The Highland Clearances [Paperback]

Eric Richards is a fluent, lucid writer. --The Herald

Required reading ... not to be missed for its fearless and comprehensive grasp of the past and its relevance for today. --Ileach

An informative account devoid of the bias that has clouded the subject. --Scottish Field --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

The Highland Clearances were one of the most devastating events in Scotland's history: brutal evictions, burning, starvation, and barren wastes. This new study shows how much deeper and more complex the subject is than had been previously thought. Eric Roberts tracks the origins of the Clearances from the 18th century to their culmination in the crofting legislation of the 1880s. He shows how the process of clearance was part of a European movement of rural depopulation, describes the gross overcrowding and appalling conditions of the Highland population and shows how invidious and difficult were the choices that faced even the most benevolent of landlords in the face of the harsh tide of economic change.

In no way is the brutality and horror of the Clearances diminished by time. The Clearances created a terrible scar in the Highland and Gaelic imagination, but it must be remembered, that they were simply one amongst many attempted "solutions" to a problem -- a problem that remains today -- of how to maintain a population on marginal and infertile land. As we enter the 21st century, the question of the Clearances is still with us and still unanswered.

Eric Richards is Professor of History at Flinders University and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. His books include The Highland Clearances: People, Landlords and Rural Turmoil (Edinburgh University Press 2000); Patrick Sellar and the Highland Clearances, (Edinburgh University Press, 1999) (Scottish History Book of the Year); The Last Scottish Food Riots (Oxford University Press, 1982); and The Leviathan of Wealth. The Sutherland fortune in the Industrial Revolution (University of Toronto Press, 1973). --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.