About the Author

T. M. Devine is the author of the bestselling The Scottish Nation, 1700-2007. He is the Sir William Fraser Professor of Scottish History and Palaeography at the University of Edinburgh and Director of the Scottish Centre for Diaspora Studies. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. In 2001, Professor Devine was awarded the Royal Gold Medal, Scotland's supreme academic accolade.

Reviews

A seminal work ... a new iconoclasm which is welcome given the tosh that sometimes passes for knowledge on the subject of the Scottish diaspora. Commendably, Devine is not afraid to name and shame ... [he] has a rare gift for detecting contradictions
*Herald*

Devine's final book in a remarkable trilogy ... fascinating and far-reaching ... His conclusions are as thoughtful and incisive as you'd expect from an academic who has established himself as one of the deepest thinkers on Scottish identity and history, and whose books remain staggeringly popular
*Scottish Field*

[This] rigorous and unsentimental history of Scotland's global diaspora ... explodes myths and foregrounds the prosaic realities of emigration ... it has the fascinating charm of a detective story
*Guardian*

Presents a grand overview of Scottish emigration ... very revealing ... an example of why To the Ends of the Earth is so timely [is that] it helps define the real landscape of choice and decision that is now presenting itself more plainly since the last Scottish election
*Scottish Review of Books*

Sharply written ... Devine is an admirable historian, acerbic in judgment, and a pleasure to read ... fill[s] a serious gap left by the tendency of imperial historians to dwell on the political and capital power wielded in Westminster and the City of London
*Spectator*

Devine has brought a greater understanding to this fascinating subject and offers an intriguing perspective on a key component of our history and national identity
*Herald*

In this follow-up to The Scottish Nation: 1700-2007, University of Edinburgh history professor Devine casts his net more widely to describe Scottish emigration throughout the world. A poor land in the 18th century, Scotland lagged behind England's Industrial Revolution. By 1850 it had caught up, but Scots continued to leave in record numbers. They made an early, bad impression in revolutionary America because most were loyalists, but this was soon replaced by the ongoing stereotype of the thrifty, superachieving Scotsman. There was no shortage of failure and bad behavior, but Devine admits that, wherever they settled, Scots were overrepresented among business, education, military leadership, and missionary work. He explores the source of that success in chapters on Scottish demographics, religion, and economics, devoting as much space to his nation's culture as its emigrants. Although not an academic study, the book contains more statistics, tables, and critical arguments than the average history buff would want, but readers willing to skim will enjoy an enlightening experience. 10 maps. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Devine (Sir William Fraser Professor of Scottish History & Palaeography, Univ. of Edinburgh; The Scottish Nation, 1700-2007) rounds out his trilogy of authoritative works on Scottish history with this seminal volume on the dispersion of the Scots to other lands throughout history. Devine insightfully addresses the impetus behind the large-scale Scottish emigration as well as the experiences of emigres in their new lands over the past 250 years. Covering Scottish engagement in the colonial slave and tobacco trades; the movement of impoverished Highland Scots during famine in the 1850s; fortune-seeking Scots in the British Empire and the American colonies; and Scottish missionary efforts in India and Africa, Devine offers a sweeping critical examination of this topic, which he admits is in its infancy as an area of academic study. He succeeds in addressing a broad span of time and geography while avoiding both triumphalism and exceptionalism on behalf of the Scots. VERDICT A meticulously researched and thoroughly documented academic volume that will be welcomed by scholars and others with a keen interest in Scottish history.-Elizabeth L. Winter, Georgia Inst. of Technology Lib., Atlanta (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.