The Great Books of Skye
About
The authors of the volumes of the Great Books of Skye have earned enviable reputations for their research, travels and precise exposition of Skye’s past.
The late Professor Norman Macdonald was born and brought up in Skye and worked in Gaelic and English broadcasting and in universities at home and abroad; he also served as research historian at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, the Gaelic college on Skye. Norman died in early 2023, a few months after the publication of a revised edition of the first Great Book of Skye.
Cailean Maclean’s origins lie in the Outer Hebrides, and he lives in Skye. He is a producer and author of books and articles, and has an involvement in photographic publications, in which he publishes frequently.
Reviews
“Thousands of previously unknown facts about the Isle of Skye and its inhabitants are revealed in a new book … the result of a major research project by two Gaelic-speaking men who live on the island”
(Sue Reston, The Press & Journal, 5th September, 2014).
“Perhaps the best remembered Argyll-associated name is John Maclean, a native of the Isle of Raasay, educated in Portree … The Great Book of Skye argues for a need for a bibliography of his wide range of publications and recorded materials …”
(The Oban Times, 24th September 2014).
“ … a remarkable work of scholarship … more than 600 pages long with more than 1,000 footnotes; the equivalent of two PhDs.”
(David Ross, The Herald, 27th August 2014).
Buy Your Copy
The Great Books constitute the most comprehensive study ever undertaken of the people of the Isle of Skye. Ranging across the generations, their detailed focus on the part two centuries gives them an enthralling appeal to all interested in the most famous of Scotland’s islands.
In total over 1200 individuals feature in the three GBS volumes and their stories are told in half a million words and cover 1500 pages. Sadly, the third book, Great Book of Skye 3, has sold out and for the moment only volumes 1 and 2 remain for sale.
The price includes post and packaging in the UK. Because of their weight sending books overseas costs considerably more.
