The history of Scotland is hugely complex and threads into the present like a trendy crochet pattern. It is impossible to cover even the key events in our past in a book selection so I have just picked three that I have read, enjoyed and learned from. If you have any suggestions of others for me that would be amazing, just leave them in the comments.
Before Scotland: a Prehistory. I read this on my Kindle and it really kept my attention. I’m not very good at Kindle reading and tend to abandon books a way through but this one is different. It’s really well written and includes geological as well as human history. It didn’t feel like a history book if that makes sense.
I hadn’t really thought about prehistory since primary school until we went to Skara Brae in Orkney last year. It’s a stunning site but the thing that still stays with me was the stone dressers in the dwellings where people would display their precious things. It was this that prompted me to read Alistair Moffat’s book – to give me some context on such universal house decorating. There’s also wider information on world events happening concurrently with Scotland (or what would become Scotland)’s development.
On the blurb of the cover of The Scottish Enlightenment by Arthur Herman Irvine Welsh says Every Scot should read it. Scotland now has the lively, provocative and positive history it deserves.
He’s not wrong (he seldom is). My copy has a very dense text and I still hoovered it up. Herman’s writing is really clear and he deals with complex political and cultural issues in a very readable way. I first heard about ‘the Scottish miracle’ in an exceptionally inaccessible podcast about economics. It interested me enough to find this book and I’m so glad I did. You need to commit chunks of time to reading it, it’s not a dipper. It gives context for those abroad with Scottish heritage, so if you’re coming here to feel closer to your family roots then this is definitely the book for you.
It’s a book written from a certain premise but Herman backs up his ideas with impressive evidence. 100% recommend.
D*mn Rebel B*tches (careful asterisks just in case) by Maggie Craig is a fantastic book. Focussing on the stories of the women caught up in the events of ’45-46. The author uses letters and original papers to bring to life a largely undocumented area of a very well documented time. It has all sorts of details in that were totally new to me and I really enjoyed Maggie Craig’s style. She also writes fiction so her writing flows beautifully and keeps you engaged throughout. Again this book is not a dipper – the chapters aren’t in a linear order so you need to concentrate. A reminder that it’s not just about Flora Macdonald, but those whose names have been left aside, those who have become nameless and those who should have had their names in all the books about this time. As an aside, the book does assume that you already have some knowledge about the rebellion, so come to it after maybe reading Jacqueline Riding’s excellent Jacobites: a new history of the ’45 rebellion.
There are some terrible books out there – I won’t name and shame them here but you’ll work out which they are quite quickly. Just comment if you’d like me to give you a low down! Historians write the best history books, just saying :)