From Publishers Weekly
This fun book makes no claim to scholarly rigor, but is instead "an autodidact's anthology of neglected episodes in Scottish history." The stories were chosen, Rosie says, according to just one principle: "Really? How interesting! I never knew." And so Rosie, a Scottish journalist, playwright and television documentary maker, takes us on a diverting tour, down the short cuts, bypasses and cul-de-sacs of history rather than its highways, from the time of King Arthur to the present. A flavor of what Rosie offers is hinted at in his chapter titles, which include "The Glasgow Frankenstein" (about an 1818 medical experiment to resurrect a hanged man); "The Blasphemer" (about Thomas Aikenhead, the last man to be executed in Scotland, in 1697, for that crime); and "Operation Vegetarian" (Britain's wartime plan to poison German cattle with anthrax). Rosie even makes a few stops in America, where he tracks down John Ross, the Highland Scot and Cherokee who became "
the Native American statesman of the early nineteenth century" and dealt with every president from James Madison in 1816 to Andrew Johnson half a century later. There is much that readers "never knew" about and will be glad to have been told. 11 b&w illus., map.
(Aug.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From School Library Journal
Adult/High School–This compilation of odd and fascinating tales will appeal to those many teens who enjoy being masters of trivia while delighting those with a spark of curiosity about the Lowlands and Highlands north of Hadrian's Wall. Rosie deftly employs wit, acumen, and love of country as he explores elements of Scotland's history left untouched by academic and tourist-board accounts. Arranged chronologically, from the era of King Arthur to the great ring-road controversy of mid-20th-century Edinburgh, the book sheds light on such topics as the rightful legacy of John Knox; the turbulent struggles of the Macleod clan of the Hebridean island of Lewis; Daniel Defoe's life as a secret agent; blasphemy hunters; witch hunters; Cherokee Indian Chief John Ross; drug barons of the opium trade; the Scottish leadership of the Ku Klux Klan; top-secret biological warfare experiments during World War II; and the age-old war against the unstoppable Highland midge (biting fly). Given their light and pithy treatment, these curiosities will draw in readers. While Rosie is not afraid to acknowledge the downsides of Scottish history, he enjoys a chuckle at the expense of Sydney Smith, who in 1855 referred to Scotland as the knuckle-end of England, that land of Calvin, oat-cakes and sulphur. Readers will see not only the absurdity of Smith's characterization, but will also realize that much of our popular science and literature heritage is rooted in Scottish characters, both real and imagined.
–Robert Saunderson, Berkeley Public Library, CA Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
