Customer Reviews

A History of Scotland (Penguin History)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is written as more of a story of Scotland than a history. It is well developed, interesting, captivating and exciting. Probably the finest history book I've ever read. Gives an incredible overview of Scotland, and explains why those Scots who have become expats love their country despite all of the problems they have had (Highland clearances). For anyone who has been to Scotland this is a great way to learn so much about the country, and their courageous and proud people. I recommend this very highly. An enthralling book to read.

This is simply put one of the best places to start an inquiry into Scottish history.

Allowing the comments of one of the other reviewers, this book might not answer EVERY question that one might have regarding all of the specifics of Scots history. As in any book that sets out to tell the whole history of a people in under five hundred pages, there are omissions and a little of opaquenesses. Setting this aside, both the original author and the updaters of this book have done a remarkable job putting together a history that is equally entertaining and enlightening. This book DOES do an adequate job illustrating all of the changes of power and intricacies that are necessary to understand the interrelation between England and Scotland and the Highland and Lowland populations. It is fair which is important. And it is just a fun read.....

Beyond this, obviously, this book raises additional questions regarding the history of Scotland that must be answered by additional reading. But, then again, this is a book that as an intitiation, makes one want to read more.

I highly recommend this book....

The book is full of history and appears balanced in view but has far too many references to things not documented. For someone who knows nothing about British royalty, Scots history and geography this is not the place to start.

There are many confusing references. I had trouble understanding what and who Argyle is, why you spell Stewart/Stuart two ways with seemingly interchangable spellings, and many many royalty/title related terms that are confusing (duke/earl/baron etc. what's the difference?). A glossary would help. Otherwise, keep a dictionary and a good map handy.

Also the successions and following who murdered whom needs more diagrams and what diagrams and maps there are should all be redrawn for clarity.

history reads as if it were written for Scotchmen exclusively. Not enough bio data on figures that are introduced so there is no grounding .....also, I never fail to marvel at how many histories invariably allude to their first settlers encountering the "indigenous" people. Who are these people and how did they get there? How much of what they were transferred culturally? Geography tells us much about behaviour but is rarely considered when compiling pre-histories.

Obviously this is a vanity read for me. I love to learn more about the roots of Scottish civilization. This book is quite a love-letter to the land of St. Andrew and the Dragon. If you have an interest in the timeline from the early formation of the kingdom competing with the British Crown through modernity, this is an excellent read. A great deal of it discusses the evolution of industry, or politics and the educational system, and the shifting sets of alliances among the various Scottish leaders and clans with the French, the British and the Spaniards. A recommended read.

You know those parts of the bible where so-and-so begot so-and-so who begot so-and-so? This book reads very much like that through the first 200 pages. It gets better, but overall, I have found this book to be a slow, laborious read heavy on names and light on what the people with those names actually did. Sure, so-and-so-1 marched on [insert burgh] and was repulsed by so-and-so-2 who later was killed fighting son-of-so-and-so-1, but I'd also like to know at least a little about the personality or the motivations or even just the normal occupations of those so-and-sos.

I'll put this another way. It's like reading a book about farming that was written by someone describing how the farm looks from an airplane at 30,000 feet. You get nicely outlined plots that rotate with the seasons, but none of the real struggles, turmoils or story of what the life of those plots entails.

If you want to read this book as a way to find out the History of Scotland, skip along to something else. If you want to use it as a reference to discover who you should explore next time you want to read about Scotland and her people, buy it. You'll basically have a genealogy of the country.