Book Review
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9485.1968.tb00012.x |
| Date | 01 June 1968 |
| Author | A. Slaven |
| Published date | 01 June 1968 |
BOOK
REVIEW
R.
H.
CAMPBELL
and
J.
B.
A.
Dow.
Source
Book
of
Scottish Economic
and
Social History.
(Blackwell,
1968.
Pp. xxiii
+
280.50s.)
This welcome compilation of rich and varied sources
on
modern
Scottish economic and social history all too readily conceals the great
labour and care which have gone into its production. Professor
Campbell intends that the extracts shall provide raw material from
which interested readers can draw their
own
conclusions.
To
this end
he has severely limited editorial comment and allowed the material to
speak for itself. This works well where a number of opinions are
expressed
on
the same issue, as in the case of the evidence on depressed
conditions in agriculture given before the Commission in
1881.
But
on
occasion, terse editorial comment brings its
own
dangers.
In
the
case of the impact
of
the power loom on hand loom weaving, the
extract confirms the editorial comment that
‘
Many hand loom weavers
.
. .
found they were redundant
’,
without giving space to the opposing
view that the power loom was not the main culprit.
No
selection of
documents can ever hope to satisfy everyone, but the treatment given to
agriculture seems excessive in comparison
to
that set aside for industry,
although much of the material on working and living conditions widens
the industrial section.
In
addition the excellent section
on
‘
Housing and
Sanitary Reform’ could have been rounded
off
by the inclusion of
some material concerning the New
Towns
and Overspill as a policy
for relieving poor housing conditions, and Unemployment in the Inter-
War years might have received more extended treatment. The selection
of these documents, and the above comments, have been conditioned
by what Professor Campbell calls
‘
personal preferences and preju-
dices’, but the compilation more than succeeds in meeting the
important criterion of being representative of the major issues in
Scottish history. This work deserves
a
wide readership, and together
with Professor Campbell’s earlier book, ‘Scotland from
1707
to the
Present Day
’,
presents
a
sound and stimulating view of the emergence
of an industrial society.
University
of
Glasgow
A. SLAVEN
225
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