When in 1773 James Boswell persuaded the great Samuel Johnson--then aged
sixty-three--to embark with him on a tour of Boswell's native Scotland,
the adventure resulted in two magnificent books, Johnson's JOURNEY TO
THE WESTERN ISLANDS OF SCOTLAND and Boswell's JOURNAL OF A TOUR TO THE
HEBRIDES. Later published in one volume, the very different travelogues
of this unlikely duo provide a fascinating picture not only of the
Scottish Highlands at a turning point in its history, but also of the
relationship between two men whose fame would be forever entwined.
Johnson offers a magisterial account of a remote and rugged land and of
its people, whose traditional way of life, in the wake of the failed
Jacobite uprising, was tragically under threat. Boswell focuses instead
on the psychological landscape of his famously gruff and witty
companion, throwing further light on the friend and mentor whom he later
immortalized in the masterly biography that would make his name. Read
together, the two accounts form a unique classic of travel writing, a
brilliant portrait of two temperamentally different and very talented
men exploring a feudal world on the brink of vanishing.