Murray Pittock MAE FRSE is Scotland’s leading cultural historian. His books include Culloden, Enlightenment in a Smart City, The Myth of the Jacobite Clans, and Robert Burns in Global Culture.
“Impressive. . . . The strength of this book lies in the way events
such as the Act of Union and the Clearances are revealed to have
had global consequences.”—Gerard DeGroot, Times (UK)
“Engaging, lively and full of insight, a vivid account of Scottish
endeavours in politics, science, literature, art and economics. . .
. Pittock records the ebb and flow of Scotland’s international
experience with panache and pace.”—Anna Keay, The Guardian
“A much needed overview of a fascinating and underwritten subject.
Spectacularly panoramic and sweeping while always remaining
rigorously scholarly, it ranges effortlessly and with confident
authority over 400 years of history, from Quebec to Calcutta, from
Ossian to Trainspotting.”—William Dalrymple, Spectator, “Books of
the Year”
“Perhaps the best book on Scotland I ever have read.”—Tyler Cowen,
Marginal Revolution (blog), “Best Nonfiction Books of 2023”
“There is much to admire here. . . . One of the strengths of a
history of Scotland within the United Kingdom is that it cannot
avoid emphasising the sheer strangeness of Britain. It is a country
quite unlike other European nations for it is, at heart, a
composite state: a Union of four other nations creating a fifth
which exists alongside—and sometimes above—its constituent parts.
The tensions and interplay between these identities form part of
Murray Pittock’s handsome new history.”—Alex Massie, The
Spectator
“There is scarcely a dull page in this book, though readers may
well find the wealth of detail dizzying. Yet the detail is as
necessary as it is fascinating, for the key to Scottish success in
Europe and the wider world is the national—clannish or
familial—gift or enthusiasm for networking. . . . A fascinating,
thought-provoking book.”—Allan Massie, The Scotsman
“The engine behind this history is running at full throttle, and
its momentum carries the reader on at speed. Whatever side of the
constitutional argument one stands on, this is an invigorating
assessment.”—Rosemary Goring, The Herald
“Yale University Press always produces beautiful books with copious
colour plates and black-and-white illustrations, at attractive
prices. This is one such, which will appeal to those who know
relatively little of Scotland, past or present, and who relish a
selective, opinionated romp strewn with random facts. Entertaining
and bamboozling in equal measure, it should also stimulate readers
to search for more authoritative texts on their favourite topics or
periods.”—Rab Houston, BBC History Magazine
“The title of Murray Pittock’s excellent new history might simply
read Scotland, but really it is as much a fascinating study of the
Union as it is of Scotland’s evolving place in the world.”—David
McAllister, Prospect
“Pittock is an extraordinary polymath whose ability to effortlessly
cover a vast subject area in this remarkable work is breathtaking.
. . . His scope is vast and he writes with verve and panache that
rivals anything that has gone before.”—Richard Bath, Scottish
Field
“The two most arresting parts of Pittock’s history, which develops
from pioneering work by Michael Fry and Christopher Harvie, are his
accounts of Scotland’s attempts in the century before the union of
the parliaments to project its power overseas and of the sudden
spurt given to individual Scottish talent by the Act of
Union.”—Iain Bamforth, Literary Review
“It is the job of the historian, [Pittock] continues, both to bust
myths and to acknowledge their appeal, a challenge he embraces in
Scotland: The Global History with gusto. Part history book, part
manifesto, throughout it demonstrates his concern to emphasize the
distinctiveness of Scotland . . . as well as to highlight the
historical significance of the country’s external
relationships.”—Valerie Wallace, Times Literary Supplement
Named a CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title, 2023
“A monumental achievement. . . . This is a tremendous book, a
really significant contribution to Scottish history. It will
delight, surprise and irritate in equal measure.”—Christopher
Whatley, author of The Scots and the Union
“A hugely important book which will astonish and delight everyone
engaged in the matter of Scotland. What impresses is the range and
scope of Pittock’s global vision for Scotland, but what engages is
the minute human detail of the people in the diaspora that he
reveals to us, positive and negative. A magisterial work which
Scots will actively return to again and again, as we redefine our
role in Europe and the world in the 21st century.”—Billy Kay,
author of The Scottish World
“As a consequence of both its long history as an independent
kingdom, its position in the union state that is the UK, and the
massive emigration that has characterised its modern history,
Scotland has, for a small country, unusually broad and deep global
connections. In this wide-ranging and engaging book, Pittock
explores the survival of Scotland and the projection of its
identity across the globe.”—Ewen Cameron, author of Impaled Upon
the Thistle
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