The Reivers: The Story of the Border Reivers
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"This is a page-turning history, lucidly written, and it is enhanced by a selection of five famous Border ballads. One of the best reads of the year, without doubt." --Hamish Coghill "Scottish Life" 'This is a history as exciting and dramatic as the Border ballads themselves' - Cumberland News 'a most compelling, thought-provoking and entertaining history' - The Herald
From start to finish I could not put this book down --Living North Magazine
From start to finish I could not put this book down --Living North Magazine
Product Description
Only one period in history is immediately, indelibly and uniquely linked to the whole area of the Scottish and English Border country, and that is the time of the Reivers. Whenever anyone mentions 'Reiver', no-one hesitates to add 'Border'. It is an inextricable association, and rightly so. Nowhere else in Britain in the modern era, or indeed in Europe, did civil order break down over such a wide area, or for such a long time. For more than a century the hoof-beats of countless raiding parties drummed over the border. From Dumfriesshire to the high wastes of East Cumbria, from Roxburghshire to Redesdale, from the lonely valley of Liddesdale to the fortress city of Carlisle, swords and spears spoke while the law remained silent. Fierce family loyalty counted for everything while the rules of nationality counted for nothing.The whole range of the Cheviot Hills, its watershed ridges and the river valleys which flowed out of them became the landscape of larceny while Maxwells, Grahams, Fenwicks, Carletons, Armstrongs and Elliots rode hard and often for plunder. These were the Riding Times and in modern European history, they have no parallel. This book tells the remarkable story of the Reivers and how they made the Borders.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I've long been a fan of MacDonald Fraser's 'Steel Bonnets' so I was interested to see what Alistair Moffat's book would add.
The hardback is just over 320 pages, grouped into two main parts, four chapters in the first, and three in the second. Add to this five appendices, the bibliography and a concise and easy to use index, there's a lot here to immerse yourself in. And in the centre of the book you have the illustrations, thirty-two superb colour photographs of the landscapes of the Borders that do so much to evoke the mood of the era. They compliment the text admirably.
As you cruise through the book you often have additional box inserts that take the reader off into interesting sidelines of yet more fascinating information. There are just to many to mention, and all add to the flavour that the author provides the reader, with his view of the troubled times of the sixteenth century.
I have to say that from start to finish, I couldn't put this book down. It adds to MacDonald Fraser's work and is a 'must-have' for anyone interested in the hardy doughty folk of the Border, their lawless ways and customs, the feuds and the politics that shaped their life. An inspiring read.
The hardback is just over 320 pages, grouped into two main parts, four chapters in the first, and three in the second. Add to this five appendices, the bibliography and a concise and easy to use index, there's a lot here to immerse yourself in. And in the centre of the book you have the illustrations, thirty-two superb colour photographs of the landscapes of the Borders that do so much to evoke the mood of the era. They compliment the text admirably.
As you cruise through the book you often have additional box inserts that take the reader off into interesting sidelines of yet more fascinating information. There are just to many to mention, and all add to the flavour that the author provides the reader, with his view of the troubled times of the sixteenth century.
I have to say that from start to finish, I couldn't put this book down. It adds to MacDonald Fraser's work and is a 'must-have' for anyone interested in the hardy doughty folk of the Border, their lawless ways and customs, the feuds and the politics that shaped their life. An inspiring read.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I found this book at Melrose Abbey on a recent trip to the UK and discovered hours of fun reading. Moffat's style is like talking to a favorite uncle who shares delicious family secrets through his recollection of the period, complete with humor and a bit of honest sarcasm. He makes the history of the Anglo/Scottish Borders and the lives of the Border Reivers come alive. This is wonderful social history, presented in a way that appeals to the larger public audience. I have recommended this book to many American Romance authors who are looking for a great research source on the culture of the Borders, be it the English or Scottish Marches. This is a great companion piece to his THE BORDERS book: same style and presentation. Both should be read and savored for their honest and witty presentation without being too scholarly.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
While this book has its own style and brings a new angle to an old topic, it doesn't offer much new material and covers a lot of ground already covered in Moffat's other book "The Borders". I still enjoyed it but would always rate "The Steel Bonnets" higher.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Good read
I enjoyed reading the book and got a lot of information from it. Had to say though I preferred the "Steel bonnets" as mentioned already by another reviewer.
Published on 31 Jan 2010 by redhotchilli
Light, racy and informative
Alaistair Moffat is here reprising ground covered by the great George MacDonald Fraser in his The Steel Bonnets: Story of the Anglo-Scottish Border Reivers. Read more
Published on 19 Oct 2009 by Malcolm Redfellow
THE REIVERS
We bought THE REIVERS book to find out more about our own history. We had the CD but we needed to know more. Read more
Published on 1 Jun 2009 by Mr. James Henderson
'Faction', not convincingly researched history?
As a borderer born and raised in Annandale I found this book disappointing. Written by somone who worked in television it bears all the hallmarks of that medium's... Read more
Published on 5 Oct 2008 by R. Murdoch
Mindless appaling slaughter
This is a marvellous book, which deals with one of the most contentious periods in British history. For almost 300 years from the time of Edward 1st until the Union of the Crowns... Read more
Published on 2 Oct 2007 by Robert Clive Turnbull
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