Glencoe: The Massacre of 1692 and Scotland’s Most Infamous Betrayal

In February 1692, government soldiers were welcomed into the homes of the MacDonalds of Glencoe as guests. They ate at their tables, slept by their fires, and waited. Then, before dawn, they turned on the people who had given them shelter.

Glencoe tells the story of one of the darkest crimes in Scottish history: not a battle, not an accident of war, but a calculated act of state violence carried out under trust. From the harsh beauty of the Highland glen to the corridors of power in Edinburgh and London, this book follows the chain of decisions that led to murder in the snow.

At its centre are the people of the glen themselves: a small Highland community trying to survive winter, political upheaval, and the demands of a distant government. Their chief, MacIain, believed he had done enough to save his people. He was wrong.

This is a narrative history of betrayal, power, and memory. It examines the missed oath, the officials who seized on it, the soldiers quartered in MacDonald homes, and the long aftermath that turned Glencoe into a byword for treachery in Scottish memory.

For readers of Scottish history, clan history, and gripping narrative nonfiction, Glencoe is the story of how a remote Highland community became the victim of Scotland’s most infamous betrayal.