This is a useful guide with plenty of photographs and easily digestible text giving information about Barra and the Uists in the Outer Hebrides. The photographs are it's strength. Plentiful and colourful they serve as an antidote to inclement weather, allowing the visitor to appreciate what the area can look like if mists and rain prevent an instant, real time appreciation! The history of the islands is set out in an easily readable form and pre-visit reading will help the visitor to better understand the area, its culture and its people. Unfortunately this book has not been updated for some time so local information within it should be treated with caution. It predates the uniting of Eriskay, South Uist, Benbecula, North Uist and Berneray by causeways and it makes no mention of a stunning statue, Our Lady of the Isles, which occupies a commanding position on South Uist. Nevertheless it does remain one of the few useful books for the traveller to the Western Isles.