(Part 2) Best scotland history books according to redditors

Modern historical analysis is a bit more sceptical of that funnily enough

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Burke-Hare-Ghouls-Brian-Bailey/dp/1840185759
Burke and hare snatched bodies and then moved on to murder in Edinburgh in 1828 to sell to a doctor who wanted cadavers.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/cka/Highland-Clearances-John-Prebble/0140028374
The Highland clearances, English Lords and Scottish royalists force people of off the land creating poverty and destitution.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bloody-Scottish-History-Bruce-Durie/dp/0752482890
This one focuses on Glasgow but he has other books it covers a broad range of events.

Edit.. Add one on

https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Books/Brother-Surgeons-Garet-Rogers/0552087556

This book is expensive wow, the hunter brothers pioneered all sorts of medical things they were from my home town and the old house is a museum. plenty online about them.

You want Witchcraft and Belief in Early Modern Scotland and The Scottish Witch Hunt in Context. They're both quite easy to get - I think Central Library has copies, and if it doesn't then the NLS certainly does.

The witch trials are pretty much my favourite aspect of history to geek out over and I've been studying them for a while, so if there's anything in particular that you're wanting to know please feel free to message me and I'll do my best to help or point you in the direction of the right resources. (NB: My area of interest runs from the North Berwick witch trials in 1590 to the fall of the witchprickers in the 1660s. I'm not so au fait with cases later than that.)

There are also a couple of good online resources that might interest you - James IV's Daemonologie, which was a very important text during the trials, and Edinburgh University's Survey of Scottish Witchcraft, a searchable database containing information gathered from surviving trial records (there's also a handy suggested reading list on that site).

It was part of the Scottish Nationalists' requests to Nazi Germany in a 1943 memorandum sent to the German ambassador in Dublin, which was intercepted by British code-breakers. Along with a request for 'war material' to create a Scottish Republic aligned with Germany as a 'weapon in the fight against the gross materialism of the capitalistic-communistic union of English, Americans, Bolsheviks, etc', per the memorandum. Germany also broadcasted Radio Caledonia to appeal to Scottish Nationalists, promising a Scottish Socialist Republic.

Articles on the memorandum -

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2001/may/09/highereducation.humanities

https://www.scotsman.com/news-2-15012/mi5-file-links-former-snp-leader-to-nazi-plan-1-1103305

Articles on Radio Caledonia -

http://wiki.scotlandonair.com/index.php?title=Radio_Caledonia

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/28ZCCMLB7FmMKqyyzqlK6SS/how-the-nazi-propaganda-machine-tried-and-failed-to-stir-up-rebellion-in-world-war-two-scotland

Many Scottish Nationalist were highly supportive of Hitler. For instance a founding member and the Second Chairman of the SNP, Andrew Dewar Gibb quoted Hitler in many of his speeches, and declared himself a facist. Andrew Dewar Gibb was replaced by William Power in 1940, who claimed that "the overthrow of Hitlerism is not legitimate". Founding member Arthur Donaldson then took over the party in 1942, who was arrested for plotting to create a German-run puppet government in the event of an invasion.

I recommend reading https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fascist-Scotland-Gavin-Bowd/dp/1780270526/ for more on the subject, as well as facist support in other British political movements, including a bit about Mosley.

The SNP do not support Hitler now, but certainly were not adverse to him during the Second World War, which makes it odd to bring up Scottish Nationalist-Polish historical relations.

I'd recommend Scotland: A Concise History. It was our standard text book when I was at school and has been in print since 1970.

Edit: I should mention that this is the revised edition.

I am thinking she must be reading the Outlander series. While I was in Scotland, I went on a tour of places that Outlander either used or was similar to- one of them being Culloden. The store there had some wonderful books; we bought the one that was written by our guide that day - "Culloden Tales" by Hugh Allison . I have also watched all the Neil Oliver youtubes, if there was something by him in a DVD, that would be another great choice.

Any connection with this book?

Full of interesting stories and an enjoyable read.

Maybe this book could help, http://www.amazon.co.uk/When-Clyde-Ran-Maggie-Craig/dp/1845967356

There is the GeoHipster calendar, which is always good for inspiration: http://geohipster.com/2019/11/14/on-postgis-day-we-reveal-the-map-authors-for-our-2020-calendar/

There has been, at least in Europe, a lot of great historic mapping books published in recent times. I always find them fascinating: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Scotland-Mapping-Nation-Christopher-Fleet/dp/1780270917

A short book of the 2000 years of Scotland before the union? You could find a bible on the Golden Age alone.

Scottish History for Dummies seems like it would help.

Or This

Or This

Have fun!

I actually might pick all of them up myself haha.

Are you looking for history of the region and culture or historical treatises?

A single compendium of treatises that I (with a lot of help from others) put together.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1trCQd0eCL8cyaJGKIOkr8rPSSGtaOC7I0nw2PvAQaAw/edit?usp=sharing

For "old style" broadsword the most important texts are probably Hope, Wylde, McBane, Page, Miller, and Lonnergan. For the later "regimental" broadsword styles look at Sinclair, Angelo, Taylor, Mathewson, and Roworth. Roworth is the most accessible for a new practitioner.

Cateran Society is probably the single go to source, though there would be others. If you had to buy one book it would be "Lessons from the Broadsword Masters" which effectively combines his previous books. This will give you a good grounding on the cultural and military history of the region and then an a comprehensive look at the techniques and approaches.
https://www.amazon.com/Lessons-Broadsword-Masters-Christopher-Thompson/dp/0359139639

Unortunately Wagner and Rector's "Highland Broadsword" book is out of print. https://www.amazon.com/Highland-Broadsword-Scottish-Regimental-Swordsmanship/dp/1891448218
The included treatises/manuals can all be sourced elsewhere now but there are some essays that would be nice to be able to read.

Scottish Broadsword is nice but not necessary, I would consider it informative once you have a main core of research and practice done.
https://www.amazon.com/Scottish-Fencing-Small-Sword-Broadsword-Battlefield/dp/0999056735/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_img_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=33678FJ3DZY411T3YJA9

http://www.techfestsetpoint.org.uk/tis/uploads/files/Web%20admin/Great%20Scot.pdf

“Although the Scots comprise less than one-half of 1 percent
of the world’s population, 11 percent of all Nobel prizes have
been awarded to Scotsmen”
Duncan A. Bruce. Author.

In here somewhere!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Mark-Scots-Astonishing-Contributions/dp/0806520604

> while the Scottish monarchs were used to having more absolute power

I would strongly contest this. The Scottish kings had much more of a primes inter pares relationships with their nobles from the Middle Ages onwards, and powerful magnates were always a problem both in the Lowlands and Highlands. Especially in the Stewart period (from 1371), it was extremely common for kings to be minors when they took the throne, and control of the monarch's person was a very effective political chip for an enterprising noble. Look into the Gowrie Conspiracy or Mary Stewart's upbringing if you'd like to see examples of this at work (Scotland: Story of a Nation is a decent survey of Scottish history).

If anything, it was the English monarchs who were used to a more imperial style, and this suited a flamboyant personality like James VI and I perfectly. In fact his Scottish subjects resented the formality required of them at his court in London and the preferments he gave to servile English courtiers instead of good, honest Scots (this is how they saw it, anyway.) For information about the tension between Scottish nobles and James after the Union of the Crowns, Allan Macinnes' Charles I and the Making of the Covenanting Movement is the best I can think of off the top of my head.

https://www.amazon.com/When-Scotland-Was-Jewish-Archeology/dp/0786477091

Horatio Hornblower series by C. S. Forester, most definitely! Then you'd have to list all the stuff that's been based off that series, which is down the bottom of the wikipedia page.

And I know this is a bit out there for you, but you could call this supplementary - it's historical fiction with dragons. His Majesty's Dragon (Temeraire, Book 1) by Naomi Novik.

For the girls, you could get them to read the stuff by Georgette Heyer. Heyer was a romance novelist whose research library for British period customs and clothing was fiercely fought over by museums and libraries when she died. She wrote things that are both engaging and truly capture the flavor of the timeframe; she didn't impose modern morals and anachronisms onto her fiction.

Sherlock Holmes? Pick a few of the classic stories and maybe analyze the differences between society then in Victorian England and today. As a companion, you could get them to read the bit in A Bloody Business: An Anecdotal History of Scotland Yard which discusses Arthur Conan Doyle and his contributions to social change in Victorian London.

Then there's the Mabinogi, which has inspired tons of other works, and you could pair that with Susan Cooper's Dark Is Rising Series - there's only one book in there that really draws from/deals with Welsh myth, but it's a good one.

My wife's family is from the isle of Eigg. Such a cool little island. I read a history of the island a few years back. The land is now held in trust, which means it's basically owned by the few inhabitants rather than a Laird, like much of Scotland.

My wife's great great grandfather was the island blacksmith and helped build an illegal pot still. According to the book, it's still there but buried. When my kids are old enough, I'm going to dig that mother fucker up.

>The Highland Potato Famine was a famine caused by potato blight that struck the Scottish Highlands in the 1840s. While the mortality rate was less than other Scottish famines in the 1690s, and 1780

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highland_Potato_Famine

Only mention I could find. Google brought this up though

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Famine-Scotland-Scottish-Historical-Monographs/dp/0748638873

Are you trying to write a novel? Because it sounds like you're trying to write a novel.

What it feels like to live in Inverness...is the same as it feels to live in any other 21st century large town/small city. Except with 5x more tourists. I really don't know what you're hoping to hear, but honestly, it's probably not much different to where you live now.

I can say that with a fair degree of certainty, because I moved from the US to Scotland several years ago myself.

It's just not that different. Sorry to burst your bubble.

But while I'm at it, I may as well piss on your parade too, and tell you that there's no way that, as a plumber, you're ever going to get a visa to settle in the UK. It just doesn't work that way, and it doesn't matter how much history and culture you've absorbed.

But, if you're still wanting to absorb it, I'd recommend Scotland:
The Story of a Nation and The Scottish Nation: A Modern History as good overviews to start with.

If you're then wanting to drill down into particular periods, Edinburgh University Press has a series, New History of Scotland, which includes a number of books on specific eras/topics.

For Highland-specific history, the one everyone has read is John Prebble's The Highland Clearances, but of course there are others.

In general, just avoid anything by Neil Oliver.

Eh, I don't know about pen-pals, but you could certainly chat with folks over on r/scotland.

That's cool. The artist Hamish is as far as I know, still around. He's somewhat of an expert on the islands around these parts and a frequent visitor. An author too.

Scottish Gaelic is pronounced quite a lot different from English. No offense but I imagine an American pronunciation is different from how the locals know the mountain. I'm Irish, I speak Irish, but it was even hard for me, some of the pronunciation is quite different.

https://www.amazon.com/Reading-Gaelic-Landscape-Leughadh-Aghaidh/dp/1849951004