The islanders were the subject of much anthropological and linguistic study around the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries and, thanks partly to outside encouragement, a number of books were written by islanders that record much of the islands' traditions and way of life. These include An tOile?ach (The Islandman) by Tom? ?Criomhthain, Peig by Peig Sayers and Fiche Blian ag F? (Twenty Years a Growing) by Muiris ?S?lleabh?n.