Illustrated History of Scotland

From Booklist\nThe illustrated history is a well-established kind of book, generally a coffee-table tome meant to be desultorily perused rather than read through. No one thinks it should be very good, and it usually isn't. Tabraham and Baxter seem not to know this. The former, principal inspector of ancient Scottish buildings for the agency that maintains them, sketches Scottish history--from being part of Pangaea to resumption of home rule only yesterday (1999)--unstuffily, knowledgeably, and even, toward the end and like a true tour-guide pro, personally ("As for me," he says of Glasgow's trumpeted housing development, Cumbernauld, "I have trouble finding my way out of the place"). Baxter, with dozens of photo books and a booming business in landscape images to his credit, loads the pages with one stunner after another, though he doesn't hog them, allowing several dozen fine old paintings and period photos their share of illustrative acreage. And the book is perfectly edited and gorgeously printed. Get it to gawk at, keep it to read and admire. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved\nThis colorful book brings Scotland's history vividly to life from its prehistoric past to its innovative present. It reveals key historical events and the characters behind them--From invaders, warriors, rulers, inventors, artists, and politicians to ordinary folk who emerge as heroes in this remarkable story. Beautifully illustrated with contemporary photographs and nearly 100 archival images from museums and other sources across Scotland, the book features subjects as diverse as the warlike Picts, St. Columba, Macbeth, the Battle of Bannockburn, Mary Queen of Scots, the poet Robert Burns, the architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh, and Scotland's universities.