The Crofter & The Laird

John McPhee

ISBN 10: 1907970916 / ISBN 13: 9781907970917

Published by Daunt Books

Item in very good condition! Textbooks may not include supplemental items i.e. CDs, access codes etc. Seller Inventory # 00079093243

Synopsis:

McPhee is a grand master of narrative non-fiction. Guardian

In 1969, John McPhee moved his family from New Jersey across the Atlantic to live in the land of his forefathers, the island of Colonsay seventeen square miles of dew and damp twenty-five miles off the coast of Scotland. They rented a crofthouse, his children enrolled at the local school, and they soon were accepted into this tightly circumscribed community of 138 people.

Intertwining history and legend, McPhee gives us a comprehensive portrait of this remote and misty land. He battles the fierce gales on the outer shoals of the Ardskenish Peninsula, listens to the crofters complain of the laird over drams in the island s sole pub, and meets perhaps the last of the Great Highland bagpipers.

A blend of anthropology and travelogue, The Crofter and the Laird presents us with a perfect mirror of daily-life in the Highlands. McPhee writes with insight, sensitivity, and fondness for these hardy people resulting in an account that's as honest, humorous, and frank as the locals themselves.

Astonishing. Even the Gaelic names are spelt correctly. The book is in many ways unusually frank and the portraits incisive ... neither sentimental nor judgmental, but clear-cut and sensible. Iain Crichton Smith

About the Author: John McPhee has published more than thirty books and much of his work first appeared in the pages of the The New Yorker, where he has been a staff writer since 1963. He is a four-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, winning in 1999 for Annals of the Former World. McPhee teach¬es non-fiction writing at Princeton University.

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Crofter & The Laird
Publisher: Daunt Books
Binding: Soft cover
Condition: Very Good