Eric Richards

This is a particularly annoying book. It is my third book in last year about the 19th century "clearances" of tenant farmers in the Scottish Highlands. It offers some advantages over the others - it covers most of the highlands, rather than just a lurid, or well documented section of the areas affected. The authors sets out to be balanced, which reduces the chances of a polemic. But . . .
But the writing style drove me crazy - it affected me like fingernails down a blackboard. In attempting balance, the author tries to offer evidence on both sides of polarising issues, but fails to use the historical record to come up with even a tentative conclusion. Where he does lay out his own view, the evidence offered in support is poor, and he fails to provide the logical basis for a conclusion. The reader gets the impression that the author thinks the landlords have been given a bad rap, and that other authors fail to provide a balanced view. I was happy to see arguments to support this view, but the tangled sentences, the repetitions, the lack of conclusions, or the the lack of basis for conclusions made this a frustrating read. The author has odd obsessions - for example he repeatedly cites over-population growth as a root cause of the clearances. Population growth would undoubtedly be a factor in declining living standards among tenants, but I fail to see how clearances would be a solution, and the author has not enlightened me.
It seems that the definitive book on the clearances has yet to be written. One that provides context, one that describes changing clan leader/follower relationships. One that provides the legal basis for landlord's and tenants property rights. One that provides information on the landlord's Poor Law obligations, and how this changed over time. And so on.… (more)