Overturning many assumptions about Scotland's history, this book takes both traditional topics and new themes, making them fascinating and accessible for those wanting to understand the recent development of this historic nation, as the first Scottish Parliament since 1707 prepares to meet in the summer of 2000.

The Scottish Nation

T. M. Devine

Allen Lane.

This history offers a scholarly survey of the forces that have shaped modern Scotland.

People and Society in Scotland: A Social History of Modern Scotland : 1760-1830

History

John Donald

In the later decades of the 17th century, Scotland was a relatively poor and undeveloped country. Around 100 years later it was in the throes of an extraordicnary transformation, which laid the basis for the nation's world economic pre-eminence in the Victorian era. Two aspects of this great leap forward, the Industrial Revolution and the Highland Clearances have been much studied. This is a study of a fundamental development, of the transition from peasant to capitalist agriculture. It covers the social change in Scotland through a wide range of issues including agrarian economy, evolution of tenant farming and landlordism.

The Transformation of Rural Scotland: Social Change and the Agrarian Economy, 1660-1815

Europe

John Donald Publishers Ltd.

Social and economic changes included an increase in production of food and raw materials, in turn sustaining the remarkable growth of towns and cities over this period. However, in the folk memory of Scotland the social and cultural costs of the revolution loom much larger: the loss of land for many thousands of families; the rise of individualism and the decline of neighbourhood; the death of old rural societies which had formed Scotland's character for many generations. The drama and tragedy of Highland history during this period have attracted many authors, whereas the Lowland experience, that of the majority of Scots, hardly any. This book attempts to redress that balance, and in so doing examines why this extraordinary era, inextricably associated with failure, famine and clearance in Gaeldom, is remembered as one of 'improvement' in the Lowlands, where the folk memory of dispossession, if it ever existed, is long lost in collective amnesia. In so doing, Devine addresses an issue which goes right to the heart of the nation's past.

Clearance and Improvement: Land, Power and People in Scotland, 1700-1900

Birlinn Ltd.

An epic account of the influential role the Scots played in settling the English colonies of the Americas. Scotland's influence was crucial for the worldwide success of Britain's overseas empire. As emigrants, soldiers, tobacco lords, merchants, and colonial administrators, Scots were involved in nearly every aspect of running and financing Britain's colonies in America, Australia, and India. T. M. Devine, Scotland's leading historian, draws on a wealth of new material to provide a comprehensive examination of Scotland's multifaceted role in colonization. He deftly portrays the key contributions by Scots to the development of the Americas, from political ideas to business. In the first of a two-volume set, Scotland's Empire combines detailed scholarship with a compelling narrative history, setting the Scots' story against the rise of the British Empire, the course of American history, and the changes in world history. 35 b/w illustrations.

Scotland's Empire and the Shaping of the Americas, 1600-1815

Americas

Smithsonian Books