RECOMMENDED BOOKS

The following are a few of the best and most reliable books about Highland heritage.

General Information about Highland Heritage in Scotland

A Handbook of the Scottish Gaelic World, Michael Newton, (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2000).

A general overview of the history and culture of the Scottish Highlands during the clan period, c. 1200-1800.

The New Penguin History of Scotland, edited by R.A. Houston and W.W. Knox

A comprehensive and up-to-date history of Scotland which covers a very broad view of people, events, and aspects of daily life in all periods. Includes color illustrations of historical artifacts, people and events.

The Edinburgh History of Scottish Literature (3 vols.), general editor Ian Brown

A comprehensive and up-to-date survey of Scottish literature, with much material on Scottish Gaelic.

Highland Immigrant Culture and History in North America

Oatmeal and the Catechism: Scottish Gaelic Settlers in Quebec, Margaret Bennett, (Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1998).

Songs Remembered in Exile, John L. Campbell, (Edinburgh: Birlinn, 2002).

A collection of songs preserved and recorded in the Highland immigrant community in Nova Scotia.

Highland Settler: A Portrait of the Scottish Gael in Cape Breton and Eastern Nova Scotia, Charles Dunn, (Cape Breton Island: Breton Books, reprint 1991).

Carolina Scots, Douglas Kelly and Caroline Switzer Kelly, (Dillon, South Carolina: 1739 Publications, 1998).

About the settlement of Highland Scots in the Cape Fear Valley, with extensive genealogical information.

The Emigrant Experience, Margaret MacDonell, (University of Toronto Press, 1982).

A collection of Gaelic poetry composed by emigrants who left for North America.

Scotland and the Americas, c. 1650- c. 1939, Allan Macinnes, Marjory-Ann Harper and Linda Fryer, (Edinburgh: Scottish History Society, 2002).

A collection of materials relating to immigrants throughout North and South America, mostly primary texts with some commentary and analysis.

Brìgh an Òrain / A Story in Every Song: The Songs and Tales of Lauchie MacLellan, John Shaw, (Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2000).

A collection of songs and tales recorded by John Shaw from a fine tradition-bearer of Cape Breton.

Scotland's Empire, T. M. Devine, (London and NY: Penguin Books, 2003)

An excellent overview of the Scottish diaspora in its many forms across the globe.

Transatlantic Scots, Celeste Ray (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2005)

A collection of essays about Scottish-American and Scottish-Canadian identity in modern North America.