In this sequel to his bestselling The Oil Men: The North Sea Tigers, Bill Mackie shifts his focus from the wild waters of the North Sea itself to show how the discovery of oil and gas affected life onshore in some of Scotland’s most remote and economically stagnant communities.
Mackie tells the human story from both sides of the divide: from the perspective of the ‘invaded’– the people of the Northern Isles, the east and west Highlands, the North-east, Tayside and Fife – and from that of the ‘invaders’, the powerful commercial barons and engineers, technicians, managers and others who came from across the border, from the Continent, Scandinavia and the United States.
Against a backdrop of ignorance, bad decisions, political warfare, local rivalry and immense national pressures, Bill Mackie provides an intriguing account of how Scotland achieved in a remarkably short time a new industrial revolution. The story is told vividly by means of photographs, informed narrative and interviews with those who worked and still work in the industry, and those whose lives have been irrevocably affected by it.
Also available: The Oilmen: The North Sea Tigers, ISBN 1841583022, £14.99.
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