Losing Sight of the Shore: Scotland's Medical Explorers 1815–1915 by Wendell McConnaha (6 December 2024). (Amazon paid link.)
For one hundred years Scottish medical explorers were at the forefront of exploration within the British Empire, as exemplified by these five
individuals. This dominant role was facilitated by the convergence of four events: the unification of Scotland and England, the Scottish
Enlightenment, Scotland’s unique method of preparing doctors, and the need for a new type of explorer.
Read our full review.
Witches: A King's Obsession by Steven Veerapen (4 September 2025). (Amazon paid link.)
Witches – whether broomstick-riding spell-casters or Wiccan earth-worshippers – have been culturally relevant for centuries. Steven Veerapen
traces witches, witchcraft, and witch-hunters from the explosion of mass-trials under King James VI and I in the late sixteenth century to
the death of the witch-hunting phenomenon in the early eighteenth century. Based on documents and the latest historical research, he explores
what motivated widespread belief in demonic witchcraft throughout Britain and beyond.
Read our full review.
To See Ourselves: A Personal History of Scotland Since 1950 by Alistair Moffat (15 May 2025). (Amazon paid link.)
Life in Scotland is now entirely different from what it was like when Alistair Moffat grew up in the quiet Border town of Kelso
in the 1950s. This is a book about these changes and how they have affected each and every one of us in all parts of the country.
The main themes, such as housing, healthcare, sport, the media, the arts and entertainment, urban and country life, our relationship
with the environment, politics, religion and education, are all viewed through the lens of personal experience.
Read our full review.
Daughters of the North: Jean Gordon and Mary, Queen of Scots by Jennifer Morag Henderson (30 April 2025). (Amazon paid link.)
This is the first biography of Jean Gordon, best known as the first wife of the notorious Earl of Bothwell. Bothwell divorced Jean
to marry Mary, Queen of Scots, and Jean and her family were closely involved in all of the major events of Mary’s short and turbulent
reign. Jean was the youngest daughter of the powerful Earl of Huntly, the ‘King in the North’, and this book reframes the history of
Scotland during the reign of Mary, Queen of Scots by viewing events from Jean’s point of view.
Read our full review.
A Life of Industry: The Photography of John R Hume by Daniel Gray (5 August 2021). (Amazon paid link.)
Over the course of the 1960s, 70s and 80s, John R Hume took over 25,000 photographs of late-industrial and post-industrial
Scotland. His collection is a remarkable portrait of a way of life that has now all but vanished. John's photography produces
an exhaustive and objective record. Yet it also reveals remarkable and poignant glimpses of domestic life. In A Life of Industry,
author Daniel Gray tells John's story, and the story of what has been lost - and preserved.
Read our full review.
Salt: Scotland’s Newest Oldest Industry by Christopher Whatley & Joanna Hambly (14 September 2023). (Amazon paid link.)
Sea-salt manufacturing is one of Scotland’s oldest industries, dating to the eleventh century if not earlier. Panhouses were once a common sight
along our coastline and are reflected in many placenames. This book celebrates both the history and the rebirth of the salt industry in Scotland.
Although salt manufacturing declined in the nineteenth century, in the second decade of the twenty-first century the
trade was revived.
Read our full review.
The Hot Trod: A History of the Anglo-Scottish Border by John Sadler (15 November 2022). (Amazon paid link.)
As a borderer and historian John Sadler is uniquely qualified to examine the border from Roman times to today. He’s been here all his life,
read about their wild inhabitants, traversed every inch and studied every castle, bastle, tower and battlefield. The story of the borderlands
is tempestuous, bloody and fascinating. And a ‘Hot Trod’? If your cattle were stolen there was a legal requirement to pursue the rustlers
within six days, otherwise you’re on a less enforceable Cold Trod.
Read our full review.
A Mighty Fleet and the King’s Power: The Isle of Man, AD 400 to 1265 by Tim Clarkson (6 April 2023). (Amazon paid link.)
Situated in the middle of the Irish Sea, the Isle of Man is like a stepping-stone between the lands that surround it. In medieval times,
it played an important role in the histories of Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales. This book traces the story of the Isle of Man from
the fifth to the thirteenth centuries. It looks at the ways in which various peoples – Britons, Scots, Irish, English and especially
Scandinavians – influenced events in Man over a period of more than 800 years.
Read our full review.
Forgotten Vikings: New Approaches to the Viking Age by Alex Harvey (15 September 2024). (Amazon paid link.)
A chronological overview of the Viking Age (793–1066) and quite a lot of history either side of these arbitrary dates. Arbitrary? This
book aims to explore the phenomenon of ‘the Vikings’ from new angles, forged out of recent academic breakthroughs largely unexplored in
popular history books; the Viking Age viewed as a longer, discrete period from the sixth to the fifteenth centuries. Forgotten Vikings
will change the way you see these often misunderstood people.
Read our full review.
Northern Lights: The Arctic Scots by Edward J. Cowan (7 September 2023). (Amazon paid link.)
Surprisingly, the remarkable story of the Scottish role in the discovery of the Northwest Passage connecting the Atlantic and Pacific has not received a
great deal of attention. This book charts the extensive contribution to Arctic exploration made by the Scots, including names such as John Ross from Stranraer;
his nephew, James Clark Ross; John Richardson of Dumfries; and Orcadian John Rae. The book also pays tribute to many others too: the Scotch Irish, the whalers
and not least the Inuit.
Read our full review.
Black Rood: The Lost Crown Jewel of Scotland by David Willem (31 October 2022). (Amazon paid link.)
Black Rood tells the story of one of Scotland’s oldest and most significant crown jewels. The Black Rood was a gold and jewel-studded reliquary
for a piece of the True Cross. This profound and holy treasure was smuggled into Scotland after the Norman invasion by the sister of the last
Anglo-Saxon king of England. The book ends with the mystery of what happened to the Black Rood, and explores the possibility that it might still
exist and be waiting to be found.
Read our full review.
Agricola: Architect of Roman Britain by Simon Turney (15 February 2022). (Amazon paid link.)
Gnaeus Julius Agricola was a man fated for conquest and tied to the island of Britanni he incorporated into the empire the
wild northern lands that had remained unclaimed for three decades. Agricola’s biography was written by his son-in-law Tacitus,
and his life has otherwise never been examined in detail. Here, using the archaeological record and contemporary accounts to
compare with Tacitus, we work to uncover the truth about the man who made Roman Britain. Was Tacitus an unreliable narrator?
Read our full review.
The Life and Death of Mary, Queen of Scots by Jan-Marie Knights (15 October 2024). (Amazon paid link.)
Queen of Scots at six days old; married at fifteen in Paris to the Dauphin of France; Queen of France at sixteen; widowed
at eighteen; dead at forty-four. Mary Stuart’s tumultuous life and tragic death continue to enthral us today. Utilising
contemporary documents, Jan-Marie Knights tracks the fascinating story of Mary’s life and death by creating a diary-style
account of her actions and movements culminating in her ultimate demise.
Read our full review.
Wild History: Journeys into Lost Scotland by James Crawford (4 May 2023). (Amazon paid link.)
You scramble up over the dunes of an isolated beach. You climb to the summit of a lonely hill. You pick your way through the eerie hush of a forest.
And then you find them. The traces of the past. In this book acclaimed author and presenter James Crawford introduces many such places all over the
country, from the ruins of prehistoric forts and ancient, arcane burial sites, to abandoned bothies and boathouses, and the derelict traces of
old, faded industry.
Read our full review.
We Are All Witches by Mairi Kidd (6 October 2022). (Amazon paid link.)
From 1563 to 1736 Scotland put thousands of women to death for witchcraft. Their supposed crimes have much to tell us about attitudes to women
in the past, and in the present day. This book introduces sixteen women who lost their lives or lived in the long shadow of the persecutions.
Weaving fiction with the facts, We Are All Witches invites the reader to explore the forces at work in one of the darkest
episodes of Scotland's history and consider their echoes in the present day.
Read our full review.
Donald Ross and the Highland Clearances by Andrew Ross (15 June 2023). (Amazon paid link.)
The Highland Clearances was a dark episode in Scottish history when many thousands of people were forced off lands that they and their
kin had lived on for generations. A few men were outspoken against the atrocities, and one of them was Donald Ross. Donald Ross was a Highlander,
born in Sutherland in 1813. He was the miller on the Skibo Castle Estate. He and his family were subsequently evicted, fighting against their
eviction in the Supreme Court but losing the case.
Read our full review.
The Highlands and Islands of Scotland: A New History by Alistair Moffat (6 June 2024). (Amazon paid link.)
From dramatic geological events that formed the awe-inspiring yet beloved landscapes, via hunter gatherers and the monumental achievements
of prehistoric peoples in places like Skara Brae in Orkney. The story continues with the mysterious Picts; the arrival of the Romans; the
coming of Christianity and the Gaelic language from Ireland; the Viking invasion and the establishment of the great Lordship of the Isles
and on to Jacobites, Clearances and more recent history.
Read our full review.
Insurrection: Scotland's Famine Winter by James Hunter (10 October 2019). (Amazon paid link.)
When Scotland's 1846 potato crop was wiped out by blight, the country was plunged into crisis. In the Hebrides and the West
Highlands a huge relief effort came too late to prevent starvation and death. Further east, meanwhile, towns and villages from
Aberdeen to Wick and Thurso, rose up in protest at the cost of the oatmeal that replaced potatoes as people's basic foodstuff.
As a bitter winter gripped and families feared a repeat of the calamitous famine then ravaging Ireland, grain carts were seized
and the military confronted.
Read our full review.
The Greatest Viking: The Life of Olav Haraldsson by Desmond Seward (3 November 2022). (Amazon paid link.)
A ruthless Viking warrior who named his most prized battle weapon after the Norse goddess of death, Olav Haraldsson and his mercenaries wrought
terror and destruction from the Baltic to Galicia in the early eleventh century. Despite his bloodthirsty beginnings, Olav converted to Christianity
and changed irrevocably the Viking world he was born into. This is an intensely vivid and colourful portrait of the life and times of arguably
the greatest Viking of them all.
Read our full review.
The Wisest Fool: The Lavish Life of James VI and I by Steven Veerapen (7 September 2023). (Amazon paid link.)
James VI and I has long endured a mixed reputation. Here James’s story is laid bare, and a welter of scurrilous,
outrageous assumptions penned by his political opponents put to rest. What emerges is a portrait of James VI and I as his contemporaries
knew him: a gregarious, idealistic man whose personal and political goals could never match up to reality. It casts fresh light on the
his personal, domestic, international, and sexual politics.
Read our full review.
Nothing Left to Fear from Hell by Alan Warner (6 April 2023). (Amazon paid link.)
In the aftermath of the disastrous Battle of Culloden, a lonely figure takes flight with a small band of companions through
the mountainous landscapes of the north-west Highlands of Scotland. His name is Charles Edward Stuart: better known today as
Bonnie Prince Charlie. In prose that is by turns poetic, comic, macabre, haunting and humane, multiaward-winning author Alan
Warner traces the last journey through Scotland of a man who history will come to define for his failure.
Read our full review.
Homecoming: The Scottish Years of Mary, Queen of Scots by Rosemary Goring (4 August 2022). (Amazon paid link.)
One of the most famous queens in history, Mary Stuart lived in her homeland for just twelve years. Brief though her time in Scotland
was, her experience profoundly influenced who she was and what happened to her. In this book, Rosemary Goring tells the story of Mary’s
Scottish years through the often dramatic and atmospheric locations and settings where the events that shaped her life took place and
also examines the part Scotland played in her downfall.
Read our full review.
Crucible of Conflict: Three Centuries of Border War by John Sadler (28 February 2023). (Amazon paid link.)
For three savage centuries England and Scotland, both dynamic races, slogged it out upon this arena of nations. Scott might have reinvented
the border as a sweep of chivalric romance, but the reality was very different. John Sadler knows this ground and its people; he is one of
them. For half a century he has traversed the borderland, and has taught, enacted and written about them. In this book he offers a uniquely
personal but highly informed view.
Read our full review.
The Crinan Canal by Marian Pallister (16 June 2016). (Amazon paid link.)
Known as 'Britain's most beautiful shortcut', the Crinal Canal runs from Ardrishaig on Loch Fyne nine miles across the
Kintyre peninsula to the west coast of Scotland. This boo tells the story of the canal from its
origins to the present day, discussing how it was built, who built it, how it changed life in the surrounding areas,
and how it has been used.
Read our full review.
The Coffin Roads: Journeys to the West by Ian Bradley (7 July 2022). (Amazon paid link.)
'Coffin roads' along which bodies were carried for burial are a marked feature of the landscape of the Scottish Highlands and islands.
This book journeys along eight coffin roads to discover and explore the distinctive traditions, beliefs and practices around dying, death
and mourning in the communities which created and used them. The result is a fascinating snapshot into place and culture. This book argues
that aspects of the distinctive West Highland and Hebridean way of death and approach to dying and mourning may have lessons for today.
Read our full review.
The Honours of Scotland: The Story of the Scottish Crown Jewels and the Stone of Destiny by Chris Tabraham (11 April 2019). (Amazon paid link.)
The Honours of Scotland tells the turbulent story of the Honours, Scotland's crown jewels, and the equally dramatic tale of the Stone of Destiny.
Over the centuries, Scotland's monarchy experienced relentless conflict and shifts in power. But throughout all of the struggles, there remained
one reminder of the authority of the monarchy: the Honours of Scotland.
Read our full review.
The Way it Was: A History of Gigha by Catherine Czerkawska (23 June 2016). (Amazon paid link.)
The island of Gigha is a small gem, the most southerly of the true Hebridean islands, lying just off Scotland's Kintyre
peninsula. Gigha's strategically useful position has given it a
fascinating history. The author relates the sometimes turbulent story of the people of Gigha and explores just what it is that
makes the island such an enchanting place.
Read our full review.
Scotland's History by Fiona Watson (6 August 2020). (Amazon paid link.)
Who was St Columba? Why was Mary, Queen of Scots executed? When were the Jacobite risings? Scotland's vibrant and bloody past captures the
imagination. But there is far more to Scottish history than murder and mayhem, tragedy and betrayal. Fiona Watson looks back across thousands
of years into the lives of the people of Scotland. She captures the critical moments and memorable personalities, revealing the truth behind the
myths.
Read our full review.
Picts: Scourge of Rome, Rulers of the North by Gordon Noble and Nicholas Evans (3 November 2022). (Amazon paid link.)
The Picts have fascinated for centuries. They emerged to defy the might of the Roman empire only to disappear at the end of the first millennium,
yet they laid the foundations for the medieval Scottish kingdom. This is the first book that covers in detail both their
archaeology and their history. It examines their kingdoms, culture, beliefs and everyday lives from their origins to their end.
Read our full review.
One Week in April: The Scottish Radical Rising of 1820 by Maggie Craig (2 April 2020). (Amazon paid link.)
In April 1820, a series of dramatic events exploded around Glasgow, central Scotland and Ayrshire. Demanding political
reform and better living and working conditions, 60,000 weavers and other workers went on strike.
Aiming to free Radical prisoners, a crowd in Greenock was attacked by
the Port Glasgow militia. In this book Maggie Craig sets the rising into the wider social and political context of the
time and paints an intense portrait of the people who were involved.
Read our full review.
A History of Scotland's Landscapes by Fiona Watson & Piers Dixon (8 March 2018). (Amazon paid link.)
It is easy to overlook how much of our history is preserved all around us, in the pattern of fields, forests, hills and mountains, roads,
railways, canals, lochs, buildings and settlements. A History of Scotland's Landscapes explores the many ways that we have used, adapted
and altered our environment over thousands of years. Full of maps, photographs and drawings, it offers a remarkable new perspective
on Scotland.
Read our full review.
The Last Blast of the Trumpet by Marie Macpherson (24 August 2020). (Amazon paid link.)
In this final installment of her trilogy about the fiery reformer John Knox, Macpherson tells the story
of a man and a queen at one of the most critical moments in Scottish history.
Knox returns to a Scotland on the brink of civil war. Victorious, he feels confident of his place
leading the reform until the charismatic young widow, Mary Queen of Scots returns
to claim her throne. She challenges his position and initiates a ferocious battle of wills as they strive to win the hearts and minds of the Scots.
Read our full review.
The Eagle and the Bear: A New History of Roman Scotland by John Reid (6 April 2023). (Amazon paid link.)
For over three centuries, the inhabitants of North Britain faced the might of Rome, resulting in some of the most extraordinary archaeology
of the ancient world. This book explores the interaction between the world’s first superpower and the peoples who would ultimately form the
country we now call Scotland and shows what it was like to be at the dark heart of imperialism and slavery, and to be on the receiving end
of Rome’s merciless killing machine.
Read our full review.
Majestic River: Mungo Park and the Exploration of the Niger by Charles W. J. Withers (3 November 2022). (Amazon paid link.)
By the late eighteenth century, the river Niger was a 2,000-year-old two-part geographical problem. Mungo Park achieved lasting fame in 1796
by solving the first part of the Niger problem. This book celebrates his achievements and shows how and why he was commemorated. It is also the
story of the expeditions that sought to determine the Niger’s course and the facts of Park’s disappearance, as well as a biography of the Niger
itself.
Read our full review.
The Faded Map: The Story of the Lost Kingdoms of Scotland by Alistair Moffat (1 August
2010). (Amazon paid link.) The book brings to vivid life the this little known period of Scottish history: the half-forgotten kings and
kingdoms of southern and central Scotland, from the time of the Romans to the Dark Ages and into the early medieval
period.
Read our full
review.
The Second Blast of the Trumpet by Marie Macpherson (11 October 2016). (Amazon paid link.)
1559. Freed after a stint in the galleys, the Scottish Reformer John Knox is fired up with his mission as God’s messenger to strike at
the roots of papistry. Prophet without honor in his own land, he is welcomed as chaplain to Edward VI in England. But by challenging the
liturgy of the English Protestant Church, he makes dangerous enemies. With Edward’s untimely death and the accession of the Catholic Mary
Tudor, Knox is forced to flee.
Read our full review.
The Rise of the Elliots of Minto: A Scottish Family's Life in the Eighteenth Century by John Evans (15 March 2017). (Amazon paid link.)
This chronological account of the happenings of six generations of Elliots in the eighteenth century, and a dramatis personae of well over 100,
completes the author’s trilogy about the family. The Rise of the Elliots of Minto begins with battles between reivers across the English–Scottish
border. Gilbert Elliot is helping the earl of Argyll escape the clutches of the law. Soon afterwards, as a member of the Scottish Parliament,
he prospers both socially and financially.
Read our full review.
Banged Up: Doing Time in Britain's Toughest Jails by David Leslie (30 September 2014). (Amazon paid link.)
Banged Up is the story of six of the country's most notorious jails - Durham, Wandsworth, Pentonville, Wormwood Scrubs,
Dartmoor and Holloway - and of the men and women who entered their gates, sometimes stood on their scaffolds and
occasionally vanished before their time. Also investigated are the lives and thoughts of scores of inmates, from Oscar
Wilde to Ruth Ellis.
Read our full review.
Lords of the Isles: From Viking Warlords to Clan Chiefs by Timothy Venning (3 June 2015). (Amazon paid link.)
In contrast to most of Scotland, the north-western coast and the islands beyond were a region of mixed political
control as well as culture into the sixteenth century. The divergent influences of Celtic and Scandinavian culture were
more marked here than in the evolving mainland kingdom of Scots.
Read
our full review.
Roman Britain by Denise Allen and Mike Bryan (15 September 2020). (Amazon paid link.)
The Romans ruled Britannia for more than 350 years, leaving an indelible mark on our landscape, glimpses of which can still be seen at sites and museums in
England, Wales and Scotland.This book provides the history of the best Roman villas, forts, walls and bathhouses, as well as the hidden gems which the
uninitiated might pass by. It also explains how these remnants of the past fit into the bigger story, pointing out details which have their own tale to
tell, connecting us with the people who lived here 2,000 years ago.
Read our full review.
Scotland: Her Story: The Nation's History by the Women Who Lived It by Rosemary Goring (15 October 2018). (Amazon paid link.)
Scotland's history has been told many times, but never exclusively by its women. This book takes a unique perspective on
dramatic national events as well as ordinary life, as experienced by women down the centuries. It encompasses women from
all stations of class and fame and notoriety, offering a tantalising view of what happened to them, and how they felt.
Drawing on a wide range of sources, Scotland: Her Story brings to life the half of history that has for too
long been hidden or ignored.
Read our full review.
The Last of the Druids: The Mystery of the Pictish Symbol Stones by Iain W.G. Forbes (12 June
2012). (Amazon paid link.) The purpose and meaning of Pictish symbol stones have baffled archaeologists and historians. Using a
combination of astronomical software to simulate the Pictish night sky and European mythology, the author presents a
revolutionary new theory that Pictish druids were practiced astronomers.
Read our full review.
A Proper Person to be Detained by Catherine Czerkawska (4 July 2019 ). (Amazon paid link.)
On Christmas Night in 1881, John Manley, a poor son of Irish immigrants living in the slums of Leeds, was fatally stabbed in a drunken quarrel.
The murderer went on the run, knowing that capture could see him hang. A few generations later, author Catherine Czerkawska begins to
tease out the truth behind her great-great-uncle's tragic death. But she uncovers far more than she bargained for. Catherine gives voice to people
often maligned by society and silenced by history.
Read our full review.
The King in the North: The Pictish Realms of Fortriu and Ce by Gordon Noble and Nicholas Evans (23 May 2019). (Amazon paid link.)
Some years ago a revolution took place in Early Medieval history in Scotland. The Pictish heartland of Fortriu, previously thought
to be centred on Perthshire found itself relocated to the shores of the Moray Firth. The implications for our understanding of this
period and for the formation of Scotland are unprecedented and still being worked through. This is the first account of this northern
heartland of Pictavia for a more general audience.
Read our full review.
The Time Team Guide to the Archaeological Sites of Britain an Island by Tim Taylor (17 Mar
2011). (Amazon paid link.) Channel 4's perennially popular Time Team take us on an archaeological sight-seeing tour of Britain and
Ireland. Region by region, they select the most interesting and important sites which are open to public
visitors.
Read our full
review.
Wild and Majestic: Romantic Visions of Scotland by Patrick Watt & Rosie Waine (26 June 2019). (Amazon paid link.)
The souvenir book of the exhibition of the same name at the National Museum of Scotland. In the era of the European Romantic movement
of the 18th and 19th centuries, Scotland became the subject of international fascination. Using material evidence the book traces Scotland's
journey into the global imagination, and show how, by the end of Queen Victoria's reign, a particular version of the cultural traditions of
the highlands and islands had become fixed as a badge of wider Scottish identity.
Read our full review.
When The Clyde Ran Red: A Social History of Red Clydeside by Maggie Craig (8 March 2018). (Amazon paid link.)
This book paints a vivid picture of the heady days when revolution was in the air on Clydeside. Through the bitter strike at the huge Singer
Sewing machine plant in Clydebank in 1911, Bloody Friday in Glasgow's George Square in 1919, the General Strike of 1926 and on through the
Spanish Civil War to the Clydebank Blitz of 1941, the people fought for the right to work, the dignity of labour and a fairer society for
everyone, while living in overcrowded tenements in Glasgow.
Read our full review.
The Romans in Scotland and The Battle of Mons Graupius by Simon Forder (15 August 2019). (Amazon paid link.)
In AD 77, Roman forces under Agricola marched into the northern reaches of Britain to pacify the Caledonians. For seven years, the
Romans battled across what is now Scotland. In AD 83, they fought the final battle at Mons Graupius where 10,000 Caledonians were
slaughtered with only 360 Roman dead. How much of this is true? Author Simon Forder considers contemporary sources and triangulates
these with the very latest archaeological finds to suggest a new narrative, including a new location for the battle itself.
Read our full review.
Caithness Archaeology: Aspects of Prehistory by A. Heald and J. Barber
(2 July 2015). (Amazon paid link.) Caithness, the most northerly county in mainland Britain, is one of the richest cultural landscapes
in Europe. The relative geographical isolation of the area and traditional landholding, combined with the use of
flagstone as the main building material since earliest times, has ensured the survival of a wide range of monuments in
a profusion unequalled elsewhere in Scotland.
Read our full
review.
The Decline of the Scottish Conservative Party by Colin Sutherland (31 March 2016). (Amazon paid link.)
A fascinating, up to date and well researched look at Scottish politics covering the last 150 years. The book concentrates on the
decline of the Scottish Unionist Association following its takeover by the English Conservative Party in 1959-60. The result gives an
insight into the dramatically changing political landscape of Scotland.
Read our full review.
Zealots: How a Group of Scottish Conspirators Unleashed Half a Century of War in Britain by Oliver Thomson (15 July 2018). (Amazon paid link.)
A page-turning account of events set in train by religious zealotry that cost hundreds of thousands of lives. This is an innovative,
controversial history of Scotland, Ireland and England in the early modern period. Its originality lies in new research pinpointing Fife,
especially St Andrews, as the area where a group instigated not just Scotland's wars of religion but also triggered three civil wars
in England and Ireland.
Read our full review.
Hail Caledonia: The Lure of the Highlands and Islands by Eric Simpson (15 November 2017). (Amazon paid link.)
Famous travellers like Johnson and Boswell feature here, but so too do an assortment of less well-known figures who include pioneer
map-makers, canoeists, climbers, cyclists, campers, cavers and scientists. They helped to make the Highlands, once a playground for
the rich, a holiday destination for all classes. Eric Simpson’s new book tells this story – the story of the growth of tourism in
the Highlands and Islands of Scotland.
Read our full review.
The Vatersay Raiders by Ben Buxton (1 March 2011). (Amazon paid link.) All they wanted was land: land for
crofting and land on which to build a house. In 1908, ten desperate men from the islands of Barra and Mingulay in the
Western Isles were imprisoned for refusing to leave the island of Vatersay which they had raided, building huts and
planting potatoes without permission.
Read our full
review.
Celtic Saints of Scotland, Northumbria and the Isle of Man by Elizabeth Rees (28 July 2017). (Amazon paid link.)
Most books about Celtic saints are based on their legendary medieval lives. This book, however, focuses on the sites where these early
Christians lived and worked. Archaeology, combined with early inscriptions and texts, offers us important clues which help us to piece
together something of the world of early Christianity. The book is illustrated with the author's own photographs of the sites where the
Celtic saints of north Britain worked and prayed.
Read our full review.
The Covenanters by Claire Watts (Scotties) (16 December 2011). (Amazon paid link.) This title in the "Scotties
Series" explains the complex topic of the Covenanters of the 1600s to children and is also a useful introduction to the
subject for adults. "Scotties Books" contain a wealth of interesting facts, stimulating activities, websites and
suggestions for places to visit.
Read our full review.
Colouring the Nation: The Turkey Red Printed Cotton Industry in Scotland C.1840-1940 by Stana
Nenadic and Sally Tuckett (14 November 2013). (Amazon paid link.) A collaborative project between NMS and the University of Edinburgh.
By looking at decorative textiles manufacture, it showed that Scotland played a key role in the production of colourful
and fashionable fabrics for the overseas market.
Read our full review.
The Story of Calton Jail, Edinburgh's Victorian Prison by Malcolm Fife (6 January 2016). (Amazon paid link.)
Close to Edinburgh's Princes Street, the castellated design of Calton Prison was often mistaken by
nineteenth-century visitors to the city for Edinburgh Castle. Occupying a prominent site on the rocky slope of Calton Hill,
the then largest jail in Scotland was constructed to replace the ageing tolbooth and soon became the region's main correction
facility.
Read our full review.
The King Over the Water: A Complete History of the Jacobites by Desmond Seward (3 October 2019). (Amazon paid link.)
This is the first modern history for general readers of the entire Jacobite movement in Scotland, England and Ireland, from the 'Glorious Revolution'
of 1688 that drove James II into exile to the death of his grandson, Cardinal Henry, Duke of York, in 1807. The Battle of Culloden and Bonnie Prince
Charlie's flight through the heather are well known, but not the other risings and plots that involved half of Europe and even
revolutionary America.
Read our full review.
The Way We Were: Victorian and Edwardian Scotland in Colour by John Hannavy (6
Novenber 2012). (Amazon paid link.) A reflective look at how Scotland was depicted in photographs and postcards 100 - 170 years ago. In
many ways, it redefines our view of Scotland's past as we are familiar with seeing Victorian and Edwardian people and
views in sepia, but these are also in colour, adding a warmth and realism to the world portrayed.
Read our full
review.
Glasgow A History by Michael Meighan (17 December 2013). (Amazon paid link.) The story of Glasgow, from its
drumlin days in the Ice Age to the growth of the Church, its industries, its people and the phenomenal expansion of the
Victorian era to become the second city of the Empire, producing ships, locomotives, cars and heavy engineering for the
world. And the legacy it has left in the modern vibrant city we find today.
Read our full
review.
The Traction Engine in Scotland by Alexander Hayward (8 June 2011). (Amazon paid link.) Traction engines were
most widespread in Scotland from the 1880s until the 1940s. The book describes the use of traction power on Scottish
road and field, and places National Museum Scotland's 1907 Marshall traction engine in its historical context.
Read our full review.
Bonanzas and Jacobites: The Story of the Silver Glen by Stephen Moreton (14 Mar 2007). (Amazon paid link.) This
fascinating book tells the little known story of Scotland's richest ever silver mine, near Alva in Clackmannanshire.
Published by the National Museum of Scotland on behalf of the Clackmannanshire Field Studies Society.
Read our full
review.
A New History of the Picts by Stuart McHardy (11 March 2011). (Amazon paid link.) This controversial book
contends that the Picts were the descendants of the original inhabitants of the land, living in a series of loose
tribal confederations gradually brought together by external forces to create one of the earliest states in Europe: a
people, who after repulsing all invaders, merged with their cousins, the Scots of Argyll, to create modern Scotland.
Read our full review.
Duel Personalities: James Stuart versus Sir Alexander Boswell by John Chalmers (April
2014). (Amazon paid link.) At 10.30am on 26th March 1822, a duel took place in Fife between two prominent citizens - James Stuart and
Sir Alexander Boswell - in which Boswell, the elder son of James Boswell, the biographer of Samuel Johnson, received a
fatal wound. The duel aroused intense public interest and had unexpected consequences.
Read our full review.
Scotland's Heritage: A Photographic Journey by John Hannavy (31 July 2012). (Amazon paid link.) This book
combines John Hannavy's original photography of Scotland with an engaging narrative on the country's evolution from
4000 BC to the present day, using both the author's own account of his travels with those of the great travel writers
of the past.
Read our full
review.
Castles in the Mist: The Victorian Transformation of the Highlands by Robin Noble (21 April 2016). (Amazon paid link.)
Castles in the Mist reveals how, for better or for worse, the vast sporting estates of the Victorian era created the salmon rivers,
deer forests and grouse moors, transforming the Highlands into the landscape that we recognise today, with its attendant environmental problems.
In a seductive blend of memoir, history and natural history, Robin Noble makes the case for change.
Read our full review.
bruce, meg and me by gregor ewing (1 April 2015). (Amazon paid link.) Gregor Ewing writes a personal account of
his 1,000 mile walk over nine weeks with collie Meg that takes them through Northern Ireland and the central belt of
Scotland, literally following in Robert the Bruce s footsteps. Gregor frames his expedition with historical background
that follows Robert the Bruce s journey to start a campaign which led to his famous victory seven years later.
Read our full review.
Bloody Scottish History: Edinburgh by Geoff Holder (1 October 2012). (Amazon paid link.) Did you know that Lord
Drumlanrig once roasted a servant on a spit; that Station Road used to be called 'Cut-Throat Lane'; that one Edinburgh
hangman was a murderer in his spare time? Edinburgh is one of the most beautiful cities in the world, with one of the
darkest histories on record. Riots, murders, sieges and the bull's head that sparked a clan massacre, read it if you
dare!
Read our full
review.
A New Way of Living: Georgian Town Planning in the Highlands and Islands by Gordon Haynes (31
July 2015). (Amazon paid link.) This book tells the story of the development of new towns in the Scottish Highlands and Islands
post-1750. It pulls together the various strands that influenced development after the disastrous risings and charts
the various attempts at establishing fishing villages from Argyll to Sutherland, and along the shores of the Moray
Firth.
Read our full review.
The History Thieves: Secrets, Lies and the Shaping of a Modern Nation by Ian Cobain (1 September 2016). (Amazon paid link.)
In 1889, the first Official Secrets Act was passed.
It limited and monitored what the public could, and should, be told. Drawing on previously unseen material and rigorous research,
The History Thieves reveals how a complex bureaucratic machine has grown up around the British state, allowing governments to evade accountability.
Read our full review.
A Handbook of Scotland's History: The Essential Guide for Browsers, Patriots, Explorers, Genealogists,
Tourists, Time Travellers and Quiz Buffs by Michael Kerrigan (12 May 2016). (Amazon paid link.)
Scotland has more history than you can shake a spurtle at, or a shinty stick, or a sporran:
one of the many reasons for the nation's newfound pride in its own glorious past. The richness of our
history also explains why visitors find their trips to this land of contradictions so memorable.
Read our full review.
Cruel Britannia: A Secret History of Torture by Ian Cobain (8 November 2012). (Amazon paid link.)
Drawing on previously unseen official documents, and the accounts of witnesses, victims and experts, prize-winning
investigative journalist Ian Cobain looks beyond the cover-ups and the attempts to dismiss brutality as the work of a
few rogue interrogators, to reveal a secret and shocking record of torture.
Read our full
review.
Deacon Brodie: A Double Life by David Hutchison (31 May 2015). (Amazon paid link.) When respected
Gentleman and City Councillor, Deacon William Brodie, chases his love of gambling, he is drawn deep into a double life.
Before long the open respectability of day gives way to a hidden life of crime at night, and soon, Brodie is on a
trajectory to disaster — one which leads him to the gibbet. Set in the Edinburgh of 1788, Deacon Brodie: A Double
Life is a fact-based novel.
Read our full
review.
Greyfriars Bobby: The Most Faithful Dog in the World by Jan Bondeson (1 June
2011). (Amazon paid link.) Although Greyfriars Bobby has been dead for nearly a century and a half, this extraordinary dog has yet to
find his biographer. Much fiction has been based on the myth, but no historian has investigated the authenticity of his
story, and sift the facts from a century of exaggeration and legend.
Read our full
review.
Undiscovered Dundee by Brian King (15 April 2011). (Amazon paid link.) Undiscovered Dundee is an anthology of
lost civic inheritance. It is the story of forgotten disasters and buried heritage, of harmless eccentrics and brutal
murderers, of heroes and villains, of strange events and everyday landmarks. It tells of the Dundonians who time has
erased, those who stayed and made a difference to their city and those who left for a larger stage.
Read our full review.
Walking with Murder: On the Kidnapped Trail by Ian Nimmo (July 31, 2005). (Amazon paid link.) A fascinating
in-depth examination of the Appin Murder and of the route taken by the fugitives in Robert Louis Stevenon's novel
Kidnapped. What makes Ian Nimmo's account so interesting is that he explores the kidnapped
route across Scotland as it was after the '45, as he found it forty years ago, and as it is today.
Read our full
review.
The First Blast of the Trumpet by Marie Macpherson (5 March 2013). (Amazon paid link.) Book One in the Knox
trilogy focuses on Elisabeth Hepburn, daughter of the Earl of Bothwell, godmother of John Knox and Prioress of St.
Mary's Abbey, Haddington. In a daring attempt to shed light on unanswered questions about John Knox's early,
undocumented life, this novel throws up some startling claims and controversial conjectures.
Read our full review.
Galoshins Remembered: 'A Penny Was a Lot in These Days' by Emily B. Lyle (31 May 2011). (Amazon paid link.)
Galoshins was a seasonal folk drama learned orally and performed, mostly by boys, in people's houses. They were
rewarded with food or pennies. It took place on New Year's Eve or on Hallowe'en in central and southern Scotland at the
very end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th.
Read our full review.
Scotland's Cinemas by Bruce Peter (1 February 2011). (Amazon paid link.) In the first half of the
twentieth century, Scotland was movie-mad. In industrial areas, some of the biggest cinemas in Europe were constructed.
Even small towns and larger villages had cinemas serving rural hinterlands. Illustrated with over 300 photographs, this
book is a must for anybody interested in twentieth century commercial architecture, social history and the development
of the cinema.
Read our full review.
Lord James by Catherine Hermary-Vieille (6 December 2010). (Amazon paid link.) A well told historical novel
recounting the story of James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell. It focuses on his intense and deeply ill fated
relationship with Mary Queen of Scots that culminated with their ill judged marriage. Their story is one of the great
tragedies of Scottish history, and this book brings it vividly to life.
Read our full review.
Edinburgh in the 1950s: Ten Years the Changed a City by Jack Gillon, David McLean & Fraser
Parkinson (28 April 2014). (Amazon paid link.) Beautifully illustrated with many previously unpublished photographs, Edinburgh in the
1950s provides an exceptional insight into a time now acknowledged as the end of an era in Edinburgh for good and for
bad, and a turning point that has led to the city we see today.
Read
our full review.
Finding Arthur: The True Origins of the Once and Future King by Adam Ardrey (29 October
2014). (Amazon paid link.) The legend of King Arthur has been told and retold for centuries. As the kind who united a nation, his is
the story of England itself. But what if Arthur wasn't English at all? Adam Ardrey sets out the argument for Arthur's
Scottish origin, showing how all the elements of the Arthurian legends can be fitted neatly into the Scottish
landscape.
Read our full
review. >
Scotland: Mapping the Nation by Chris Fleet, Charles W. J. Withers
& Margaret Wilkes (1 September 2011). (Amazon paid link.) This is the first book to take maps seriously as a form of history, from
the earliest representations of Scotland by Ptolemy in the second century AD to the most recent form of Scotland's
mapping and geographical representation in GIS, satellite imagery and SATNAV.
Read our full
review.
To Auckland by the Ganges by Robert M. Grogans (19 April 2012). (Amazon paid link.) In 1863 there was only one
method of travelling from Britain to New Zealand, by sailing ship, on a journey that could take up to four month. One
emigrant taking David Buchanan, a journalist and editor of several prominent Scottish newspapers, who kept a detailed
journal on which this account is based.
Read our full
review.
A Private Empire by Stephen Foster (3 May 2011). (Amazon paid link.) A Private Empire is a finely grained
account of the Scottish Macpherson family's experience of empire, extending over five continents and 250 years. Between
the 1740s and the 1990s, six generations of the family contributed to the British empire and its legacies, recording
their activities in an extraordinary archive of letters, papers and diaries.
Read our full
review.
The Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women From The Earliest Times to 2004: by Elizabeth
Ewan, Sue Innes, Sian Reynolds, Rose Pipes (14 April 2011). (Amazon paid link.) This excellent single-volume dictionary presents the
lives of individual Scottish women from earliest times to the present and throws light on the experience of women from
every class and category in Scotland and among the worldwide Scottish diaspora.
Read our full
review.
The Art of the Picts by George and Isabel Henderson (30 August 2011). (Amazon paid link.) The Picts are perhaps
the least well-known of the Celtic peoples. They left us a large number of carved stone, and some metalwork, engraved
with symbols which nobody has ever properly deciphered. This magnificent book is the most comprehensive survey of
Pictish art in recent memory, and the first scholarly book to address the art-historical aspects of the legacy of the
Picts.
Read our full review.
Ancestors in the Arctic: A Photographic History of Dundee Whaling by Malcolm Archibald (21
November 2013). (Amazon paid link.) For over 160 years, Dundee sent ships to the Arctic to hunt the whales. It was a brutal, dangerous
business but one which was vital to the economy of the city. This book shows some of the most evocative images held by
the McManus Museum in Dundee, together with explanatory text.
Read our full review.
Glencoe by John Sadler (15 October 2009). (Amazon paid link.) A fresh look at one the most emotive episodes in
Scottish history. In the early hours of 13 February 1692, English Redcoats who for the previous week had been
peacefully quartered on the inhabitants of Glencoe, fell upon their MacDonald hosts. In the ensuing hours 38
defenceless men, women, and children were murdered in cold blood.
Read our full review.
Edinburgh: Mapping the City by Chris Fleet & Daniel MacCannell (16 October
2014). (Amazon paid link.) Maps can tell much about the story of a place. This lavishly illustrated book features 71 maps of Edinburgh
which have been selected for the particular stories they reveal about the political, commercial and social life of
Scotland and her capital.
Read our full
review.
Blood in the Glens: True Crime from the Scottish Highlands by Jean McLennan (15
March 2011). (Amazon paid link.) This is a fascinating collection of true crime stories from the Highlands and Islands of Scotland.
Murders and unexplained deaths happen wherever there are people and the Highlands, though statistically very safe, has
not been immune. This book investigates some of the most interesting and mysterious crimes committed in the area over
the last sixty years.
Read our full
review.
Wish You Were Still Here: The Scottish Seaside Holiday by Eric Simpson (21 June 2013). (Amazon paid link.)
Starting in the golden age of the Victorian and Edwardian resorts, Eric Simpson explores the ways and means in which
the Scottish people were able to enjoy the benefits of seaside and other holidays, including how they travelled, the
things they did and where they stayed.
Read our full
review.
The Scottish Shale Oil Industry & Mineral Railway Lines by Harry Knox (20 February
2013). (Amazon paid link.) This magnificent book tells the story of the Scottish Shale Oil Industry. This was to prove a world first,
where mineral oils were produced for the first time from the oilbearing shale lying below the county of West Lothian.
The result was to transform the landscape, and leave a legacy which in places still remains on view today.
Read our full review.
Bloody Scotland: Crime in 19th Century Scotland by Malcolm Archibald (16 September 2014). (Amazon paid link.)
19th century Scotland was depicted as a land of misty glens, engineering innovation and inventive genius. But Scotland
was also the home of brutal murder, terrifying riots, child cruelty, bank robbery and acid attack. Women as well as men
were capable of horrendous acts, and crime could strike anywhere: at home, on the road and even at sea.
Read our full
review.
Cattle on a Thousand Hills by Katharine Stewart (15 November 2010). (Amazon paid link.) While their role has
been all too often overlooked by historians, cattle have played an integral part in the economy, ecology and culture of
Highland life. Although many of these animals and their keepers have been abandoned in favour of sheep walks and deer
forests, their legacy has remained through stories, paintings and songs.
Read our full review.
A Swedish Field Trip to the Outer Hebrides, 1934 by Alexander Fenton (11 May
2012). (Amazon paid link.) Sven T Kjellberg, Director of Goteborgs Historiska Museum and his assistant Olof Hasslof travelled through
the Outer Hebrides in 1934 to research the maritime culture of the area, with the emphasis on material culture.
Renowned ethnologist Professor Emeritus Alexander Fenton presents the research with additional material of his own.
Read our full review.
The Slogans and Warcries of Scotland of Old by Andrew Pearson (January 2011). (Amazon paid link.) Before
tartans and clan coats-of-arms, there were the clans, districts, towns and families that gave rise to the slogans and
cries that brought about an evocation of the spirit to rally together. This is that story of how and why the slogans
and warcries were begun and continued as an adhesive to bring clan strength and unity.
Read our full review.
Carstairs: Hospital for Horrors by David Leslie (5 October 2015). (Amazon paid link.) Carstairs is a
hospital like no other. Effectively a prison for some of the most violent and insane criminals in our society, it
houses men who have committed the most horrific and frightening crimes imaginable. David Leslie examines the history of
the institution, the crimes that have led patients to be sent there and highlights the risks of the brave and dedicated
staff who work there.
Read our full review.
The Kingdom of MacBrayne (Paperback) by Donald E. Meek (19 Sep 2008). (Amazon paid link.) This beautifully
produced and fascinating book tells the story of David MacBrayne, his ships and his company, his predecessors, rivals
and successors.
Read our full
review.
Showfolk: An Oral History of a Fairground Dynasty (Hardcover) by Frank Bruce (3 June 2010). (Amazon paid link.)
Travelling showfolk have been entertaining Scots for centuries and a visit to the shows was a highlight of the year
until fairly recent memory. The Codonas are one of the longest and most established show families, having arrived from
the continent in the late eighteenth century.
Read our full review.
Scotland's Lost Industries by Michael Meighan (10 December 2012). (Amazon paid link.) Scotland has
many lost industries, from papermaking to gunpowder making as well as whaling, the motor industry, steel making, coal
mining, shipbreaking and locomotive manufacture. Michael Meighan takes us on a trip down memory lane, when Scotland was
an industrial powerhouse, making goods for the Empire an Commonwealth as well as exporting to the world.
Read our full
review.
Edinburgh Murders and Misdemeanours by David Brandon & Alan Brooke (1 March 2010). (Amazon paid link.) A
look at the dark side of life, Victorian-style. Murderers, poachers, thieves, pickpockets and vagabonds all went about
their business with impunity. Crime took place on the streets, on public transport, in homes, pubs, prisons, asylums,
workhouses and brothels: it was all part of everyday life in Edinburgh in the late 1800s.
Read our full
review.
The Kings & Queens of Scotland by Timothy Venning (15 August 2015). (Amazon paid link.) The story of the
rulers of Scotland's constituent states and then of the united kingdom of Scots from Kenneth MacAlpin onwards is
complex and often violent. The obscure earlier history is often as fascinating as the better-known stories of the Bruce
and Queen Mary, though less familiar. This saga of a thousand years is a tribute to the qualities of Scotland's
rulers.
Read our full review.
The Appin Murder: The Killing of the Red Fox by Seamus Carney (1 March 2011). (Amazon paid link.) Theories
abound as to who actually fired the fatal shot at Colin Campbell of Glenure and brought down the wrath of Clan Campbell
on the intransigent Stewarts of Appin. The murder inspired Stevenson's Kidnapped and Catriona. Seamus Carney's version
remains the definitive account of this still baffling mystery.
Read our full review.
Ane Compact of Villany: The History of Argyll's Outlawed Gang by Lindsay Campbell (28 September
2015). (Amazon paid link.) Welcome to 17th-century Argyll. Just watch out for Lachie and the boys. From the 1680s to the 1700s, a gang
of early Jacobites, thieves, housebreakers and highwayman ran a protection racket across Argyll, bringing misery and
fear to their own people and dismay to the authorities. In the end, a working-class hero brought the gang to
justice.
Read our full review.
Scotland's Merlin: A Medieval Legend and its Dark Age Origins by Tim Clarkson (3 May 2016). (Amazon paid link.)
Who was Merlin? Is the famous wizard of Arthurian legend based on a real person? In this book, Merlin's origins are traced back
to the story of Lailoken, a mysterious 'wild man' who is said to have lived in the Scottish Lowlands in the sixth century AD.
The book considers the question of whether Lailoken belongs to myth or reality.
Read our full review.
The Stuarts in Italy, 1719-1766: A Royal Court in Permanent Exile by Edward Corp (18 August
2011). (Amazon paid link.) For nearly half of the eighteenth century, the exiled Stuart Court provided an important British presence in
Rome. Based on new research in Italian and British archives, this book reassesses the lives of the exiled Stuarts,
their courtiers, and their relations with the Popes, cardinals and princely families of Rome.
Read our full
review.
A Sink of Atrocity: Crime in 19th Century Dundee by Malcolm Archibald (26 April 2012). (Amazon paid link.)
Dundee in the nineteenth century was a very dangerous place. Ever since the Circuit judge Lord Cockburn branded the
city 'A Sink of Atrocity' in his Memoirs, the image of old Dundee has been one of poverty and crime - but what was it
really like to live in the streets and closes of Dundee at that time?
Read our full
review.
