“The Highland Clearances” by Eric Richards provides a comprehensive look at Scotland’s Highland Clearances, mass evictions that took place in the 18th and 19th centuries. The book outlines the entirety of the Clearances, from the factors leading up to the historical period to the aftermath.
I am doing a presentation on the Highland Clearances for a
Celtic Cultural Club that I run at my library. When I was researching another
topic, I came upon the Highland Clearances. After that moment, I knew I wanted
to learn more. A few weeks later, I stumbled upon this book in a local thrift
store and I could not have been more excited. I knew immediately that this book
was going to be a definitive resource for helping me learn, and it did not
disappoint.
Going into this book, I knew very little about the Highland
Clearances. Richards did a great job of researching the subject, providing
quotes and sources throughout the book. My edition of the book even had
photographs in the middle of the book with informative captions.
At first, the book seemed to be written in very academic
terms. Once readers become adjusted to the writing style, it is easier to get
into the groove of the book. It took me a few chapters, but eventually, I got
into the flow of Richards’s writing style and sentence structure. There are a
lot of words in the book that I had to look up the meaning of, and some of the
concepts were not explained as in-depth as I would have liked.
The book is broken up into intuitive chapters, which are
further broken into sections. This helps the book seem less daunting and much
easier to digest. The sections of each chapter made it easier to figure out
what was going on and helped keep the author organized as well.
While the background may not seem important to many, it provides
a foundation for the rest of the book. The context about what happened before
the clearances and similar in other countries gives important information for readers
to get a sense of what was happening in Scotland.
Overall, this book was so informative and well-written. I
went into the book knowing next to nothing about the Highland Clearances, and
now I feel like I have enough information to do my presentation on the
Clearances. Readers will gain a lot of insight and information from the
context, from what occurred before the Highland Clearances to similar events in
other countries.
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