Seeking book about the Ossian hoax

[Lindegard]

Hello, I am very much interested in reading a detailed book about the Ossian hoax of James Macpherson and how it was uncovered. Recommendations for such a book are greatly appreciated. Thanks! Lindegard

[ennison]

Macpherson undoubtedly filled in some gaps with pieces of his own but it was a lot less of a hoax than supposed. Those who claim it was were motivated by racist ideology that meant they could not accept the existence of chunks of epic bardic poems in the culture of non-English speaking barbarians but it did exist and much was collected by others. Some of this is available in Scottish libraries such as the library of the advocates, the School of Scottish Studies and elsewhere.