a list of books that I have read and enjoyed for the insights that they provide into the history (both human & natural) and culture of the Highlands & Islands of Scotland.
I've listed the publishing house and the year of publishing of the editions that I have. Earlier/later editions may be available.
History
From Caledonia to Pictland: Scotland to 795 (James E. Fraser, Edinburgh University Press, 2009)
From Pictland to Alba: Scotland 789-1070 (Alex Woolf, Edinburgh University Press, 2007)
The Kingdom of the Isles: Scotland's Western Seaboard c. 1100-1336 (R. Andrew MacDonald, Tuckwell Press, 1997)
Alba: Celtic Scotland in the Medieval Era (edited by E. J. Cowan & R. Andrew MacDonald, Tuckwell Press, 2000)
Scandinavian Scotland (B. E. Crawford, Leicester University Press, 1987)
Vikings in Scotland: An Archaeological Survey (James Graham-Campbell & Colleen E. Batey, Edinburgh University Press, 2002)
Rob Roy MacGregor: His Life and Times (W. H. Murray, Canongate, 1993)
The Drove Roads of Scotland (A. R. B. Haldane, Birlinn 2011)
A Dance Called America - The Scottish Highlands, the United States and Canada (James Hunter, Mainstream 1994)
Last of the Free: A History of the Highlands & Islands (James Hunter, Mainstream 2000)
The Making of the Crofting Community (James Hunter, Birlinn 2010)
Set Adrift Upon The World: The Sutherland Clearances (James Hunter, Birlinn 2016)
Insurrection: Scotland's Famine Winter (James Hunter, Birlinn 2019)
On the Crofter's Trail: In Search of the Clearance Highlanders (David Craig, Birlinn 2010)
Gairloch and Guide to Loch Maree (J. H. Dixon, first published 1886, this edition by Gairloch & District Heritage Society, 1984)
Arran: A History (Thorbjørn Campbell, Birlinn 2013)
Calum's Road (Roger Hutchinson, Birlinn 2008)
Martyrs: Glendale & the Revolution in Skye (Roger Hutchinson, Birlinn 2014)
The Poor Had No Lawyers - Who Owns Scotland (And How They Got It) (Andy Wightman, Birlinn 2007)
Biographical
Always a Little Further (Alastair Borthwick, Diadem 1983)
Ring of Bright Water (Gavin Maxwell, Viking 2000)
The Saga of Ring of Bright Water: The Enigma of Gavin Maxwell (Douglas Botting, NWP 2000)
Harpoon at a Venture (Gavin Maxwell, Birlinn 2013)
Island Years, Island Farm (Frank Fraser Darling, Little Toller 2011)
Isolation Shepherd (Iain R. Thomson, Birlinn 2007)
Two Hundred Years of Farming in Sutherland (Reay D. G. Clarke, Islands Book Trust 2014)
Night Falls on Ardnamurchan (Alasdair MacLean, Birlinn 2001)
Sea Room (Adam Nicolson, Harper Collins 2002)
At the Loch of the Green Coire (Andrew Greig, Quercus 2010)
It's a Fine Day for the Hill: Hills, Folk and Wildlife 1935-62 (Adam Watson, Paragon 2011)
Geography/Environment
West Highland Survey - An Essay in Human Ecology (Frank Fraser Darling, Oxford University Press 1955)
On the Other Side of Sorrow: Nature and People in the Scottish Highlands (James Hunter, Birlinn 2014)
Hostile Habitats: Scotland's Mountain Environment (Scottish Mountaineering Trust 2006)
Natural History in the Highlands & Islands (Frank Fraser Darling & J. Morton Boyd, Bloomsbury, 1989)
Beinn Eighe: The Mountain Above the Wood (J. Laughton Johnston & Dick Balharry, Birlinn/SNH 2002)
A High and Lonely Place - The Sanctuary and Plight of the Cairngorms (Jim Crumley, Jonathan Cape 1991)
The Ancient Pinewoods of Scotland - A Traveller's Guide (Clifton Bain, Sandstone Press 2013)
Peat Smoke and Spirit: A Portrait of Islay and Its Whiskies (Andrew Jefford, Headline 2005)
The Great Wood (Jim Crumley, Birlinn 2014)
The Frayed Atlantic Edge (David Gange, William Collins 2019)
Place-Names
Scottish Place Names (W. F. H. Nicolaisen, John Donald 2001)
Place Names of Ross and Cromarty (William John Watson, 1904) - available on-line here.
Poetry
The Poems of Norman MacCaig (Polygon 2005)
Somhairle MacGill-Eain / Sorley MacLean: O Choille gu Bearradh / From Wood to Ridge: Collected Poems in Gaelic and in English Translation (Carcanet/Birlinn 1999)
Novels & Short Stories
Whisky Galore (Compton Mackenzie, Vintage 2009)
Para Handy (Neil Munro, Birlinn 2010)
Butcher's Broom (Neil M. Gunn, Polygon 2006)
The Silver Darlings (Neil M. Gunn, Faber 1975)
Magnus (George MacKay Brown, Polygon 2008)
Electric Brae (Andrew Greig, Quercus 1992)
The Return of John Macnab (Andrew Greig, Quercus 2013)
I've listed the publishing house and the year of publishing of the editions that I have. Earlier/later editions may be available.
History
From Caledonia to Pictland: Scotland to 795 (James E. Fraser, Edinburgh University Press, 2009)
From Pictland to Alba: Scotland 789-1070 (Alex Woolf, Edinburgh University Press, 2007)
The Kingdom of the Isles: Scotland's Western Seaboard c. 1100-1336 (R. Andrew MacDonald, Tuckwell Press, 1997)
Alba: Celtic Scotland in the Medieval Era (edited by E. J. Cowan & R. Andrew MacDonald, Tuckwell Press, 2000)
Scandinavian Scotland (B. E. Crawford, Leicester University Press, 1987)
Vikings in Scotland: An Archaeological Survey (James Graham-Campbell & Colleen E. Batey, Edinburgh University Press, 2002)
Rob Roy MacGregor: His Life and Times (W. H. Murray, Canongate, 1993)
The Drove Roads of Scotland (A. R. B. Haldane, Birlinn 2011)
A Dance Called America - The Scottish Highlands, the United States and Canada (James Hunter, Mainstream 1994)
Last of the Free: A History of the Highlands & Islands (James Hunter, Mainstream 2000)
The Making of the Crofting Community (James Hunter, Birlinn 2010)
Set Adrift Upon The World: The Sutherland Clearances (James Hunter, Birlinn 2016)
Insurrection: Scotland's Famine Winter (James Hunter, Birlinn 2019)
On the Crofter's Trail: In Search of the Clearance Highlanders (David Craig, Birlinn 2010)
Gairloch and Guide to Loch Maree (J. H. Dixon, first published 1886, this edition by Gairloch & District Heritage Society, 1984)
Arran: A History (Thorbjørn Campbell, Birlinn 2013)
Calum's Road (Roger Hutchinson, Birlinn 2008)
Martyrs: Glendale & the Revolution in Skye (Roger Hutchinson, Birlinn 2014)
The Poor Had No Lawyers - Who Owns Scotland (And How They Got It) (Andy Wightman, Birlinn 2007)
Biographical
Always a Little Further (Alastair Borthwick, Diadem 1983)
Ring of Bright Water (Gavin Maxwell, Viking 2000)
The Saga of Ring of Bright Water: The Enigma of Gavin Maxwell (Douglas Botting, NWP 2000)
Harpoon at a Venture (Gavin Maxwell, Birlinn 2013)
Island Years, Island Farm (Frank Fraser Darling, Little Toller 2011)
Isolation Shepherd (Iain R. Thomson, Birlinn 2007)
Two Hundred Years of Farming in Sutherland (Reay D. G. Clarke, Islands Book Trust 2014)
Night Falls on Ardnamurchan (Alasdair MacLean, Birlinn 2001)
Sea Room (Adam Nicolson, Harper Collins 2002)
At the Loch of the Green Coire (Andrew Greig, Quercus 2010)
It's a Fine Day for the Hill: Hills, Folk and Wildlife 1935-62 (Adam Watson, Paragon 2011)
Geography/Environment
West Highland Survey - An Essay in Human Ecology (Frank Fraser Darling, Oxford University Press 1955)
On the Other Side of Sorrow: Nature and People in the Scottish Highlands (James Hunter, Birlinn 2014)
Hostile Habitats: Scotland's Mountain Environment (Scottish Mountaineering Trust 2006)
Natural History in the Highlands & Islands (Frank Fraser Darling & J. Morton Boyd, Bloomsbury, 1989)
Beinn Eighe: The Mountain Above the Wood (J. Laughton Johnston & Dick Balharry, Birlinn/SNH 2002)
A High and Lonely Place - The Sanctuary and Plight of the Cairngorms (Jim Crumley, Jonathan Cape 1991)
The Ancient Pinewoods of Scotland - A Traveller's Guide (Clifton Bain, Sandstone Press 2013)
Peat Smoke and Spirit: A Portrait of Islay and Its Whiskies (Andrew Jefford, Headline 2005)
The Great Wood (Jim Crumley, Birlinn 2014)
The Frayed Atlantic Edge (David Gange, William Collins 2019)
Place-Names
Scottish Place Names (W. F. H. Nicolaisen, John Donald 2001)
Place Names of Ross and Cromarty (William John Watson, 1904) - available on-line here.
Poetry
The Poems of Norman MacCaig (Polygon 2005)
Somhairle MacGill-Eain / Sorley MacLean: O Choille gu Bearradh / From Wood to Ridge: Collected Poems in Gaelic and in English Translation (Carcanet/Birlinn 1999)
Novels & Short Stories
Whisky Galore (Compton Mackenzie, Vintage 2009)
Para Handy (Neil Munro, Birlinn 2010)
Butcher's Broom (Neil M. Gunn, Polygon 2006)
The Silver Darlings (Neil M. Gunn, Faber 1975)
Magnus (George MacKay Brown, Polygon 2008)
Electric Brae (Andrew Greig, Quercus 1992)
The Return of John Macnab (Andrew Greig, Quercus 2013)