My friend John Macleod's
Banner in the West: a Spiritual History of Lewis and Harris (Birlinn) is out as a beautifully produced hardback. Being married to a girl from Lewis, the Outer Hebrides are yet another place where I am not native but have the equivalent of a green card, being, as is the way on Lewis, related by marriage to just about everybody there. The book is well-written and a beautiful elegy to a (sadly) dying way of life and Christian devotion. But is also has the typical J.M. iconoclasm: he has a healthy go at debunking some of the myths surrounding the Duncan Campbell revivals; and surely any book that describes A.W.Pink as `an English nutter' has to be worth the read. John has once again placed those who love Scotland and her church and her history in his debt. Even, I suspect, Welsh nutters, like Delboy, Martin Downes and Paul Levy.
