Mountain Outlaw
Encounters with Ewan Macphee
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About the Book:
The amazing story of Ewan Macphee, Scotland’s last bandit.
In 1850Ewan Macphee of Glenquoich, these islands’ last outlaw, died awaiting trial in jail in Fort William. This was a man who:
• had been forced to enlist at the time of the Napoleonic wars, and deserted
• lived as an outlaw and rustler in Lochaber for over twenty years
• had several capital offences hanging over his head
• was a hero to the local peasantry at the time of the Clearances
• abducted a wife – who became his firmest ally in conflicts with the law
Macphee has fascinated Ian R Mitchell, the award-winning mountain writer, for many years. He has sifted the surviving information on the outlaw, examined many of the legends associated with him, and bridged the gaps with an imagination of great authenticity, to produce Mountain Outlaw, a historicalcreative account of MacPhee’s life.
He did not exist at the high tide of Highland internecine warfare… but at a time when traditional Highland society had all but been destroyed. He lived not in the time of the Jacobite Rebellions… but in the era of steamships, railways and scientific advance.
He waged a lonely and ultimately hopeless fight against the modern world… His tale… deserves to be told in a way that illuminates its epoch, and it is not without significance for our own.
Reviews:
...fascinating...a fine piece of work. And I am pleased to have more support for my ideas on social banditry. ERIC HOBSBAWM Hobsbawm, author of Bandits.
'the book is packed with as much adventure, murder and mayhem as any work of fiction. MORAG LINDSAY, The Press and Journal
Intermingling what little documented accounts of MacPhee he could find with the folklore that surrounds him, (Mitchell's) intriguing little book takes the form of fictionalised accounts by various people, from landlords and officers - even that arch-romanticiser, Sir Walter Scott - to the outlaw himself. JIM GILCHRIST, The Scotsman
[Mitchell's objective was to provide] a compendium of tales that do some justice to Ewan MacPhee. He has not failed in that objective, it is fascinating, indeed, to decide what real and what is less or more so, to separate the fict from the faction, or vice versa. All in all, it's an astounding story, intricately told. TOM KYLE, The Daily Mail
About the Author:
IAN R MITCHELL is a historian, who gave up teaching to devote himself to writing full time. After graduating from university in his native Aberdeen in 1973, Ian did postgraduate research at Leeds, followed by a British Council scholarship to study in Berlin. The author of articles in learned journals, and of a standard textbook on Bismarck, Ian taught for over 20 years at Clydebank College, mainly on German history. Increasingly interested in Scottish history and heritage, and a lifelong hillwalker, Ian has produced several other books, including Scotland’s Mountains before the Mountaineers, a pre-history of explorations and ascents in the Scottish mountains. Ian also writes frequently on outdoor matters for climbing journals and the general media. In addition, he gives talks and slide shows on his books.