SCOTLAND HISTORY

The Lion In the North: One Thousand Years of Scotland's History by John Prebble

Scotland: A History by Jenny Wormald (Editor)

Publisher's Synopsis
Scottish history has long been dominated by the romantic tales of Robert the Bruce, William Wallace, Mary Queen of Scots, and Bonnie Prince Charlie. But the explosion of serious historical research in the last half-century has fueled a keen desire for a better-informed and more satisfying understanding of the Scottish past. This attractively designed book—boasting scores of illustrations, include eight color plates—brings together the leading authorities on Scottish history, who range from Roman times until the present day, offering a more accurate and sophisticated portrait of Scotland through the ages. The contributors take us from medieval Scotland, to the crisis created by Mary Queen of Scots and the trauma of Reformation, to the reign of James VI and the Union of the Crowns (1603). They discuss the seventeenth century, when a stern Calvinist Kirk launched an unprecedented attack on music, dancing, drama, and drinking, and the remarkable transformation of enlightenment Scotland, when the small nation became a great force in European literature, with such eminent figures as David Hume, Adam Smith, Robert Burns, and James Boswell. We discover that in the nineteenth century the Scottish economy, by some criteria, outpaced the rest of Britain, and its preeminence in heavy engineering was unquestioned. And we follow Scotland through the turbulent twentieth century, enduring two world wars and a depression, before ending on a high note, with Scotland enjoying its first parliament in three hundred years. What emerges here is a portrait of a confident people who slowly built an important place for themselves in the wider world—the story of a remarkably positive,assured, and successful kingdom.

How the Scots Invented the Modern World by Arthur Herman

Publisher's Synopsis
"Mention of Scotland and the Scots usually conjures up images of kilts, bagpipes, Scotch whisky, and golf. But as historian and author Arthur Herman demonstrates, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries Scotland earned the respect of the rest of the world for its crucial contributions to science, philosophy, literature, education, medicine, commerce, and politics - contributions that have formed and nurtured the modern West ever since." "Here is the untold story of how John Knox and the Church of Scotland laid the foundation for our modern idea of democracy; how the Scottish Enlightenment helped to inspire both the American Revolution and the U.S. Constitution; and how thousands of Scottish immigrants left their homes to create the American frontier, the Australian outback, and the British Empire in India and Hong Kong." How the Scots Invented the Modern World reveals how Scottish genius for creating the basic ideas and institutions of modern life stamped the lives of a series of remarkable historical figures, from James Watt and Adam Smith to Andrew Carnegie and Arthur Conan Doyle, and how Scottish heroes continue to inspire our contemporary culture, from William "Braveheart" Wallace to James Bond.

Scotland: A Concise History by Fitzroy MacLean, Magnus Linklater

Publisher's Synopsis
"The Scots," said a censorious English member of Parliament in 1607, "have not suffered above two kings to die in their beds these two hundred years." He may have exaggerated, but undeniably Scotland has a rough and bloodstained history. It is a complex one too, but Sir Fitzroy Maclean disentangles the threads and enlivens his brisk account with both wit and scholarship. Pictures from authentic contemporary sources illuminate his story—its romantic figures and bloody battles, its politics and religion—and provide a rich visual record of Scotland's art, craftsmanship, and intellectual life. For this revised edition, the distinguished journalist Magnus Linklater (former editor of The Scotsman), explores the renewed strengths of Scottish identity as the country enters the new millennium with a new parliament. 250 b/w illustrations.

Scotland: From Prehistory to the Present by Fiona J. Watson

Publisher's Synopsis
A lively new history from one of Scotland’s brightest young historians. From the early settlers after the last Ice Age, and the myth and ritual that surrounds that prehistoric period, Fiona Watson charts the evolution of the Scottish people—as Scots, Picts and Angles—and their interaction with the world abroad, from invasions by the Romans and Vikings, the medieval wars of independence with England, right through to Devolution.

Curious Scotland: Tales from a Hidden History by George Rosie

Publisher's Synopsis
How did Scotland inspire the Ku Klux Klan? Why was a Hebridian island deliberately infested with anthrax? And what on earth was the military plan known as "Operation Vegetarian?" The answers lie in a book that reveals all the complexity, incongruity, and sheer fascination of Scotland's history. Since he was a schoolboy in Edinburgh, George Rosie has been driven by a powerful curiosity about his country. This lively mindset has established him as one of Scotland's most inquisitive writers and journalists. Here, he unearths and illuminates many neglected aspects of Scottish history in a rich collection of episodes, ranging from the roots of Arthurian legend to Edinburgh's narrow escape from destruction by an urban motorway. George Rosie is the creator of the BAFTA-winning documentary After Lockerbie.