A
Brief History of the Orkneys
by J. N. Sinclair
 It would take a great book to topple William
P. L. Thomson's History of Orkney from its position as seminal
reference on Orcadian history.
A
Brief History of the Orkneys, by J. N. Sinclair is not that book.
Published
by Minerva Press, the 157 page paperback sets out to document the history
of Orkney from prehistoric times through to the end of World War Two.
Being
a pedantic despiser of the usage of the phrase "the Orkneys"
to refer to our island group, my perception of this publication was perhaps
biased from the start, but after sifting through the pages there were
a few occasions when this amateur historian was left exclaiming "That's
not right!" One blatant and obvious example of this is the author's
repeated referring to the site of the Kirkwall Castle as being Bridge
Street - as any Kirkwallian should know, this was actually Castle Street.
There were a few others but I've made my point.
The
text of the book, although containing plenty of information, seems incredibly
rushed, almost thrown onto the page in the manner of - dare I say it -
a hastily written school essay. The text rambles on through Orkney's history
and by the time we've reached the Norse Earls it becomes hard going to
keep a track on what is being said. This is a book you'd need to read
with another historical reference open beside you as a guide!
A
minor point, but the odd placename spelling here and there is also dubious
(although to his credit the author does get "Maeshowe" right
- none of the continually encroaching "Maes Howe" style of nomenclature
found increasingly elsewhere).
Now
it could be argued that the few errors in the text are insignificant when
compared to sheer quantity of information presented in the book, but in
any reference book, the presence of any kind of mistake surely leaves
the reader with doubts as to the accuracy of the other material.
But
criticisms aside, for the complete beginner to the subject of Orcadian
history, Sinclair's volume might make an adequate enough introduction
but the confusing writing style might deter. But were I asked, I would
have to put hand to heart and recommend the interested party's first port
of call should be William Thomson's work - just to see how it should be
done.
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