Alistair Moffat was born and bred in the Scottish Borders. A former Director of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Director of Programmes at Scottish Television and founder of the Borders Book Festival, he is also the author of a number of highly acclaimed books. From 2011 he was Rector of the University of St Andrews. He has written more than thirty books on Scottish history.
'Moffat brings to vibrant and palpable life the Highlands and Islands from the primeval and prehistoric to the present. Arranged like a mosaic, the glue is the people who populated the region, and its pages peppered with the lines of great poets and songsters from Sorley Maclean and Norman MacCaig to Runrig' * Sunday Post * 'one of those rare books that takes a fairly specialised subject and makes it available and accessible to a very wide audience: in Scotland and far beyond' -- Ken Lussey * Undiscovered Scotland * 'This is a splendid and thoroughly enjoyable book, one from which most of us can surely learn a lot. I would advise reading it straight through, then returning to dip in again and again' * The Scotsman * 'This epic book moves from Orkney as capital of Britain to the Highland Clearances and the romancing of the Highlands, telling us about the coming of the Gaelic language, the art of the Picts, Jacobitism and the heroism of the clans – and all in a new way' * Scotrail Inspiration Hub * 'a very personal history, richly informative and sparkling with detail' -- Mary Miers * Country Life * 'an epic history of a fascinating subject, featuring the stories of individuals, the telling moments and the crucial details which enrich the human story and add context and colour to the saga of Scotland' -- Miranda Melcher * New Books Network * 'This is not simply a history of kings, queens and nobles... Throw in Moffat's uncanny ability to root out neatly illustrative gems from obscure primary sources, plus his easy and engaging writing style, and the end result is a book which undoubtedly adds to the sum of our knowledge' * Scottish Field *