Reading the Gaelic Landscape = Leughadh Aghaidh na TireBy John Murray
Whittles Publishing, 2019. 264 pages. Nonfiction
Reading the Gaelic Landscape is essential for anyone who is interested in the Scottish Highlands and its native language. It enables people to read and understand place-names in Gaelic, providing insights into landscape character and history. Following the success of the first edition, this new edition has been expanded and improved with additional images and enhanced drawings.
This is a book that has an impressive amount of data and information concerning Gaelic place names, diving into the different names for hills, mountains, stones, to place names that reference animals, objects, body parts, and violent events of the past. If anyone was planning a trip to the Highlands of Scotland, this would be very worthwhile. But it is deeper than that as well, for it tells the story of the marginalization of the Gaelic-speaking people of Scotland, and how even before the 'Highland Clearances' which began in the 18th century, the language and the people who spoke it were thought of in terms of being foreign and other. Therefore, many of these places were named in a time when the whole population spoke Gaelic, and as that population was driven out, either to other parts of the land that were not as fertile, or out of the country entirely, those names were forgotten (in the 2010 Census in Scotland, only 1.1% of the population now speaks Gaelic!). As someone who has studied Scottish Gaelic, it is especially poignant to read. I recommend this to anyone who would like to know more about this little-known part of history (unless you're an Outlander fan!), or who loves the natural world and is fascinated by the words and phrases the Scottish people used, and still use to describe it.
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By Robert Macfarlane
Viking, 2012. 432 pages. Nonfiction
In this exquisitely written book, Robert Macfarlane sets off from his Cambridge, England, home to follow the ancient tracks, holloways, drove roads, and sea paths that crisscross both the British landscape and its waters and territories beyond. The result is an immersive, enthralling exploration of the ghosts and voices that haunt old paths, of the stories our tracks keep and tell, and of pilgrimage and ritual.
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By Sam Heughan & Graham McTavish
Hodder & Stoughton, 2020. 294 pages. Nonfiction
From their faithful camper van to boats, kayaks, bicycles, and motorbikes, join stars of Outlander Sam and Graham on a road trip with a difference, as two Scotsmen explore a land of raw beauty, poetry, feuding, music, history, and warfare. Unlikely friends Sam and Graham begin their journey in the heart of Scotland at Glencoe - the site of a great massacre and major clan feud - and travel from there all the way to Inverness and Culloden battlefield, where along the way they experience adventure and a cast of highland characters. In this story of friendship, finding themselves, and whisky, they discover the complexity, rich history and culture of their native country.
By Graham Robb
W.W. Norton & Company, 2018. 334 pages. Nonfiction
Two years ago, Graham Robb moved to a place of legend called the Debatable Land, an independent territory that once served as a buffer between Scotland and England. The oldest detectable territorial division in Great Britain, the Debatable Land was once the bloodiest region in the country. After most of its population was slaughtered or deported, it became the last part of Great Britain to be conquered by England and Scotland. Today, it has vanished from the map and its boundaries are matters of myth and generational memories. Under the spell of a powerful curiosity, Robb began a journey--on foot, by bicycle, and into the past.
MGB
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