This monograph covers a neglected period in the history of the Scottish highlands. There have been many historical studies of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and the period since 1965, the date of the appointment of the Highlands and Islands Development Board, has been covered from a variety of disciplinary points of view. John Burnett's aim is to examine the process of modernisation and to analyse the relationship between its economic and cultural dimensions. The central concept of modernisation might usefully have been defined in greater depth in the introduction. He sees the period of his book as the crucial one in the long term conflict between the ‘old’ and the ‘new’, the ‘traditional’ and the ‘modern’, in the development of the region. In pursuit of this objective, the book is divided into three sections. The first, entitled ‘Image and Reality . . . 1745–1939’, is an overly long historical introduction which covers mostly well worn ground. This means that it is page ninety-five before the book begins to address the period and themes promised in the title. This material ought to have been much reduced.

The second section, ‘Governing the Highlands, 1939–1965’, looks at how governments of different parties attempted to deal with the problems of the highlands and examines the role of government agencies, especially the Advisory Panel on the Highlands. There is much interesting material here but there are also two significant problems. The first is that sources emanating from the state are treated very uncritically. For example, pages 109 to 116 are given over to a very descriptive account of a White Paper issued by the Labour government in 1950. The second problem is that the government archive has not been excavated to any depth while very obscure and ephemeral items have been given great prominence. Even the long discussion of the Highland Panel, on pages 146 to 165, makes hardly any reference to the extensive files which contain minutes and papers relating to the activities of the Panel. This material can be read ‘against the grain’ and need not become a view of highland history from the windows of St Andrews House.

The third section of the book is more successful. It deals with ‘Voices from Within’ and looks at material in Gaelic and English which presents the views of the people who lived in the region during this period. One of the most useful points made here identifies the beginnings of a political history of the highlands and an account of attitudes to the state. These are interesting and helpful themes given later highland suspicions of Scottish devolution in the 1970s. Even here, however, there is rather too much reliance on a narrow range of sources such as the periodical An Gaidheal. There are also significant gaps in the coverage. Other than discussion of the origins of the North of Scotland Hydro Electric Board there is hardly any coverage of the Second World War, or of the legacy of the important debates of the 1930s which set the tone for much of what was discussed in the 1940s and 1950s. There are also historiographical omissions: relevant theses by Mackenzie and Birnie and other work on industrialisation in the highlands by Perchard have not been cited. This means that much of the narrative of government policy has a rather hackneyed feel. Overall, the potentially interesting conclusions about the problematic relationship between ‘economic development and cultural survival’ on page 276 are not clearly articulated.