Amazon.com
Scotland had long been a de facto colony of England by the time the Act of Union between the two countries was signed in 1707. Even so, writes historian T.M. Devine, it was a colony that proudly refused to consider itself anything other than a separate nation, one that bound itself to historical fact and invented traditions alike in an effort to retain national identity. Scotland, Devine writes, fell to England for many reasons, not least of them its small and scattered population. Keenly aware of its status as a subject nation, Scotland still contributed greatly, and disproportionately, to the development of the British Empire--not only by sending its Highland regiments off to battle in distant lands and its people to colonize large parts of the world, but also by committing itself to industrial and technological development, a contribution that created great commercial fortunes in Edinburgh and London alike.
Devine charts the uneasy relationship between Scotland and England, focusing closely on the growth of Scottish ideas of independence and self-rule through the last three centuries. Those ideas, he notes with satisfaction, led in July 1999 to the meeting of the first Scottish parliament since 1707. His epic, forward-looking historical study is without peer, and students of Scotland's past and present will find much of value in its pages. --Gregory McNamee
From Publishers Weekly
Nearly 300 years after the Scottish parliament voted itself out of existence in 1707 as the ruling classes in Edinburgh and London forged a marriage of convenience, history has come full circle: in July 2000, the first Scottish parliament in nearly 300 years will convene amid a growing movement for partial autonomy or even independence from England. Devine (The Great Highland Famine), director of research at the Institute of Irish and Scottish Studies at the University of Aberdeen, charts Scots' ambivalent relationship to Britain, from 1700 through the Victorian era, when Scottish pride rested on identification with union and empire, to disillusionment with England during the Thatcher years and the new service-based economy of the 1990s. Since the mid-19th century, Scotland has been one of the world's most urbanized societies, with the vast majority of its people living in the industrialized Lowlands, not in the Highlands romanticized by Robert Burns and others. To Devine, a central paradox is why Scotland, one of the most prosperous industrial and agricultural success stories after 1860, lost millions of people through emigration. The answer, he believes, is to be found in gross inequality of income and the overcrowding, squalor and epidemics to which the unlucky many were exposed. His survey explores how Scottish national identity has continually refashioned itself, from the 18th-century Enlightenment, which spawned Adam Smith and David Hume, to the adaptive creativity exemplified by poet Hugh MacDiarmid, architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh and even rock bands like the Proclaimers. The pace sometimes bogs down under the weight of statistics, but for its size and ambition, this is a graceful synthesis of economic, social and political history that gives readers a wonderfully rich portrait of Scotland. Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
In this insightful work, Dunn (history of ideas, Williams Coll.) quickly puts to rest the mistaken notion that all political revolutions are the same. She notes that while the American and French revolutions were "sister" revolutions, there were some distinct differences, most importantly in visions employed and policies pursued. Dunn explores the dramatic differences between these two ideological episodes of the modern political world, illustrating the limits and excesses of revolutionary political thought and behavior. Central to her work is the thesis that the American revolutionaries were more properly guided by skepticism concerning the perils of putting too much faith in reason; they believed, she argues, that experience and a healthy dose of historical understanding and appreciation were critical. Highly recommended for all public libraries.AStephen Kent Shaw, Northwest Nazarene Coll., Nampa, ID Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Book Description
"A tremendous study of transformation . . . Devine's strength is his huge learning in the field of social history, especially the story of the rural communities of Scotland." (Neal Ascherson, Los Angeles Times)
"Splendid . . . will remain the standard one in its field for a long time." (The Times Literary Supplement)
T. M. Devine uses extensive original research to examine Scotland's urban vigor as well as describing the traditional aspects of Scottish history, covering key topics such as the Union, the Enlightenment, Industrialization, the Clearances, Religion, and the Road to Devolution. He also explores the global Diaspora of the Scots, the impact of migrants, and the effect of the World Wars. Throughout, Scotland's story is set against the background of British, European, and world history.
About the Author
T. M. Devine is University Research Professor and Director of the Research Institute of Irish and Scottish Studies at the University of Aberdeen. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
Home
