James Buchan is a novelist and critic. He is the author of The Persian Bride, a New York Times Notable Book, as well as Frozen Desire, an examination of money that received the Duff Cooper Prize. He has also won the Whitbread First Novel Award and the Guardian Fiction Prize. Buchan is a contributor to the New York Times Book Review and the New York Observer, and a former foreign correspondent for the Financial Times. He lives in Norfolk, England.
"A vivid, gripping account ... An involving tale of cerebral passion and humanist achievement." -- Edmund White"James Buchan tells the extraordinary story with a novelist's narrative zip and brilliant flashes of detail...[A] marvellous book." -- Ferdinand Mount, The Sunday Times"Hugely readable and comprehensive...an utterly compelling and captivating work...An absolute joy to read." -- Irvine Welsh, The Guardian"A sparkling and cleverly written book." -- Arthur Herman, The Scotsman"Entertainingly drawn...Buchan makes difficult subjects accessible and, sometimes, poetic." -- Economist"An extraordinary story...lovingly narrated and superbly depicted by Buchan in this elegant, authoritative work." -- The Observer"Buchan writes well and does a fine job arguing for Edinburgh's disproportionately large impact on 18th century intellectual history." -- Publishers Weekly
Until the early 1700s, Edinburgh, Scotland, was considered a smelly backwater, mockingly known as auld reekie. After the union with England, the city became, for a short time, the epicenter of learning, contributing enormously to the age of science and reason. Men such as David Hume, Adam Smith, and James Hutton were only a few of the influential figures that contributed to this modern-day Athens. In addition to the huge strides made in medicine, agriculture, and economics, novelist and critic Buchan (The Persian Bride; Frozen Desire) discusses Edinburgh's cultural reawakening and its focus on building projects to boost its world-class status. He argues that the "well-established Protestant institutions" in Scotland contributed greatly to the intellectual and creative innovations that characterized Edinburgh in the 18th century, yet it was the very questioning of strict Calvinism that freed men's minds as they attempted to understand the world around them. Much is made of the philosophical underpinnings of Edinburgh's achievements, which unfortunately can make for dry and ponderous reading. This book will be of interest chiefly to serious students of Scottish history. Recommended for academic libraries and large public libraries with special collections in British history.-Isabel Coates, MISt, CCRA-Toronto West Tax Office, Mississauga, Ont. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
"A vivid, gripping account ... An involving tale of cerebral passion and humanist achievement." -- Edmund White"James Buchan tells the extraordinary story with a novelist's narrative zip and brilliant flashes of detail...[A] marvellous book." -- Ferdinand Mount, The Sunday Times"Hugely readable and comprehensive...an utterly compelling and captivating work...An absolute joy to read." -- Irvine Welsh, The Guardian"A sparkling and cleverly written book." -- Arthur Herman, The Scotsman"Entertainingly drawn...Buchan makes difficult subjects accessible and, sometimes, poetic." -- Economist"An extraordinary story...lovingly narrated and superbly depicted by Buchan in this elegant, authoritative work." -- The Observer"Buchan writes well and does a fine job arguing for Edinburgh's disproportionately large impact on 18th century intellectual history." -- Publishers Weekly
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