This book contains over 40 years of criticism, the changes and development in Gaelic scholarship during that period bringing fresh perceptions and interpretations. The essays vary in subject matter, from the folk songs of the 17th century to the parallels between the instigators of the Clearances and the fascists of Germany.

The work of Somhairle MacGill-Eain (Sorley MacLean), the greatest Gaelic poet of the 20th century, has a significance which echoes far beyond the confines of his time, his country and his language. His extended political poem 'An Cuilithionn' ('The Cuillin'), taking the celebrated mountain range in Skye as a symbol for the international revolutionary movement, has hitherto been known only in an abridgement, made fifty years after its initial conception in 1939 on the eve of World War II. Christopher Whyte's edition of the original manuscript includes 400 lines never before published, along with MacLean's own English translation from the time of writing, and an extended commentary. Forty-five other previously unpublished poems by Sorley MacLean also appear here for the first time, with facing English translations.

This selected works of Sorley MacLean brings together published poetry from MacLean's own edited volumes of Poetry. The poems will be given in their original Gaelic with English translations and introduced by Angus Peter Campbell and Aonghas Mac Neacail. Sorley MacLean was born on the island of Raasay in 1911. He was brought up within a family and community immersed in Gaelic language and culture, particularly song. He studied English at Edinburgh University from 1929, taking a first-class honours degree. Despite this influence, he eventually adopted Gaelic as the medium most appropriate for his poetry. He translated much of his own work into English, opening it up to a wider public. He fought in North Africa during World War II, before taking up a career in teaching, holding posts on Mull, in Edinburgh and finally as Head Teacher at Plockton High School. Amongst other awards and honours, he received the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry in 1990. He died in 1996 at the age of 85.