When the last 36 inhabitants of St Kilda, 40 miles west of the Scottish Hebrides, were evacuated in 1930, the archipelago at ‘the edge of the world’ lost its permanent population after five millennia.

It has long been accepted that the islanders’ failure to adapt to the modern world was its demise. Andrew Fleming overturns the traditional view. Unafraid of highlighting dark times, he shows how they sacrificed their reputation as an uncorrupted, ideal society to embrace and exploit the tourist trade. Creating a prestigious tweed, exporting the ancestors of today’s Hebridean sheep, the islanders gained access to consumer goods and learned how to play politics to their advantage.

This book tells the absorbing and eventful story of St Kilda from up to the evacuation and its aftermath. Previously untapped sources and fresh insights bring to life the personalities, feelings, attitudes and rich culture of the islanders themselves, as well as the numerous outsiders who engaged with the remote island community.

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Maps
• Preface
• Prologue: Thirteen frozen faces
• 1 Olden times
• 2 This happy breed of men
• 3 Truth and consequences
• 4 Winds of change
• 5 In the realm of a despot
• Interlude: What’s in a name
• 6 Triumph of the twill
• 7 A modest revolution
• 8 The nurses’ tale
• 9 Winter of discontent
• 10 Countdown
• Epilogue: A history like no other
• Endnotes
• Bibliography
• Index