- Hardcover: 224 pages
- Publisher: Birlinn Ltd; Reprint edition (31 July 2006)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1841584479
- ISBN-13: 978-1841584478
- Product Dimensions: 20 x 13.6 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 197,207 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Calum's Road
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More About the Author
Product Description
Sunday Herald, 27 August 2006
"An incredible testament to one man’s determination not to fold against a
far-off bureaucracy."
far-off bureaucracy."
Sunday Times, 3 September 2006
"Compelling."
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
36 of 37 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is one of my very favourite books and one of my most treasured possessions. It is one of those books that you pick up and cannot put down. . . . . I return to it time and time again. On the face of it, it is, simply, the story of a man who, single handedly, built a two mile stretch of road, over difficult terrain, in a wild and remote place. . but it is much more than that. . . and the many layers of it reveal themselves to the reader in much the way that a really good poem reveals itself. . . Calum MacLeod was a passionate man who, believed that Arnish, where he lived, at the depopulated north end of the island, could provide everything that was needed to sustain life . . . and that if he built a road linking the north to the rest of the island the people would return . . . He was a fascinating man . . the story is a fascinating story (far more fascinating than my wee description) . . the book is written beautifully, it is not sentimental and the story and the island are not romanticised . . . a truly, inspirational, magical book.
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
When I began reading about Calum's road project, some of the evocative writing of Lewis Grassic Gibbon and man's battle with unforgiving nature came to mind. Set on the island of Raasay, this is an account of one man's dramatic response to decades of local authority indifference, in this instance the continual prevarication over replacing the track that serves the rough northern part of this island with a motorable road. Calum gives up the lobbying in despair and takes on the task himself, reading up on how it should be approached and labouring on the task with shovel and wheelbarrow in between his various other duties such as running a croft and tending the lighthouse on North Rona.
However, `Calum's Road' is not just about a one-man construction project. It is the story of demographic change on Raasay across two centuries. Using sources such as testimony from the 1884 Napier Commission, it narrates how, during the nineteenth century, the island's population was evicted from the fertile south to make way for sheep and deer and how they were contained in the rocky north by Raasay's own `Berlin Wall', Rainy's Wall. When the effects of the Wall are eventually breached, it is then the north of Raasay that loses its population. It is this reverse migration that Calum MacLeod tries to stall by the construction of his road. He gains particular satisfaction by making a physical breach of Rainy's Wall during the course of his one-man mission.
This is not just the story of a road and the man who built it, but is the story of a Hebridean community which reflects dynamics that have a familiar ring throughout much of rural Scotland. The author presents a moving human narrative in his telling of this story.
However, `Calum's Road' is not just about a one-man construction project. It is the story of demographic change on Raasay across two centuries. Using sources such as testimony from the 1884 Napier Commission, it narrates how, during the nineteenth century, the island's population was evicted from the fertile south to make way for sheep and deer and how they were contained in the rocky north by Raasay's own `Berlin Wall', Rainy's Wall. When the effects of the Wall are eventually breached, it is then the north of Raasay that loses its population. It is this reverse migration that Calum MacLeod tries to stall by the construction of his road. He gains particular satisfaction by making a physical breach of Rainy's Wall during the course of his one-man mission.
This is not just the story of a road and the man who built it, but is the story of a Hebridean community which reflects dynamics that have a familiar ring throughout much of rural Scotland. The author presents a moving human narrative in his telling of this story.
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is a fantastic story about a fantastic man. It is funny and informative and really, really moving. I cried at the end, although it's actually a very positive story about hope and accomplishment.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
One Man's Road
I liked this book because I belong to the Highlands. I have to say that for readers not aware of the Napier Commission, the forerunners of today's Crofters Commission they might... Read more
Published 1 month ago by KLB Kid
nor
This is an amazing story of one mans fight with authority on his Island, having lost the fight to get a road along the Island he decides to build it himself! Read more
Published 4 months ago by Mrs. N. E. Thompson
History brought to life
Calum's Road, by an experienced Highland journalist and writer, brings vividly to life a little-known aspect of Highlands history - the brutal clearances of the island of Raasay. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Aussie
Calums Rd
A bit disappointed really as I was expecting to hear all about this amazing individual's trials and tribulations as he built this road. Read more
Published 7 months ago by cooleyraider
Truly inspiring!
`Yet even the wind would rarely stop Calum working. He worked, as all of his people had always worked, through the worst and the best of weather. Read more
Published 7 months ago by KennyScotlandFirst
One road built by one man
On the Scottish island of Raasay, Calum MacLeod built a road one and three-quarter miles long from his home in Arnish to Brochel. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Frank Harrigan
The word 'worthy' springs to mind
I felt that this would be the kind of book that would be inspiring to read all about human endeavour and knowing that if you need a job done, do it yourself. Read more
Published 12 months ago by JJ
Required reading?
Lets face it, this isn't the most readable book, and I found myself wanting to hurry through parts of it. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Mr. L. E. Fuller
Calum's Road - Raasay
This is a wonderful book telling the story of one man's sheer dedication and hard work to provide a road on this magnificent small Scottish island off the coast of the Isle of... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Mrs. A. Clark
paper back novel
This book is a must for anyone who likes a mixture of history,determination and fighting local establishments. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Mr. William A. Anderson
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