Scotland the Brave: A Scottish-American Mosaic

Scotland the Brave: A Scottish-American Mosaic will appeal not only to Scottish-Americans but to anyone interested in Scotland, America, and questions of national identity, an intricate question in Scotland (as in America) because of divisions in ethnicity, language, geography and political history. Carnochan ranges brilliantly over the deep, affectionate affinities between America and Scotland since the time of the American Revolution, touching on politics, sport, and an unexpected yet profound kinship between contemporary poetry and fiction in the two nations. Familiar and unfamiliar aspects of Scottish experience are all here: on the one hand, golf, whisky, kilts, and Highland Games; on the other, the “world’s worst poet” (William McGonagall) and the world’s first sexologist (James Graham). Part history, part engaging anecdote, Scotland the Brave is an immensely readable compendium of historical learning and personal reflection by a fifth-generation Scottish-American, whose earlier books include accounts of African travel and, in a memoir, the pains of being a Dodger fan.