Island on the Edge of the World: The Story of St Kilda

“The islanders gradually became disillusioned and demoralized. The malign and cumulative influence of tourism, religion and disease; the running down of their economy; the lack of demand for St. Kilda produce; the growing dependence on charity and contact with the outside world, combined to give them an oppressive sense of failure and helplessness. The St. Kildans ceased to believe in themselves … The islanders, caught between loyalties to a disjoined past and an unattached future, became alienated.” – from ISLAND ON THE EDGE OF THE WORLD, on the conditions that led to the island’s voluntary evacuation in 1930“Observing tradition the islanders left an open Bible and a small pile of oats in each house, locked all the doors and at 7:00 a.m. boarded the (HMS )Harebell.” – from ISLAND ON THE EDGE OF THE WORLD, the island empties August 28, 1930“ A stable society is one in which people want to do what they have to do, and by the same token, a decadent society is one in which people no longer know what they have to do, nor even what they want to do.” – from ISLAND ON THE EDGE OF THE WORLDThe St. Kilda Archipelago. Four small islands (St. Kilda, a.k.a. Hirta, Dun, Boreray, Soay) and multiple sea-hammered rocks (“stacs”) about 45 miles west of the Outer Hebrides island of North Uist. 3.3 square miles of firmament. The last landfall before North America. Inhabited (on Hirta) for centuries before being evacuated in 1930.The islanders in their isolation, numbering about 200 at its maximum, achieved, perhaps, a rough sort of Utopia, if such can be defined as the needs of all being met with communally-held resources. Life encompassed birth, love, meaningful work, play, and death; internal conflict was minimal, external conflict was non-existent, and everyone was reasonably content and happy until civilization intruded. Not a bad existence, that.ISLAND ON THE EDGE OF THE WORLD: THE STORY OF ST KILDA is Charles Maclean’s narrative of St. Kilda’s rise as a human habitat in the misty past to its decline and abandonment. It was, somewhat surprisingly to me, much better a read than I thought it would be. I couldn’t put it down.In twelve chapters plus an Introduction and Afterward, the volume describes the island’s history as a human habitat and its ownership, rent, economy, village lifestyle, legends and beliefs, agriculture, bird populations (which supported the inhabitants’ lives in all respects), the intrusive missionaries, disease, discovery by patronizing tourists, and the ultimate social decline to extinction. In the final chapter, the author discusses mankind’s concept of and search for Utopia, and suggests the St. Kildans may have, for a while at least, found a rude sort of such. In the Afterward, Margaret Buchanan describes the efforts by the National Trust for Scotland to restore or preserve the island’s buildings since the 1960s as well as the archeological finds that have been made.The book includes two sections of very illustrative black and white photos.St. Kilda can be visited today on day trips from the bigger islands to the east. Ah, what a bonnie adventure that would be! I wish I’d learned of the place during my unmarried youth with unlimited time and energy available.

Great price, great book

This historical account of life on St. Kilda is a must read for those that are interested in the history of the island community. It is a welcome addition to any library on life on the outer Hebrides.

What a beautifully written, nostalgic, eclectic, brief-but-thorough study of this remote Hebridean island and its former inhabitants.

I loved the different descriptions of life on St Kilda, had recently read a fiction book based in St Kilda and since then have been intrigued by life on St Kilda. This book gives a great insight into what life was like for the people living there.

A bit dissappointined by the book. At times it is interesting and about the people who lived there but quite a bit of it is about its past but just at times facts and figures. I was hoping that it would tell more about their lives in more depth but a lot is about the history of the island

Charles MacLean's classic history of St Kilda is a good read. He covers the whole history of people on the island, how they survived and the value placed on cragsmen climbing the mighty cliffs for gannets, fulmars and guilimots. Before increasing visits from the 17th century it was almost a utopian existence. Once missionaries arrived and the inhabitants were subject to 'civilising' influences, the decline began, slowly but surely to the 1930 evacuation. St Kilda is still there, but now hosts conservationists and the military.There is plenty of information for the natural historian, not least descriptions of how the St Kilda wren has evolved to cope and its difference from the mainland species. A fine book about a lost society and thought provoking insight as to how good intentions are often disastrous for native peoples.

I wanted to find out more about St Kilda, the St Kildans and their history and this book cetainly contained lots of information. I particularly enjoyed the excerpts from earlier writings by travellers to St Kilda from hundreds of years ago and the book answered lots of questions I'd had. However, it did jump around from era to era and I found myself having to refer back to earlier chapters to try to fit what I was reading into a time line.It was definitely thought provoking and I was both entertained and depressed by trying to imagine what the St Kildans' day to day lives would have been like and what their thoughts might have been.Well worth buying!

I bought this (& a couple of others) after visiting the island and was blown away by the beautiful descriptive writing that brought my trip alive again. The best book I've read on the island