This volume of the Strathnaver Trilogy describes the Sutherland evictions which subjected the MacKay country to a brutal transformation in the name of economic progress. A chief beneficiary was Patrick Sellar. In 1816 he was tried and acquitted on charges that included culpable homicide. In that year a volcanic eruption fortuitously caused a deterioration in the weather which appeared to justify his economic theories, and to this day there are still historians who defend his character and actions. But Gaelic tradition preserves a picture of Sellar that has received startling confirmation from documents until recently hidden from the public.
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