The dramatic story of Scotland - by charismatic television historian, Neil Oliver. Scotland is one of the oldest countries in the world with a vivid and diverse past. Yet the stories and figures that dominate Scottish history - tales of failure, submission, thwarted ambition and tragedy - often badly serve this great nation, overshadowing the rich tapestry of her intricate past. Historian Neil Oliver presents a compelling new portrait of Scottish history, peppered with action, high drama and centuries of turbulence that have helped to shape modern Scotland. Along the way, he takes in iconic landmarks and historic architecture; debunks myths surrounding Scotland's famous sons; recalls forgotten battles; charts the growth of patriotism; and explores recent political developments, capturing Scotland's sense of identity and celebrating her place in the wider world.

Chronicles the social, economic, and political history of Scotland, starting with its earliest peoples in 7000 B.C. and wrapping up with a discussion of eighteenth-century author Sir Walter Scott.

Beginning as a school for Civil War orphans, the Scotland School for Veterans' Children became a unique center for education in the heart of Pennsylvania. The school aimed to develop disciplined, patriotic and productive citizens. As the nation became engulfed in the wars of the twentieth century, the Scotland School became even more vital, with a focus on educating the children and orphans of military veterans. Though it was closed by the state in 2009, memories of the school and its community of alumni remain vibrant. Author Sarah Bair charts the history of a place where thousands of children of our nation's finest found more than just a school--they found a home.

In Curious Scotland, George Rosie unearths and illuminates many neglected aspects of Scottish history in a rich collection of episodes that ranges from the Picts to the Indian tribes of North America. What became of the sons of Robert Burns? How did Scotland influence the Ku Klux Klan? Why was a Hebridean island deliberately infested with anthrax? The answers lie in a book which reveals the complexity, contradictions and sheer interestingness of Scotland's long and strange story.

This book argues that while Anglo-Saxon culture has given rise to virtually no myths at all, myth has played a central role in the historical development of Scottish identity. Hugh Trevor-Roper explores three myths across 400 years of Scottish history: the political myth of the "ancient constitution" of Scotland; the literary myth, including Walter Scott as well as Ossian and ancient poetry; and the sartorial myth of tartan and the kilt, invented--ironically, by Englishmen--in quite modern times. Trevor-Roper reveals myth as an often deliberate cultural construction used to enshrine a people's identity. While his treatment of Scottish myth is highly critical, indeed debunking, he shows how the ritualization and domestication of Scotland's myths as local color diverted the Scottish intelligentsia from the path that led German intellectuals to a dangerous myth of racial supremacy. This compelling manuscript was left unpublished on Trevor-Roper's death in 2003 and is now made available for the first time. Written with characteristic elegance, lucidity, and wit, and containing defiant and challenging opinions, it will absorb and provoke Scottish readers while intriguing many others. "I believe that the whole history of Scotland has been coloured by myth; and that myth, in Scotland, is never driven out by reality, or by reason, but lingers on until another myth has been discovered, or elaborated, to replace it."-Hugh Trevor-Roper

Close-packed narrative which is almost a reference work, comprehensive, thoroughly indexed and full of learning.

In this book, Alistair Moffat brings vividly to life the story of this great nation, from the dawn of prehistory through to the twenty-first century. Ambitious, richly detailed and highly readable, Scotland: A History From Earliest Times skilfully weaves together a dazzling array of fact and anecdote from a vast range of sources. The result is an imaginative, informative, balanced and varied portrait of Scotland, seen not just through the experience of the kings, saints, warriors, aristocrats and politicians who populate the pages of conventional history books, but also through that of ordinary people who have lived Scotland's history and have played their own important part in shaping its destiny.