Hebridean connection: A view of the highlands and islands

by Derek Cooper

Exploring the real strengths and crippling weaknesses of highland and island life, Derek Cooper presents the fishermen of Outer Skerries, the Raasay crofter who dug a two-mile road with his own hands, and the speculators who have snapped up many of the Hebridean islands.

Genres: Nonfiction, Scotland, Travel

184 pages, Hardcover

First published April 2, 1977

About the author

Derek Cooper (PhD, The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia) is associate professor of world Christian history at Biblical Theological Seminary. He is the author of several books, including Exploring Church History and Christianity and World Religions: An Introduction to the World's Major Faiths, and he is the coeditor of the Reformation Commentary on Scripture volume on 1-2 Samuel, 1-2 Kings, 1-2 Chronicles.

Reviews

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of those happy chance books. I go to Matlock on a rainy day as a chauffeur. Find I've left my book at home and pop into the local Oxfam bookshop to take pot luck. I'm reading about Scotland at the moment and want to find out about the Western Isles. I know Derek Cooper as the Burgundy voiced presenter of Radio 4s The Food Programme from the seventies and eighties. I discover he knows as much about the Hebrides as he does about claret and venison and is able to express it every bit as pleasurably.

A well written account of a place to live and work with much less time for those who come in search of their own idyl and bugger up everybody else's by bringing a guitar and a passion for making crap out of shells, and much much less time for those who use their obscene and ill-gotten wealth to play the landowner at the expense of real people and a real way of life.

Perhaps a few years out of date but I haven't come across any thing more recent that is anything like as good.

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cooper writes of the Highlands and Islands with a clear-sighted, knowledgeable affection, but with a total lack of sentimentality and romance. ("Only those who are not aware what the past was like can afford to be sentimental about it." he comments) While appreciating the many benefits of living in this beautiful part of the world, he is also very forthright about the many problems encountered by both locals and incomers in this remote part of the country.

The book was written in the 1970s, with later editions having an updated chapter, written in 1990. Although even that is now over 20 years out of date, there is still much that is relevant and interesting in this delightful book - highly recommended to anyone who has an interest in Scotland or in the challenges of living in small, isolated communities. Although I suspect Cooper's knowledge of the rest of Britain must have been quite limited for him to state that the Highlands and Islands were "the last bit of Britain not entirely built upon." We do have some non-tarmacked areas in Wales too, Mr Cooper!

This book also benefits from some beautiful black and white photographs of the area.