From Chiefs to Landlords: Social and Economic Change in the Western Highlands & Islands - Softcover

Dodgshon, Robert A.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0748610340 ISBN 13: 9780748610341

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press, 1998

Synopsis

This new approach to Highland history before the Clearances draws attention to little-studied yet important economic and social processes within the Highland clan system and argues that we should consider the problems of traditional Highland society, economy and environment together. Exploring how the different aspects of the clan system--chiefs and kinsmen, landlords and tenants, farming systems, production strategies and marketing--changed between the 16th-18th centuries, it shows how the character and ideology of clans and chiefdoms are inextricably part of the twin problems of socio-political control and food production. Shifting the emphasis away from depictions of Highland society as lawless and disorganised, this is a welcome antidote to the many romanticised views of pre-Clearance society.

About this title

About the Author:

Robert Dodgshon is professor of human geography at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth.

Review:

Substantial and scholarly work ... splendidly fills a major gap in the economic history and historical geography of Highland Scotland. By any standards this is an impressive and important work characterised by meticulous archival research, a heartening willingness to constantly slaughter sacred cows and, above all, ambition... The author takes us closer to the practical and, above all, non-romanticised aspects of clanship than any other previous commentator. This achievement alone means that anyone seriously wishing to understand the early modern Scottish Highlands must read From Chiefs to Landlords [This book] represents a substantial advance and is especially welcome!a great amount of detailed evidence has been amassed, sifted and critically interpreted. One of the features of the book in addition to its comprehensive and detailed rerencing, is its variety of maps and tables giving concrete illustration and quantification. Substantial and scholarly work ... splendidly fills a major gap in the economic history and historical geography of Highland Scotland. By any standards this is an impressive and important work characterised by meticulous archival research, a heartening willingness to constantly slaughter sacred cows and, above all, ambition... The author takes us closer to the practical and, above all, non-romanticised aspects of clanship than any other previous commentator. This achievement alone means that anyone seriously wishing to understand the early modern Scottish Highlands must read From Chiefs to Landlords [This book] represents a substantial advance and is especially welcome!a great amount of detailed evidence has been amassed, sifted and critically interpreted. One of the features of the book in addition to its comprehensive and detailed rerencing, is its variety of maps and tables giving concrete illustration and quantification.

About this edition

• Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0748610340
• ISBN 13: 9780748610341
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320