The world-wide fascination with the deserted islands of St Kilda shows no sign of waning, and we all share certain conventional assumptions about and stereotypical images of the islands \u2013 remoteness, dramatic landscape and bird-life, a distinctive ‘primitive’ community, the St Kilda Parliament, the mail-boat, the strict teachings of the Church, an economy uniquely dependent on sea-birds, and the sad decline and eventual evacuation of the remaining inhabitants at their own request in 1930. It is a remarkable fact that almost all of the over 700 books and articles written about St Kilda \u2013 on which our images overwhelmingly are based \u2013 were written by visitors to the islands, often on the basis of pre-conceptions and very little first-hand knowledge. Outside writers frequently had their own agendas (political, religious, journalistic). It is not surprising therefore that many myths have developed, and been repeated. The voice of the Gaelic-speaking native people has been largely lost or overlooked. In the summer of 2010, The Islands Book Trust held a major conference to mark the 80th anniversary of the evacuation, which looked behind the myths and re-examined some of the conventional wisdom: – what were the motives of writers such as Martin Martin, John MacDonald, and John Sands, whose writings have so influenced our impressions of St Kilda? – what is known about how the St Kildans themselves viewed their world? – what was the real role of the Church in influencing the lives and assumptions of the St Kildans and the eventual request for evacuation? – why did St Kilda produce so little writing from within, in contrast with, for example, the Blasket Islands? The fascinating results are published here in this book.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Paperback<\/p>\n
ISBN 978-1-907443-23-7<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The world-wide fascination with the deserted islands of St Kilda shows no sign of waning, and we all share certain conventional assumptions about and stereotypical images of the islands \u2013 remoteness, dramatic landscape and bird-life, a distinctive ‘primitive’ community, the St Kilda Parliament, the mail-boat, the strict teachings of the Church, an economy uniquely dependent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":15415,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}"},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[549,467,553],"product_tag":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-15414","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-books","7":"product_cat-history","8":"product_cat-st-kilda-books","10":"first","11":"instock","12":"shipping-taxable","13":"purchasable","14":"product-type-simple"},"yoast_head":"\n