John Prebble

His Canadian prairie experience influenced two of his works, The Buffalo Soldier, a historical novel about the American West, specifically, the 10th Cavalry Regiment, and Culloden, about the 1746 battle which resulted in the defeat of the Jacobite uprising.

The story of Battle of Culloden had been part of the family lore when he grew up in the predominantly Scottish township of Sutherland, in rural Saskatchewan.

It was the first detailed account of the disaster to expose the many problems encountered during construction of the bridge, and Prebble also made extensive use of the Board of Trade Public Inquiry in reviewing the evidence.

There is still controversy over the detailed causes of the failure, especially the contributions from poor design of the columns using cast iron and the storm raging at the time of the fall.

The book focuses on the political machinations to bring the unruly MacDonalds to heel, both by King William and by Scots with ambitions in royal circles.

[3] Prebble's obituary in the Daily Telegraph said "he was often accused of ignoring economic factors in his analysis of social change, but his books, though unashamedly partisan, were based on thorough research".

Devine takes the view that Prebble relies extensively on the late 19th century accounts of the Clearances, (much of that being highly partisan or politically motivated), with no evidence of any original research.

He wrote an article entitled "Slaughter in the Sun" for Lilliput in 1958, on which the film Zulu (1964) would be based, co-written by Prebble and the director, Cy Endfield.