The untold story of 19th century Scottish revolutionaries who fought for an independent republic is recounted in this “astonishing book” (Observer, UK). In April of 1820, the last armed uprising on British soil ignited in Glasgow. The attempt to sever the Union and establish a radical Scottish republic ended in executions, imprisonments, transportations and eighty-five trials for high treason. Yet despite its political and social importance, the story of this working-class revolution has all but vanished from the historical record. In The Radical Rising, historians Peter Berresford-Ellis and Seumas Mac a’Ghobhainn restore the radical rising to its rightful place in history. With an incisive analysis of the rising itself and the events which led up to it, this volume vividly recaptures the extraordinary heroism of insurrection leaders John Baird and Andrew Hardie, as well as the savagery with which the movement was crushed by the forces of the British state.

Recapturing the desperation of the people & the extraordinary heroism of the radical leaders, this book offers an incisive analysis of the Scottish Insurrection of 1820 & the events that led up to it.

By examining at length for the first time those places in Scotland that inspired MacDiarmid to produce his best poetry, Scott Lyall shows how the poet's politics evolved from his interaction with the nation, exploring how MacDiarmid discovered a hidden tradition of radical Scottish Republicanism through which he sought to imagine a new Scottish future. Adapting postcolonial theory, this book allows readers a fuller understanding not only of MacDiarmid's poetry and politics, but also of international modernism, and the social history of Scottish modernism.

In a boarding house in West Port, an old army pensioner dies of natural causes. He owes the landlord rent. Instead of burying the body, the landlord, William Hare, and his friend, William Burke, fill the coffin with bark and sell the corpse to Dr. Robert Knox, an ambitious Edinburgh anatomist. They make a profit of GBP3 and 10 shillings. After this encouraging outcome, Burke and Hare decide to suffocate another sickly tenant. So begins the criminal career of the most notorious double act in serial killing. Here is the unvarnished, human story behind the infamous Burke and Hare murders. We delve into their past, their personalities and the circumstances that made them resort to murder as a money-making scheme. It's a tale of desperation and greed, of outsiders, ambition, corruption and betrayal. And it's all true!