Book excerpt: The most westerly point of Argyll, Islay and Jura occupy a special place in Scotland's history, home to MacDonald, 'Lords of the Isles', as well as to the famous blend of Bowmore's Whisky Distillery. The fields and hills hold an abundance of wildlife, making it an ideal spot for farming, fishing and rambling, while its ruins speak of the impact of the nineteenth-century's mass emigration and the clearances. Lord George Robertson brings his perceptive eye and lens to these different aspects of two of Scotland's most beautiful islands.