Popular yet serious interest in the Highlands and their problems has grown since Morvern transformed was first published in 1968, partly through the appearance of a number of good studies, some of which have been aimed successfully at general and not only at specialist readers, and partly because the Highlands seem to possess so many of the characteristics of social problems which attract contemporary interest. Sympathy, even identification with the Highland problem can be explained in different ways. Some are the result of the way in which so many aspects of Highland life today seem to compare adversely with those in other parts of the country. The comparative tests may be the common statistical ones of the era of the welfare state, derived from the levels of unemployment or from various indices of the standard of social provision, or from less precise indicators of a degree of isolation from such conventionally accepted necessities of modern life as the standard of reception of television programmes. Other explanations of the concern with the Highlands are more complex because in many cases evidence of a similar degree of social deprivation can be found in other parts of the country. Why then should the Highlands absorb so much interest while similar problems in other areas are neglected? Some reasons are simple. The Highland area is large, easily identified and cannot be ignored, especially when promoted by a tourist trade much influenced by romantic interpretations of Highland life.