LORDS OF THE ISLES (AMBERLEY)

Timothy Venning traces the complex story of Scotland’s north-west coast and islands, an area of mixed Celtic and Scandinavian culture and virtual political autonomy until the catastrophe of 1745-46, when those clans loyal to their traditional sovereigns were decimated for backing the Stuart invasion. The London government then suppressed an entire culture. The story shows the dynamics of a richly varied world that grew up alongside and yet was alien to centralised modern Britain.