St. Kilda: Island on the Edge of the World (Canongate Classic)

Rating:
Summary: Account of a Scottish island before its complete evacuation
Review: A fascinating history of a tiny island 110 miles off the coast of mainland Scotland that was evacuated in 1930 and remains a sanctuary to sea birds and a site for archaeological study. MacLean's account is extremely well-written, detailing the simple lifestyle of the people that was made unfeasible over the years by the outside world, the damage being done by everything from disease to which the islanders were not immune, overly zealous missionaries, and an undermining of the islanders' self-reliance. The last chapter, in which the author gives his opinions on utopian society as a concept is a bit dated (pub. date 1972) but overall the book is terrific.

Rating:
Summary: A fascinating account of life on St Kilda
Review: I have read Charles Mclean's book on St Kilda many times. On one level it is a fascinating account of the inhabited history of St Kilda, a group of islands off the north western coast of Scotland whose population survived until 1930 largely independently of the mainland. On another, it is an insightful analysis of the both the durability and long-term unviability of remote communities. Mclean writes with genuine affection for St Kilda and, one detects, admiration for the physical and physchological endurance of the St Kildans. Yet he avoids overly-romanticising what was often a harsh and ultimately impossible way of life, albeit one that had survived for hundreds of years. The story of St Kilda is genuinely tragic and Mclean delicately captures the collective melancholy of a people who know that they have been overtaken by the pace and demands of modern society. His final reflections on the nature of primitive social organisation remain relevant today as society (often in the form of major oil companies) come to terms with the few remaining truly remote communities left in the world. This is a wonderful book by a gifted and learned writer. I recommend it.