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21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
There is enough here for everyone, 1 Aug 2003
`Soil and Soul` is a story of one thing and many things; the Earth and its people. Alastair McIntosh provides us with an object lesson and demonstration inhow the welfare of the later is indivisibe from that of the former. He demonstrates this interconectivity by telling the story of how crofters, on the Hebridean island of Eigg, reclaimed their custodianship of the land from the Laird and thus ended nearly 1000 years of injustice and feudal land tenure. He also tells the story, as yet unresolved, of the worlds largest aggregates consortiums attempts to gain licence to hollow out a superquarry on the Isle of Harris which would result, as one local put it, turn Harris into `..the gravel pit of Europe`.`Soil and soul` is, though, more than the lineal accounting of eco campaigning and legal battles from an author who was intimately involved with both issues. Much of the book is given over to matters of history, theology, feminism and ecology. McIntosh begins with the tale of how Kings and corporations, power and wealth, have, over the centuries, in the Scottish Highlands obscenely stolen, terrorised and bullied it indigenous people. Inherent in this process, he posits,was the wilful destruction of native spirituality and self sufficiency all in the pursuit of power and worship of Mamon. In one sense then it is the history, writ small, of much of the history of the world. If you blanch at the invocation of Mamon then perhaps this book isn`t for you. McIntosh doesn`t pull his theological punches. His spiritual outlook is deeply rooted in pagan christianity and its deep reverence of the `Mother Earth` and an imminent god. Passages from the Bible are often quoted. Do not, though, be put off by his pertinant meanderings into eco-feminism or liberation theology. He is never pompous or pious but he does, on occasion, vere towards the precious but this simply underlines his integrity and honesty. He is also prone to drift into the kind of academic-speak that, this fellow of the Centre for Human Ecology, might use with his undergraduates. But this is a small price to pay for the overall cogency of his beliefs, the subjects of which, in less rigourous hands, may be made to appear as just so much nouveaux-hippy wishful thinking. McIntosh doesn`t let this happen for a minute. This book contains much to energise and sustain anyone who is perhaps only beginning to question our relationship with the land we live on and with. As a young man I read William Morris` `News From Nowhere` which as the years roled on revealed itself to be the book most influential on my sensibilities. I have no doubt that this book will have a similar revelatory impact upon some unsuspecting 17 year old who is yet to read it. Before I had finished my copy I had sent another copy to a friend. Even if you do not wear a chunky jumper or knit your own yoghurt there is much here to be divined in this excellent book. It realy is the gift that keeps on giving.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
Review by John Seed, Rainforest Information Centre, NSW, 2 Sep 2001
By A Customer
Alastair McIntosh's Soil and Soul leads me on from my first reading of Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed. The same thirst for justice, the same identification of the eloquent bard with the voiceless ones rekindles poetry and revolution in the readers heart and thunders forth "alarm! alarm!" as deep as any Biblical prophesy. McIntosh is able to leave one foot firmly planted in the old ways of a native Celtic people and the other slap bang in the middle of scholarly argumentation thereby bridging the great divide between poetry and science. He helps us to come to terms with our broken hearts and understand the dysfunctional power behind the carnage. Soil and Soul is a major work which stretches us from the psychohistory of colonisation as seen through the lens of Hebridean culture to inspiring, empowering and entertaining case histories of community empowerment and cultural healing in which the author has played a pioneering part: read it! - John Seed (author of Thinking Like a Mountain).
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
Most important book I have ever read, 6 Jan 2002
This book is essential reading for all those who care about the way our society is developing. Alastair McIntosh shows by examples such as the Harris superquarry that the giant corporates can be taken on and defeated. He does this in such a way as to (re)awaken a genuine sense of reverence for the Earth in general and my own country Scotland in particular. I have read it once since I received it at Christmas and I will be reading it again very soon!
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
This is an important and hope filled book., 11 Dec 2001
By A Customer
When I finished reading this wonderfully written book, I ordered four more copies, one for a group and three for individuals who,like the author, are about creating a more caring culture. I believe that his quest for environmental justice in his homeland will give the book's readers courage and hope as it connects to all such quests. It is in learning one another's stories that will enable us together to build a world that works for all.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
An inspiration to all., 8 Sep 2005
I have just finished reading 'Soil and Soul' and would recommend it to anyone who is campaigning, or wishing to campaign for justice in their world. Equally I would recommend it to anyone who is totally uninterested in such matters, especially those who work for corporations and believe in the capitalist ideology. Alistair writes superbly with a rare depth and humanity that cannot fail to touch your soul and have you looking at the soil beneath your feet with a fresh sense of reverence and humanity.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
A delightful, poetic read on painful subjects, 20 May 2003
"Soil and Soul" is about how Scottish land was stolen from its residents, how the natural flow of capitalism exacerbated this process, and how a great victory was won recently in getting some control back to the Scots over their land.But this book is not at all polemical. It mixes the author's reminiscences of growing up in the Hebrides and rubbing noses a bit with the overlords; Bardic background to establish the culture of Scotland the people's natural relationship with the land; a balanced ergonomic analysis without fingerpointing; and a deep religious understanding as well; to lay the background for the battles to give the isle of Eigg back to its inhabitants, and to prevent a beautiful mountain from being turned into an unsightly garbage pit (this battle is not yet over however). The latter part of the book carefully explains how a combination of mysticism, religion and careful grassworks planning actually helped to stop the Isle of Eigg from being a plaything of the rich. AN UNLIKELY TERIFFIC READ!
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
Clarity, insight, inspiration - a rare combination., 7 Nov 2001
By A Customer
Alastair McIntosh has crafted a beautifully written, hard-hitting and mind-blowing book here. It's the kind of book that will be of lasting importance as a testimony to the importance of place, belonging and identity and 'naming the powers' in our search for an ecologically, socially sustainable world. Congratulations to the author - and give yourself enough time to fully digest the stories, insight and poetry of a Scottish bard in full flight...
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
modern myth carved out of contemporary reality, 3 Dec 2001
By A Customer
wandering through the mind of an inquisitive determind scot, with a firm view of the universal picture. riding the crest of creation, as he says, putting us all back in the driving seat.
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0 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Very disappointing, 5 Sep 2009
Fortunately I resisted the temptation of buying this book and got it from the library. It was a wise move.
I am not sure what this book sets out to do, except fill a couple of hundred pages. It is presumably one of those "every one has a book in them" scenarios.
What follows is pretty appalling narcisism, citing the words of the good and the great in order to appear to be occuping the same light as them. It is also full of the crass self-pity of the Highland outlook and regails in the belief that we cannot surpass the events of history. Surely it is about time for a Scotsman to say that they can't change the past but can write their own future.
This book is not about challenging corporate power at all, it is just a bit of a autobiography with some stuff about forming the Isle of Eigg Trust. Lets not forget that the tax payers bought Eigg for the people of Eigg. Perhaps the government could do that for all of us and buy us some land.
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