This classic account of the events which shaped the modern Highlands was written by a man who has gone on to become a leading figure in the public life of that region. For years, The Making of the Crofting Community has been attracting praise and provoking outrage in equal measure. Its author has always identified with the people whose lives were shattered by the landlords responsible for the Highland Clearances.
James Hunter is Emeritus Professor of History at the University of the Highlands and Islands. He has written extensively about the north of Scotland and about the region’s worldwide diaspora. In the course of a varied career Hunter has been, among other things, director of the Scottish Crofters Union, chairman of Highlands and Islands Enterprise and an award-winning journalist. His book Set Adrift upon the World (Birlinn 2016) was Saltire History Book of the Year in 2016.