From Chiefs to Landlords: Social and Economic Change in the Western Highlands and Islands,

Examining Highland history before the Clearances, this work draws attention to economic and social processes within the Highland clan system, and argues for the consideration of traditional Highland society, economy and environment together. Exploring how the different aspects of the clan system - chiefs and kinsmen, landlords and tenants, farming systems, production strategies and marketing - changed between the 16th and 18th centuries, it shows how the character and ideology of clans and cheifdoms are inextricably part of the twin problems of socio-political control and food production. The book aims to shift the emphasis away from depictions of Highland as lawless and disorganized.