A Daily Telegraph, Herald and Scotsman Book of the Year 2018
‘Scotland’s best modern historian … he make history accessible backed up with formidable original research … a balanced, detailed and extremely readable account of one of the saddest events in Scotland’s history’ Ewen MacAskill, Guardian
‘It is his magnum opus … also provides a final and exquisite stitching underpinning the tapestry woven through his other great Scottish histories: To the Ends of the Earth, Scotland’s Empire and Independence or Union’ Kevin McKenna, The Herald
‘Devine treats the subject with sensitive intelligence … in providing us with the material which makes it more possible to see history as it actually was, Sir Tom has written a necessary book’ Allan Massie, Scotsman
‘In this powerful book Devine lays out the history with admirable lucidity and comprehensive depth … The processes of dispossession related in this important book continue to mark contemporary Scotland. The emptiness of the countryside, north and south, is marketed as a natural and positive state of affairs. Solitude and wilderness are valuable commodities today. Tom Devine lays out, in comprehensive depth, the traumatic process that created these conditions’ Ewen Cameron, Irish Times
‘In a meticulously detailed history Devine sets the record straight … there are some notable myth-busting moments and a lot to admire in this book’ Stuart Kelly, Spectator
‘A giant of Scottish intellectual life, Professor Sir Tom Devine is always a clear eyed guide to the country’s history … this book is a history which still matters’ The Herald
‘Devine’s book should be in every Scottish library, private as well as public. He is a master … expert in moulding the morass of new historiographic material into a digestible whole. He writes with admirable clarity, sticking closely to verifiable information, with two audiences in mind, one his peers in universities, the other the reading public’ Alan Taylor, Scottish Review of Books
‘This book is very much in the Devine mould: eloquent, erudite and comprehensive … his usual trenchant style is also on display. These features will ensure its relevance to Scottish historical studies for some considerable time to come’ D. S. Forsyth, Literary Review
‘So much British History is London-centric but T.M. Devine, probably the foremost historian of Scotland, challenges that’ Simon Heffer, Daily Telegraph, ‘50 Books that Blew Us Away 2018’
‘Likely to represent the definitive word for at least an academic generation on this most controversial of topics in Scottish history’ The National
‘Sir Tom Devine has swept away much of the misunderstanding but has not deadened the story. What he tells is in many respects even more dramatic’ Brian Morton, The Herald
‘A massively researched work’ Magnus Linklater, The Times Scotland
‘Scotland’s most important current historian … When it comes to the Clearances, Devine is again an exhilarating puncturer of myths and resolver of mysteries. Devine is rigorous, factual, endlessly curious and unafraid to draw big conclusions. He has made a superb book. It is crammed with data but is colourful and passionate as well. Anyone interested in Scottish history needs to read it … it is also a great contribution to British history’ Andrew Marr, Sunday Times
‘A great historian punctuates a national myth. This superb book is written by a member of the Scottish intellectual aristocracy (Tom Devine is a knight as well as a professor) which renders its conclusions almost unassailable. This is a life work … what is obvious is that the book is massively researched’ David Aaronovitch, The Times