THE BEST OF SCOTTISH BOOKS

‘This book is the story of a changing Scotland as it was heard and seen by the people of Scotland. We all may have our ideas about where we are headed as nation and a society, but none of us knows. That makes what lies ahead so fascinating. Just like what’s gone before.’ JOHN MacKAY

John MacKay is one of Scotland’s best known broadcasters. His career as a reporter, anchor and presenter has spanned from the Thatcher Years to the Independence Referendum and beyond. MacKay has been witness to the major stories in the country’s recent past.

There have been the tragedies of Lockerbie, Dunblane and Clutha; sporting triumphs and tears; the opening of the new Scottish Parliament; the drama of parliamentary elections and referendums; interviews with Prime Ministers and First Ministers; and the death of Donald Dewar.

From being in a room with a grizzly bear to trying to calm an irate – and topless – Alex Salmond, MacKay’s career has been nothing if not varied. Using archive scripts, interview transcripts, recollections and personal diaries, he tells the story of one of the most tumultuous periods in Scotland’s peacetime history.

This book will transform how you see our biggest environmental problems – and show how together we can solve them.

We are bombarded by doomsday headlines that tell us the soil won’t be able to support crops, fish will vanish from our oceans, that we should reconsider having children.

But in this bold, radically hopeful book, data scientist Hannah Ritchie argues that if we zoom out, a very different picture emerges. The data shows we’ve made so much progress on these problems, and so fast, that we could be on track to achieve true sustainability for the first time in history.

Packed with the latest research, practical guidance and enlightening graphics, this book will make you rethink almost everything you’ve been told about the environment, from the virtues of eating locally and living in the countryside, to the evils of overpopulation, plastic straws and palm oil. It will give you the tools to understand what works, what doesn’t and what we urgently need to focus on so we can leave a sustainable planet for future generations.

These problems are big. But they are solvable. We are not doomed. We can build a better future for everyone. Let’s turn that opportunity into reality.

In 1994, Julian Evans discovered the city of Odesa by accident at the end of a ten-day boat journey down the Dnipro river from Kyiv to Crimea. He fell in love with the crumbling, romantic, piecrust-baroque boom town whose port had been a gateway for smugglers, immigrants, divas and poets for 200 years. Returning five years later, he fell in love with one of Odesa’s women, married her in a monastery opposite the railway station, and began a decades-long relationship with both of them.

Profoundly personal, Undefeatable tells the story of Evans’ involvement with the city over nearly thirty years, living in the formerly Jewish and criminal Moldavanka neighbourhood that Isaac Babel made famous in his Odesa Stories, and of his life with his Ukrainian family. But when war comes with Russia’s seizure of Crimea and the Donbas in 2014, he discovers that his wife Natasha’s parents have stopped speaking to each other because they are on opposite sides of the conflict.

Tensions between family and friends become a microcosm of the city’s own continuously shifting, sometimes contradictory atmosphere, intensifying with Putin’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. At this point, Evans decides to go back to live in the city under bombardment, and to the front line, ‘because the feeling you’re not where you belong, it bugs you’.

Timely, singular and dramatic, Undefeatable offers a lover’s portrait of a uniquely human, irrepressible city alongside a tour de force of the personal and political, combining empathy with compelling fresh insights into the history of Russia’s war against Ukraine and its cultural and emotional impacts.

‘the chamomile, the more it is trodden on, the faster is grows.’
Shakespeare, Henry IV part 1

The opening quote of The Camomile provides an insight into the book’s title. The narrative highlights the tensions for a woman in the early twentieth century between the desire to explore her creativity and the duties expected of her as a prospective wife. Through a series of journal entries, which form an extended letter to her best friend, we follow the protagonist, Ellen, who rents out a room away from her family to provide a quiet space in which to focus on her music and her writing.

Ellen is a lively soul who wants the freedom to express herself and she finds a champion of her endeavours at the Mitchell Library. But as she falls in love and becomes betrothed to a doctor who is soon to return to India, she finds herself increasingly conflicted and has to eventually make a choice.

The Tartan Army. The Hampden Roar. The Auld Enemy. Following Scotland can be a thrilling, heart-breaking, and exhilarating experience.

Scottish footballing legend Ally McCoist has always been proud of his country’s footballing legacy. After all, Scotland has the oldest international team and the oldest sporting trophy. Some even say Scotland is the true home of football…

In Dear Scotland, Ally takes the reader on an unforgettable journey through the Alba. He spends time with the best fans in the world, celebrates legends like Jock Stein and Kenny Dalglish, and relives some of the most iconic moments in Scottish history.

Reflecting on his own call up with the team and scoring that goal against Switzerland, to dressing room antics on tour and travelling with the Tartan Army, Ally recalls the memorable characters, unforgettable moments, and side-splitting stories that have shaped his own experiences.

Dear Scotland is a hilarious and heartfelt love letter and a tribute to being a lifelong, and sometimes long-suffering, footy fan. It reminds us why we love the thrill and madness of following Scotland.

‘This isn’t just any Scotch bar…It is the Scotch bar.’ Forbes

From the experts behind the world-famous SCOTCH whisky bar, located at the iconic Edinburgh hotel The Balmoral, this essential guide will tell you everything you need to know about Scottish whisky.

Inside you’ll find an introduction to tasting whisky, as well as answers to key questions, such as if colour depicts quality, whether you should decant your bottle and if it is ever acceptable to mix your dram. Discover the hand-picked 100 best whiskies behind the SCOTCH bar, complete with distillery profiles, tasting notes and a personal comment from Head Whisky Ambassador, Cameron Ewen.

Complemented by atmospheric photography of SCOTCH, this is an essential purchase for every whisky drinker.

Spanning more than 50 distilleries including:
Glenmorangie, Glenfiddich, The Macallan, The Glenlivet, Ardbeg, Bruichladdich and many more…

Bho bhuannaiche Duais Ghàidhlig nan Sgrìobhadairean Ùra

samhraidh san Ògmhios, 2004. Tha ceathrar deugairean a’ coiseachd air Slighe Chladach Fìobha faisg air Cill Rìmhinn nuair a gheibh tè dhiubh, Amy, lorg ai bann-làimhe eireachdail.

20 bliadhna an dèidh sin tha sreath ùr a’ nochdadh, Fuasgladh Cheist, anns am bithear a’ dèanamh sgrùdadh air bàsan amharasach. Sa chiad phrògram, tha Art Dawson a’ feuchainn ri freagairtean a lorg mu bàs a pheathar, Joni, a thuit far Slighe Chladach Fìobha san Ògmhios 2004. Cha robh esan a-riamh a’ creidsinn gum b’ e tubaist a bh’ ann: dè thachair dhi, agus càit an deach am bann-làimhe prìseil a bh’ oirre?

Cho luath ’s a chì Amy dealbh den bhann-làimhe air Fuasgladh Cheist, tha i ga aithneachadh. Cha robh for aice gum b’ ann ceangailte ri bàs nighinn òig a bha am pìos seudraidh, agus chan eil for aice dè nì e leis a-nis, is daoine a’ coimhead air a shon.

A bheil fios aig na triùir eile a bha còmhla ri Amy ann an 2004 dè thachair do Joni? Carson nach eil iad airson bruidhinn rithe mu dheidhinn an turais aca? Agus carson a tha cuideigin airson dèanamh cinnteach nach tèid am bann-làimhe a lorg idir?

From the winner of the Gaelic New Writers Award 2023.

A summer’s day in June 2004. Four teenagers are walking on the Fife Coastal Path near St Andrews when one of them, Amy, finds an unusual bracelet.

20 years later a new true crime series begins, Fuasgladh Cheist, which investigates suspicious and unexplained deaths. In the first program, Art Dawson is trying to find answers about the death of his sister, Joni, who fell while walking the Fife Coastal Path in June 2004. He has never believed the official verdict that it was an accident – what happened to her, and where is the priceless bracelet she was wearing?

As soon as Amy sees a picture of the bracelet on Fuasgladh Cheist, she recognises it. She had no idea that the jewellery was connected to the death of a young girl, and has no idea what to do with it now, especially with so many people looking for it.

Do the three others that were with Amy in 2004 know what happened to Joni? Why are they so reluctant to speak to her about their trip? And why is someone trying to make sure that the bracelet will never be found?

Set in 1983, Salvage is a gripping and heartbreaking missing person mystery, exploring family dynamics, identity and the tragic history of Scotland’s Gypsy-Travellers. Scotland, 1929. Without warning or explanation, council officials descend on a Traveller campsite and brutally remove a young girl. It is the last her family sees of her. Decades later, Nash Lacklow is sick, angry and wants answers about what happened to his sister. With little time left, he enlists the help of his niece Emma. Despite being warned her task is close to impossible, Emma pieces together vital clues and mounts a passionate campaign for justice as she encounters revered Gypsy elders, fiery protest groups and delusional drifters. But the search comes at a cost, uncovering painful truths and igniting conflict inside and outside the Lacklow family.

In 1930, Jack the miner is grieving the loss of his young son. In a desperate attempt to escape his misery, he makes the choice to leave. With a motley crew of Scots, he embarks on Arctic fishing with the promise of a better life.

John Gerard Fagan, the author of the memoir Fish Town, takes us on a ride to the Arctic Sea through Jack’s battle for survival on a crammed and gruesome ship and inescapable submission to the cruelty of nature and humankind alike. In the background, memories of his life as a miner, while a permanent excruciating pain from mourning his own child lingers.

Be ready for a tale of human suffering, violence, and sadness with this story of the hard side of human life.

Anna wants a fresh start after three long years behind bars.

Lucy craves the attention of the only man she can’t have, her alluring Oxford professor.

Marie has spent too long as a recluse living by someone else’s rules.

When three strangers stumble upon an elaborate web of lies and the dead body at the heart of it, they will discover the true price of getting the life they desire so badly.

But will it be too late?

DSI William Lorimer and his wife Maggie are taking their first extended holiday for the first time in years, and they’re looking for an adventure. What better place than Zimbabwe, with its bustling cities and beautiful scenery?

Back in Glasgow, PC Daniel Kohi, former inspector with the Zimbabwean police, finds himself uncomfortably close to a murder investigation. Why did the murdered man appear at Daniel’s house just hours before he was killed? And how he is connected to the troubled family history of Netta Gordon, Daniel’s dear friend and lodger?

But it’s not just Netta’s history that’s about to resurface. For in Zimbabwe, rumours are circulating about Daniel Kohi, and the couple from Scotland who appear to know him. Rumours which could place the Lorimers in unimaginable peril.

Scotland’s Royal Women and European Literary Culture, 1424-1587 seeks to fill a significant gap in the rich and ever-growing body of scholarly work on royal and aristocratic women’s literary culture in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. There has, to date, been no book-length study of the literary activities of the female members of any one family across time and little study of Scotland’s royal women in comparison to their European and English counterparts. This book adopts the missing diachronic perspective and examines the wives and daughters of Scotland’s Stewart dynasty and their many and various associations with contemporary Scottish, English, and European literary culture over a period of just over 150 years. It also adopts a timely cross-border and cross-period perspective by taking a trans-national approach to the study of literary history and examining a range of texts and individuals from across the traditional medieval/early modern divide. In exploring the inter-related lives and letters of the women who married into the Scottish royal family from England and Europe – and those daughters who married out with Scotland into Europe’s royal families – the resultant study consistently looks beyond Scotland’s land and sea borders. In so doing, it moves Scottish literary culture from the periphery to the centre of Europe and demonstrates the constitutive role that Scotland’s royal women played in an essentially shared literary and artistic culture.

The Afterlife of Mary, Queen of Scots presents a new way of examining the historical significance and endurance of Mary, Queen of Scots.

Mary Queen of Scots (1542-1587) was active as monarch of Scotland for just six years between 1561 and 1567, but her impact as a ruler in Scotland is much less important than her subsequent role in popular culture and imagination. Her story has enjoyed perpetual retelling and reached a global audience over the past four and a half centuries.

This collection surveys the exceptionally varied range of objects, literature, art and media that have been produced to commemorate Mary between her own time and the present day. Why is her story so enduring, pervasive, and of such interest to so many different audiences? How have the narratives associated with these objects evolved in response to shifting cultural attitudes? The collection offers a much-needed novel perspective on the Queen of Scots, using an approach at the intersection of early modern, gender and cultural history, museum and heritage studies, and memory studies.

How have the English conceived of Scotland? Lorna Hutson’s book is an essential intervention in the contested narrative of British nationhood. It argues that England deployed a mythical ‘British History’ in pursuing dominion over its northern neighbour: initially through waging war, and then striving to make the very idea of Scotland vanish in new figurations of sea-sovereignty. The author explores English attempts at conquest in the 1540s, revealing how justifications of overlordship mutated into literary, legal and cartographic ploys to erase Scotland-as-kingdom. Maps, treatises and military propaganda are no less imaginative in their eradicative strategies than river poetry, chorography, allegory, epic, tragedies, history plays and masques. Hutson shows how Spenser’s Faerie Queene, Shakespeare’s Henry V and King Lear, Plowden’s theory of the King’s Two Bodies, Camden’s Britannia, and the race-making in Jonson’s Masque of Blackness are all implicated in England’s jurisdictional claim and refusal to acknowledge Scotland as sovereign nation.

Using case records of prosecutions at the Scottish High Court of Justiciary between 1918 and 1930, this book takes a quantitative and qualitative approach to understand sexual violence in Scotland at this time. Analysing legal records alongside victim and witness testimonies, Louise Heren analyses who committed sexual violence against whom, where and how and, to an extent, looks to uncover the victims’ voice.

Assessing how the courts responded, Sex and Violence in 1920s Scotland reveals that, despite pejorative views of working-class female behaviour, the successful conversion of prosecutions to convictions was greater than what is seen in modern sexual assault cases. In a society adjusting to post-conflict stresses, there were fears expressed in middle-class circles that those most affected by the First World War might react with violence. However, the High Court archives suggest otherwise. Cases of incest, rape and sexual assault appears to have been endemic, an opportunistic crime against older victims yet often pre-meditated against the youngest; selfish crimes that suggest toxic masculinity among some working-class men. The book concludes with the ultimate question: why did these men perpetrate sexual violence?

Conversations with Tim Ingold offers a comprehensive and accessible introduction to the work of Tim Ingold, one of the leading anthropologists of our time. Presented as a series of interviews conducted by three anthropologists from the University of Glasgow over a period of two years, the book explores Ingold’s key contributions to anthropology and other disciplines. In his responses, Ingold describes the significant influences shaping his life and career, and addresses some of the criticisms that have been made of his ideas.

Following an introductory chapter, the book consists of five edited and annotated interviews, each focusing on a specific theme: ‘Life and Career,’ ‘Anthropology, Ethnography, Education and the University,’ ‘Environment, Perception and Skill,’ ‘Animals, Lines and Imagination,’ and ‘Looking Back and Forward.’ Each chapter ends with a ‘Further Reading’ section, referencing Ingold’s work and that of other scholars, to assist readers who want to follow up particular issues and debates. It concludes with an ‘Afterword’ authored by Ingold himself.

“This book has given me the rare opportunity to not only share my own vulnerabilities and insecurities but also to reflect on the process of how my ideas have evolved. For the curious and empathetic reader, I hope it provides valuable insights into the highs and lows of my journey through anthropology.” Tim Ingold

‘I was raised among women of enormous strength and character.’

So writes Joni Buchanan in the foreword to this celebratory work, filling a long-neglected gap in Hebridean history. With a wealth of detail and intensive research, Joni tells the story of island women – their quick wit and political determination, hands that were deft with the loom and with the gutting knife, strong backs for croft work, endurance through times of tragedy and compassion and fortitude on the frontlines of war and disease.

The women in these pages travel the world, wage war against injustice and nurture their cultural heritage, all the time with two languages on their tongue, a light in their eye and undimmable spirit and humour.

A radical reinterpretation of Adam Smith that challenges economists, moral philosophers, political theorists, and intellectual historians to rethink him―and why he matters

Adam Smith has long been recognized as the father of modern economics. More recently, scholars have emphasized his standing as a moral philosopher―one who was prepared to critique markets as well as to praise them. But Smith’s contributions to political theory are still underappreciated and relatively neglected. In this bold, revisionary book, Paul Sagar argues that not only have the fundamentals of Smith’s political thought been widely misunderstood, but that once we understand them correctly, our estimations of Smith as economist and as moral philosopher must radically change.

Rather than seeing Smith either as the prophet of the free market, or as a moralist who thought the dangers of commerce lay primarily in the corrupting effects of trade, Sagar shows why Smith is more thoroughly a political thinker who made major contributions to the history of political thought. Smith, Sagar argues, saw war, not commerce, as the engine of political change and he was centrally concerned with the political, not moral, dimensions of―and threats to―commercial societies. In this light, the true contours and power of Smith’s foundational contributions to western political thought emerge as never before.

Offering major reinterpretations of Smith’s political, moral, and economic ideas, Adam Smith Reconsidered seeks to revolutionize how he is understood. In doing so, it recovers Smith’s original way of doing political theory, one rooted in the importance of history and the necessity of maintaining a realist sensibility, and from which we still have much to learn.

A Short History of the Apocalypse: your comprehensive guide to the challenges of Armageddon.

Join Frankie Boyle (Saturday Night Swindle; Celebrity Vengeance) and Charlie Skelton (head writer: Ad Naseum; David Suchet’s News Sachet) as they debrief time traveller and bon vivant from the late 21st Century, Alonso Lampe.

Will humanity survive the coming cataclysm? Find out inside, along with helpful tips on cannibalism, thunderdome etiquette, and post-societal dating.

How do you go about joining a militia?
What will life be like in a billionaire’s bunker?
How will people entertain themselves in re-education camps?

All these questions will be fully and satisfactorily answered.

With exclusive illustrations by Hall of Fame comic artist Frank Quitely, A Short History of the Apocalypse is vital to your future survival.

A bold warrior who never expected to marry meets his match in a fiery young widow in this latest installment of New York Times bestselling author Lynsay Sands’s Highland Brides series, perfect for fans of Outlander.

Graeme Gunn is a warrior through and through. A second son, he left home years ago to battle his way through Scotland as a mercenary. But with his brother William’s death, Graeme is forced to return to his clan—which now includes William’s grieving widow, Annella Mackay. And Graeme is stunned to find that the beautiful, determined woman at the keep is nothing like the meek lass he remembers from William’s wedding years ago…

Annella Mackay once had hopes for a loving marriage, a dream that shattered when her husband abandoned her. Hiding her pain, she embraced the roles of both laird and lady of the Gunn clan with spirit. But with William’s death, she finally has a chance at a new dream, and she won’t let anything deter her plans. Not even Graeme, no matter how strong her attraction to the strong-willed warrior, or how much she enjoys his kisses…

It’s an explosion of passion and clash of wills from the start, especially when Graeme decides to stay and claim his title. And when the threat of a hidden enemy rears its head, Graeme and Annella realize that in fighting for their home they might also be fighting for their love.