Product Description

In 1937 Louis MacNeice and his friend Nancy visited the Hebrides in 1937. Following loosely in the footsteps of Johnson and Boswell, MacNeice describes with distinctive candour the people, customs and landscapes of the Hebrides. Alienated from the way of life he encountered in the islands yet utterly fascinated by it, Louis MacNeice provides a unique insight into a now vanished culture and, as such, the book is a fascinating social historical document of Scottish rural life in the late 1930s.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #490623 in Books
• Published on: 2007-06-01
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 251 pages

About the Author
Louis MacNeice was born in Belfast in 1907. Educated in England (Marlborough and Oxford), he lectured in Classics in Birmingham and London. In 1941 he joined the BBC Features Department and was responsible for many classic productions, including his own radio play The Dark Tower (music by Benjamin Britten). He died in 1963 while recording sound-effects in a cave for the BBC.

Customer Reviews

What a strange book!
I bought this book hoping for something similar to 'A School in South Uist' by F G Rea. I was disappointed. I think that the title should have warned me, particularly the 'I' in the title - it is more about the author than the islands! I would imagine that the author's friends would have found it amusing. To be fair, there are occasional interesting points of observation - such as descriptions of the interiors of black houses. But, on the whole, it is an account of an upper middle class gent's musings on life and society with conversations with imaginary companions and uninspiring poetry thrown in. I wish now I'd waited for it to appear in the local library! Not a book that made me smile or one that I'll read again in the near (or distant) future.