One of Scotland's leading historians, Jim Hunter, introduces his latest book, Insurrection: Scotland's Famine Winter, about the Scottish potato famine of 1846, which ravaged island communities in particular and led to uprisings across the country. The Emeritus Professor of History at the University of the Highlands and Islands brings this forgotten period to life, and considers its relevance in our own era of food banks and growing poverty.

About Jim Hunter

Jim Hunter is Emeritus Professor of History at the University of the Highlands and Islands. He has written extensively about the Scottish north and about the area’s worldwide diaspora. In the course of a varied career he has been, among other things, director of the Scottish Crofters Union, chairman of Highlands and Islands Enterprise and an award-winning journalist. His latest book, Insurrection (Birlinn, 2019), was described by the Herald as ‘a gripping, heart-breaking account’. His previous book, Set Adrift Upon the World, was Saltire History Book of the Year in 2016. Twitter @JimHunter22.