Download or read book Our Ancient National Airs written by Karen Elisabeth McAulay and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Karen McAulay traces the complex history of Scottish song collecting, and the publication of major Highland and Lowland collections. Looking at sources, authenticity, collecting methodology and format, McAulay places these collections in their cultural context. Attention is given to some of the performance issues raised, either in correspondence or in the paratexts of published collections; and the narrative is interlaced with references to contemporary literary, social and even political history as it affected the collectors themselves. Most significantly, this study demonstrates a resurgence of cultural nationalism in the late nineteenth century.