Changes

|title=The Silent Weaver

|sort=Silent Weaver

|borrow=Yes

|isbn=978-1841589718

|pages=208

|publisher=Birlinn Ltd

|date=September 2011

|summary=A crofter on the island of South Uist, Angus MacPhee was sent home from The Faroes during the Second World War, hardly ever to speak again. But he spent much of his remaining 50 years of life creating objects from woven grass and leaves. He never explained his purpose in all this, and Roger Hutchison's book attempts to trace the various influence upon this strange and intriguing life.

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There is no question but that the story of Angus has all the right ingredients for a fascinating study. Taken from his Scottish Lowlands agricultural early childhood to the isolation of a Hebridean island of South Uist, joining the last ever horse platoon in the British Army at the outbreak of the Second World War, then mental breakdown and effective incarceration for almost all the rest of his life, he created some of the most unusual works of folk art that have existed this century. And Hutchison tackles every angle of this rich narrative, exploring the military thinking behind how horse regiments were to combat Hitler, through to the operations of mental health care in later twentieth century Scotland, and all points in between.

There are few biographies that deal with such a difficult almost Trappist subject. However, the theme of artistic creation (in this case carving) as personal redemption is the core of [[Paki Harrison: Tohunga Whakairo : the Story of a Master Carver by Ranginui Walker]]. What makes this book different is that the central character is certainly not keeping his thoughts to himself, but using his art as a means of bringing about social change for disaffected Maori youths.

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