Highlanders: Unlocking Identity Through History

The Gaels, an oppressed indigenous minority in Scotland, experienced recurrent rebellion due to economic hardship and warfare. Their language, Gaelic, and family and social system, the clans, set them apart from outsiders. Despite their hardship, the Gaels have a rich cultural heritage and have been romanticized by the artistic elite of other nations. This book provides ways to find roots and ancestry in unfamiliar terrain.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 277 pages
Publication date: 31 January 2024
Publisher: McFarland & Co Inc

Rebellion was recurrent in the Highlands because the Gaels (Scoti) were an often-oppressed indigenous minority in the nation, Scotland, to which they gave their name. They spoke a language, Gaelic, few outsiders would learn, and had their own family and social system, the clans. Warfare was bloody, culminating in the catastrophe of Culloden Moor during the doomed quest to restore the Stuart kingship to all of Britain. Economic hardship, including the near-genocidal Clearances, in which tenant farmers were replaced with sheep, drove the Gaels from the glens and islands, so that most today live in the diaspora, including millions in North America. Although the Gaels lack a single genetic identity, they clearly draw from distinct roots in the Irish, Norse, and Picts. Despite their hardship, the Gaels are also presented in romantic portrayals by the artistic elite of other nations. This book offers ways in which the reader might find roots and ancestry in unfamiliar terrain. Chapters discuss the landscape and language of the Highlanders, the rise of clans, feuds and invasions, and eventual emigration.

Weight: 272g
Dimension: 254 x 178 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781476693125