Environmental History research illuminates a century of conflict between competing landuses and visions in the Highlands of Scotland in a landscape destined in 2003 to become the largest National Park ever designated in Britain.
A mud-on-your-boots history, yes, based in 28 different government agency and NGO archives, but also intimately shaped by the straths, glens, forests and high tops of the Cairngorm Mountains, and rooted in local communities and outside voices. The historical conflicts revealed, often bitter and entrenched, speak to us all about how the past always informs contemporary demands for land between nature and people.
Originally published in 2001, Contested Mountains was given a new outlet by BBC Scotland who used it (and Dr Lambert as academic consultant) for ‘The Land’ programme within the landmark 5-part series Making Scotland’s Landscape (2010) presented by Professor Iain Stewart. This, along with deepening public debates about the purposes of British National Parks, led to renewed interest in the book and its re-publication in 2022 as a paperback.
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