Land, Elites and People

T.M. Devine, 1999

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The rural Lowlands have tended to become the Cinderella of modern Scottish history, ignored or marginalised in general studies and attracting few specialist works in recent years. The reasons are perhaps obvious. The region did not experience the tragedy and drama which mark the history of the Highlands while the dominance of towns, cities and industries in 19th and 20th century Scotland also means that rural society can too easily be dismissed as irrelevant to an informed understanding of the nation's present condition.

This excerpt from The Scottish Nation 1700 - 2000, however, argues that an analysis of the rural Lowlands after 1830 is an essential part of the wider interpretation of the development of modern Scotland. It concentrates on one of the two central issues which combined to influence the nature and shape of Scottish society in the 20th century: the structure and power of landownership. The other was the origins of mass migration from the countryside to the towns and overseas