This book studies the revealing autobiographical sources left by Rev. James Fraser of Kirkhill (1634–1709), a Gaelic-speaking scholar, traveller and minister. It examines Fraser’s self-presentation and situates him within his locality, Scotland, the British Isles and Europe, also incorporating recent historiography to provide a more comprehensive presentation of the social, economic and cultural trajectories of the early modern Highlands.
David Worthington focuses on the Scottish Highlands’ strong engagement with Europe and early entanglement with empire. He challenges the assumption that the north Highlands, in particular, was sealed off from the rest of the world before Culloden and he identifies the agency, vitality and resilience of the people of the Highlands prior to the peripheralisation, depopulation and under-development that then occurred.