The Soap Man: Lewis, Harris and Lord Leverhulme
Jun 2011 · Casemate Publishers
Ebook
256
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About this ebook
The true story of a tycoon’s dashed dream: “A wonderful little book about what happens when righteous ambition meets stubborn culture.” —Scotland on Sunday
Shortlisted for the Saltire Scottish Book of the Year Award
In 1918, as the First World War was drawing to a close, the eminent industrialist Lord Leverhulme, whose name lives on today within the multinational company Unilever, bought—lock, stock and barrel—the Hebridean island of Lewis. His intention was to revolutionize the lives and environments of its thirty thousand people, and those of neighboring Harris, which he shortly added to his estate. For the next five years, a state of conflict reigned in the Hebrides. Island seamen and servicemen returned from the war to discover a new landlord whose declared aim was to uproot their identity as independent crofter/fishermen and turn them into tenured wage-owners. They fought back, and this is the story of that fight.
The confrontation resulted in riot and land seizure and imprisonment for the islanders and the ultimate defeat for one of the most powerful men of his day. The Soap Man paints a beguiling portrait of the driven figure of Lord Leverhulme, but also looks for the first time at the infantry of his opposition: the men and women of Lewis and Harris who for long hard years fought the law, their landowner, local business opinion, and the media, to preserve the settled crofting population of their islands.
“Magnificent.” —West Highland Free Press
Shortlisted for the Saltire Scottish Book of the Year Award
In 1918, as the First World War was drawing to a close, the eminent industrialist Lord Leverhulme, whose name lives on today within the multinational company Unilever, bought—lock, stock and barrel—the Hebridean island of Lewis. His intention was to revolutionize the lives and environments of its thirty thousand people, and those of neighboring Harris, which he shortly added to his estate. For the next five years, a state of conflict reigned in the Hebrides. Island seamen and servicemen returned from the war to discover a new landlord whose declared aim was to uproot their identity as independent crofter/fishermen and turn them into tenured wage-owners. They fought back, and this is the story of that fight.
The confrontation resulted in riot and land seizure and imprisonment for the islanders and the ultimate defeat for one of the most powerful men of his day. The Soap Man paints a beguiling portrait of the driven figure of Lord Leverhulme, but also looks for the first time at the infantry of his opposition: the men and women of Lewis and Harris who for long hard years fought the law, their landowner, local business opinion, and the media, to preserve the settled crofting population of their islands.
“Magnificent.” —West Highland Free Press
About the author
Roger Hutchinson is an award-winning author and journalist. After working as an editor in London, in 1977 he joined the West Highland Free Press in Skye. Since then he has published thirteen books, including Polly: the True Story Behind Whisky Galore. He is still attached to the WHFP as editorialist and columnist, and has written for BBC Radio, The Scotsman, The Guardian, The Herald and The Literary Review. His book The Soap Man (Birlinn 2003) was shortlisted for the Saltire Scottish Book of the Year (2004). Calum's Road has been a huge bestseller, shortlisted for the Ondaatje Prize (2007) with film rights sold.
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