Congratulations to Cromarty resident and historian David Alston for his success in winning the Saltire Society History Book of the Year 2022 and then going on to claim the Saltire Society Scottish Book of the Year for “Slaves and Highlanders: Silenced Histories of Scotland and the Caribbean”. David’s book is the culmination of over 20 years of research on Scotland’s participation in the slave economy. The book has been described as “necessary reading for our moment” (Gaiutra Bahadur, Assistant Professor, Rutgers University-Newark) and “an essential read for all Highlanders (and Scots)”, (Joan Michael, Chair, Ullapool Book Festival)

David was the founder curator of the Courthouse Museum, a role he filfilled for 12 years. In 2007 he and John Mcnaught created an outstanding exhibition to commenmorate the 200th anniversary of abolition of the slave trade. David’s book is available from our online shop together with Margot Henderson’s “Freedom Bound” also part of the same commemoration..