Tom Steel (1943–2007)

This book focuses on the causes and aftermath of the evacuation of the residents from the remote Scottish island of St Kilda in 1930. It looks at the reasons why the shrinking community became unviable from the middle of the 19th century when a third of the population emigrated to Australia, and the economy declined as there was less demand on the mainland for the seabird oil and textiles previously exported, and the spartan life of the inhabitants became ever harsher. Eventually, the last remaining 36 islanders more or less willingly requested evacuation - the young families were poised to leave anyway and had faced near starvation the previous winter. The latter part of the book recounted the later history of the island, in particular its use by the army as a radar base to support a missile station built in the 1950s in the Outer Hebrides, while the rest of the island has become a nature conservation area. There was a little too much detail about matters such as injuries suffered by members of the armed forces on the island, and when buildings were re-roofed, or aerials blown down in gale force winds, that was a bit tedious - I would have preferred a bit more about the history of the island, though much remains unknown before the first account of a visitor - that of Martin Martin in 1697. For the sake of the latter part, I would have to say I enjoyed this a bit less than Charles McLean's Island at the Edge of the World. 4/5… (meer)