- Paperback: 304 pages
- Publisher: HarperCollins; 2Rev Ed edition (12 May 1988)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0006373402
- ISBN-13: 978-0006373407
- Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 12.8 x 2.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 145,649 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
The extraordinary story of the UK’s most gruelling and spectacularly beautiful islands.
Situated at the westernmost point of the United Kingdom, the spectacularly beautiful but utterly bleak island of St Kilda is familiar to virtually nobody. A lonely archipelago off the coast of Scotland, it is hard to believe that for over two thousand years, men and women lived here, cut off from the rest of the world.
With a population never exceeding two hundred in its history, the St Kildans were fiercely self-sufficient. An intensely religious people, they climbed cliffs from childhood and caught birds for food. Their sense of community was unparalleled and isolation enveloped their day-to-day existence.
With the onset of the First World War, things changed. For the very first time in St Kilda’s history, daily communication was established between the islanders and the mainland. Slowly but surely, this marked the beginning of the end of St Kilda and in August 1930, the island’s remaining 36 inhabitants were evacuated.
In this fascinating book, Tom Steel tells the moving story of this vanished community and how twentieth century civilization ultimately brought an entire way of life to its knees.
From the Back Cover
FULLY REVISED AND UPDATED
On 29 August 1930 the remaining 36 inhabitants of this bleak but spectacular island off Scotland's western coast took ship for the mainland. A community that had survived alone for centuries finally succumbed to the ravages that resulted from mainland contact. What their lives had been like century after century, why they left, and what happened to them afterwards is the subject of Tom Steel's fascinating book. It is the story of a way of life unlike any other, told here in words and pictures, and of how the impact of twentieth-century civilization led to its death.
This edition contains new chapters that take account of the lives of those who, for very different reasons and in very different ways, have come to live and work on St Kilda in recent years and have continued the extraordinary story of those most gruelling and spectacularly beautiful islands.
"First-rate recreation of a vanished way of life"
THE SCOTSMAN
"Compulsive reading"
THE GUARDIAN
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
27 of 27 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
It may not be "unputdownable", but it is definately worth taking the time to read. The book takes you from beginnings of known history on St. Kilda, through to the evacuation and the main causes for it, and onto the islands new role as a bird sanctury and a milatary observation base. It tells a story of a way of life that you would have thought could not have existed in such a barren and wild outcrop of rock. It is fasinating tale of how they existed from day to day with the poorest of resources. The St. Kildans lived on seabirds, sheep and anything else they could fashion into a commodity for centuries, but ultimately they had to give way to "progress". Society of the 1920's couldn't understand how these people could live or even want to live on this rocky outcrop. So, with the population declining and the average age of the islanders increasing it was decided to re-house these people for their own good on the mainland. The book carries on after the evacuation and tends to get a little sentimental near the end, as you realise that the author has been touched by his experiences and tries to convey this. Altogether, it is an education to read, but don't let that stop you as you will enjoy it!
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
There have been numerous books written about St Kilda and the evacuation. This work, and Charles McLean's 'Island on the Edge of the World' are probably the most comprehensive and best known.
Whilst reading this book, my early impressions were that it was pretty poor in comparison to Mclean's, which gives a much better account of the day to day existance of islanders and their customs. However, once nearer to the end of Steel's book I realised that it is really covering a different series of events to Mcleans. Whereas Mclean gives a fascinating account of life on St Kilda, Steels book is more concerned with the years immediately leading up to the evacuation and the reasons for the evacuation. It also deals at considerable length with the fortunes of the St Kildans post-evacuation, and looks in detail at the happenings on the island since evacuation.
So, although some parts of the book are a bit of a toil (e.g. numerous pages discussing GPO system)it's probably worth 5 stars in the round.
Whilst reading this book, my early impressions were that it was pretty poor in comparison to Mclean's, which gives a much better account of the day to day existance of islanders and their customs. However, once nearer to the end of Steel's book I realised that it is really covering a different series of events to Mcleans. Whereas Mclean gives a fascinating account of life on St Kilda, Steels book is more concerned with the years immediately leading up to the evacuation and the reasons for the evacuation. It also deals at considerable length with the fortunes of the St Kildans post-evacuation, and looks in detail at the happenings on the island since evacuation.
So, although some parts of the book are a bit of a toil (e.g. numerous pages discussing GPO system)it's probably worth 5 stars in the round.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I bought this book the day after I landed on St. Kilda and combined with the visit it really paints a picture of the St. Kildan's remote island life. It mixes the idyllic with the hardships and teaches us a thing or two about the impact of money and greed. Unfortunately my great grandfather doesn't get a mention!
A fascinating read, my only criticism of which would be that there's only so much one can say about the birds.
A fascinating read, my only criticism of which would be that there's only so much one can say about the birds.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
st kilda
This is a very sympathetic story of the inhabitants of St.Kilda who were forced their island home for financial,social and developmental factors in August 1930 and what happened to... Read more
Published 20 months ago by G. I. Forbes
Humbling.
I loved this book and have passed it on.
The way of life was so severe yet you mourned it's passing. Read more
The way of life was so severe yet you mourned it's passing. Read more
Published on 7 April 2009 by Kate the Great
Interesting Read
I discovered the existence of St Kilda whilst holidaying on Scotland and was curious to discover more. Read more
Published on 28 April 2003 by Walsall Wench
Life and Death of St Kilda
Despite being classed as an educational read, which might put most people off I recommend this book! It talks about a society, enclosed on a archipelago of small islands. Read more
Published on 2 Jan 2003 by Daryl Brown
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