The brainchild of bestselling author Alexander McCall Smith, historian Alistair Moffat and artist Andrew Crummy, the Great Tapestry of Scotland is an outstanding celebration of thousands of years of Scottish history and achievement, from the end of the last Ice Age to Dolly the Sheep and Andy Murray's Wimbledon victory in 2013. This book tells the story of this unique undertaking from its original conception and creation by teams of dedicated stitchers to its grand unveiling at the Scottish Parliament in 2013, its subsequent touring and the creation of its permanent home in the Scottish Borders.

Scotland is often seen as a land of mystery, a place where reality collides with the world of spirits and phantoms. But what effect does that have on the individuals who call it their home? And, in particular, on those people who have in one way or another earned a place in history? Famous Scots and the Supernatural examines the achievements of famous Scots through the ages and shows how their lives and decisions have been affected by unusual and unlikely influences. For example, William Wallace was seen at one time as much as a mystic as a soldier. Hugh Dowding, who masterminded Britain's Battle of Britain victory, was fascinated by the spirit world and became a leading exponent of the New Age movement. And John Logie Baird, the father of television, had a number of supernatural experiences and attended séances where he received messages from dead inventors. Famous Scots and the Supernatural reveals how, from the earliest times to the present, politicians, scientists, writers and artists have been influenced not only by the world around them but by less obvious and more mystical beliefs and experiences which have changed their lives and altered the course of history.

Alexander MacDonald guides us through his family’s mythic past as he recollects the heroic stories of his people: loggers, miners, drinkers, adventurers; men forever in exile, forever linked to their clan. There is the legendary patriarch who left the Scottish Highlands in 1779 and resettled in “the land of trees,” where his descendents became a separate Nova Scotia clan. There is the team of brothers and cousins, expert miners in demand around the world for their dangerous skills. And there is Alexander and his twin sister, who have left Cape Breton and prospered, yet are haunted by the past. Elegiac, hypnotic, by turns joyful and sad, No Great Mischief is a spellbinding story of family, loyalty, exile, and of the blood ties that bind us, generations later, to the land from which our ancestors came.

Writing on a small island in the Firth of Forth in the 1440s, Walter Bower set out to tell the whole story of the Scottish nation in a single huge book, the Scotichronicon—'a history book for Scots'. It begins with the mythical voyage of Scota, the Pharaoh's daughter, from Egypt with the Stone of Destiny. The land that her sons discovered in the Western Ocean was named after her: Scotland. It goes on to describe the turbulent events that followed, among them the wars of the Scots and the Picts (begun by a quarrel over a dog); the poisoning of King Fergus by his wife; Macbeth's usurpation and uneasy reign; the good deeds of Margaret, queen and saint; Bruce's murder of the Red Comyn; the founding of Scotland's first university at St Andrews; the 'Burnt Candlemas'; and the endless troubles between Scotland and England. Weaving in and out of the events of Bower's factual history, like a wonderful pageant, are other subjects that fascinated him: harrowing visions of hell and purgatory, extraordinary miracles; the exploits of knights and beggars, merchants and monks; the ravages of flood and fire; the terrors of the plague; and the answers to such puzzling questions as what makes a good king, and why Englishmen have tails. In 1998 Donald Watt and his team of scholars completed the first modern edition and translation of Scotichronicon in nine volumes. It has been described as 'a massive achievement for Scottish cultural history' (Sally Mapstone) and 'an open invitation to join a voyage of discovery' (Books in Scotland). This selection from the whole of Scotichronicon puts Bower's epic of Scotland into the hands of the general reader. It is a marvellous and unforgettable story. Perhaps its importance is best summed up by Bower himself, who wrote at the end of it: Non Scotus est Christe cui liber non placet iste—Christ! He is not a Scot who is not pleased with this book! A History Book for Scots is selected from the complete edition of Scotichronicon by Walther Bower, edited by D.E.R. Watt and a team of scholars, in nine volumes.

On a mild winter day in January 1736, Scottish immigrants from Inverness, Scotland, organized the first Georgia Presbyterian church at Darien. Their pastor spoke only Gaelic, and his listeners loved it.The Highlanders had been encouraged by the British to build homes on the southern boundary of the new colony, the better to serve as a buffer against invasion from the Spanish. The same encouragement was given to another group of Scots to settle in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and become the Capital's first line of defense against an uprising from hostile natives to the west. The Scots understood their role and were more than up to the task.The Darien church, like many others in the Georgia colony, struggled to survive the early years. Indeed, growth of Presbyterianism in Georgia was uneven at best through the entire century. However, as the nineteenth century began, many churches, having recovered from the Revolutionary War, were expanding into the Georgia heartland. News of the expansion and opportunities associated with it brought additional Highlanders to Georgia.Benjamin Waters Sinclair was born September 12, 1812, at Thurso, Caithnesshire, Scotland. His education pointed him toward a career in the British Navy, but his mother, with two of her sons already serving their country in India, urged him to pursue a new life in America. In 1837, Benjamin Sinclair set sail from Liverpool to Georgia. In Savannah, he found a bride, Susan Faries, and together they set out along The Coffee Road for the settlement of Morven in the newly formed county of Lowndes. And that's where the story of the Quitman church begins.

The shared experiences and sacrifices of Scots in London in World War One - often untold stories and unseen pictures illustrate this fascinating new account.

An exciting account of the origins of the modern world Who formed the first literate society? Who invented our modern ideas of democracy and free market capitalism? The Scots. As historian and author Arthur Herman reveals, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries Scotland made crucial contributions to science, philosophy, literature, education, medicine, commerce, and politics—contributions that have formed and nurtured the modern West ever since. Herman has charted a fascinating journey across the centuries of Scottish history. Here is the untold story of how John Knox and the Church of Scotland laid the foundation for our modern idea of democracy; how the Scottish Enlightenment helped to inspire both the American Revolution and the U.S. Constitution; and how thousands of Scottish immigrants left their homes to create the American frontier, the Australian outback, and the British Empire in India and Hong Kong. How the Scots Invented the Modern World reveals how Scottish genius for creating the basic ideas and institutions of modern life stamped the lives of a series of remarkable historical figures, from James Watt and Adam Smith to Andrew Carnegie and Arthur Conan Doyle, and how Scottish heroes continue to inspire our contemporary culture, from William “Braveheart” Wallace to James Bond. And no one who takes this incredible historical trek will ever view the Scots—or the modern West—in the same way again.

What would America have been without the Scots? Andrew Carnegie, the humble weaver's son who went there to become the world's richest man, thought it might have been 'a poor show'. This book is an unapologetic celebration of what he was proudly talking about - little Scotland's huge human contribution to the cultural identity of the Big Country. Rick Wilson profiles an intriguing selection of Scottish innovators who have projected their genius, energy and inspiration across the Atlantic. They range from the 14th-century nobleman Henry St Clair, believed to have discovered America before Columbus, through the first private eye Allan Pinkerton, to the photographer Harry Benson, who has captured no fewer than ten US presidents for posterity.Scots Who Made America also features non-residents who have contributed from afar, but whose influence has been no less potent for that - people like Sean Connery, Tony Blair, J.M. Barrie and Robert Burns.