Product Description

Damn' Rebel Bitches takes a totally fresh approach to the history of the Jacobite Rising by telling fascinating stories of the many women caught up in the turbulent events of 1745-46. Many historians have ignored female participation in the '45: this book aims to redress the balance. Drawn from many original documents and letters, the stories that emerge of the women - and their men - are often touching, occasionally light-hearted and always engrossing.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #97897 in Books
• Published on: 2000-03-16
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

From the Author
It's ten years ago this month (September 2007) since the first hardback edition of Damn' Rebel Bitches: The Women of the '45 was published, and I'm celebrating. It's never been out of print since and I know, because they've told me so, that many people all over the world have found it fascinating and inspiring. In fact, it's not unusual for me to find complete strangers flinging their arms around my neck when they discover I'm the author. This happens especially when I'm visiting the battlefield at Culloden Moor near Inverness where Bonnie Prince Charlie's Jacobite army was eventually defeated in 1746. This site of the last full-scale battle to be fought on British soil is now for many of us, Scots and non-Scots, a very special place of pilgrimage and reflection.

Other people, both interested readers and academics, have been kind enough to tell me that Damn' Rebel Bitches was and remains a ground-breaking book, as it remains the authority on its subject. I certainly did my level best to find out as much as I possibly could about these previously largely unsung heroines of Scottish history, travelling all over the UK to trawl through original documents, newspapers, manuscripts and pamphlets in archives, record offices and libraries. I also corresponded with similar institutions in France and the West Indies. Very little was available on the Internet back in 1997. Research had to be done the hard - if very enjoyable - way.

I'm fiercely proud of Damn' Rebel Bitches, both in terms of the masses of original research I did and of the way in which I wrote it. I've been thrilled and honoured since to find the book cited in the bibliographies of some very well-respected historians.

We all view history through the distorting mirror of our own times. It would be impossible not to. I strove all the same to be as true, honest and accurate as I could when I wrote up my research. I had three other key aims. One was to allow the people of the 18th century as much as possible to speak for themselves, in terms of quoting their own exact words whenever I was able to find them. Another was to put the people in the context of their own times, customs and way of life and my final aim was to write the book in an entertaining and accessible way. I hope I've succeeded. Damn' Rebel Bitches: The Women of the '45 was my first published book, and remains very special to me, as do the men and women who people its pages. They always will.

Maggie Craig

About the Author
Married with two children, Maggie Craig has been a medical secretary, a translator and a Scottish Tourist Guide. She is the author of Bare-Arsed Banditti, as well as several historical novels set in Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Customer Reviews

10 Years on
On reading the recent `Books from Scotland' article by Maggie Craig celebrating 10 years of Damn' Rebel Bitches I dusted off my copy and re-read it.

The article gives some hint of the years of dedicated research that went into the book. Anyone who has been near the Baga de Secretis would know this was not an easy task. The book is very readable, showing Craig's passion for the subject but at the same time the depth of knowledge and research that went into it. Unlike other academic works the footnotes are missing just a hint of the trail in the bibliography.

The work is well respected by Jacobite and Clan Societies. It is a recommended reader for university courses on Scottish and women's history in the UK, Canada and the USA.

I first read it after Janet Paisley, the Scottish Poet and writer, chose it as her Book of the Year for the Sunday Herald, 2001 in which she said:

'Tearing the veil from Scottish history..sets the Jacobite record brilliantly straight. Scots women fought to preserve personal freedom and equality. We inherited the repressive culture they lost to - and the genes to dispute it still'

Well worth reading again.

Interesting look culture and influences on Jacobite women
The book gives an idea of why women became Jacobite supporters and the sorts of contributions they made to Bonnie Prince Charlie's attempts to gain the British throne. It also provides an insight into the culture of the time and women's role in society and politics. Very useful reference material.

Readable and well-researched, an uncommon coupling.
Damn Rebel Bitches has been around for nearly ten years but I only got hold of it this year and I'm so glad I did. It deals with what seems to me an unforgivable gap in the Jacobite research canon. I'm not a historian but the period fascinates me and I can't remember being so vividly confronted with the realities of the domestic and public lives of those involved before. The book brings its subjects into the spotlight and very much to life. The research is meticulous and it's a pleasure to find it combined with such an obvious writing talent (the two don't always go together). This is exciting, informative, funny, sad and above all very, very readable.