The Invention of Scotland: Myth and History. HarperCollins, 2010.Ī Fleeting Empire: Early Stuart Britain and the Merchant Adventurers to Canada. James Kerr, Keeper of the Records: “Half our nation was bribed by English money.” Johnson: “Sir, that is no defence: that makes you worse!” How the Irish Saved Civilization, Crown may be hoping for comparable sales-but probably won't achieve them.“When I find a Scotchman to whom an Englishman is as a Scotchman, that Scotchman shall be as an Englishman to me.” - Samuel Johnson (Nov.)įorecast: Clearly modeling this title on Thomas Cahill's Bruce's delightful The Mark of the Scots.
Devine's magisterial The Scottish Nation: A History, 1700–2000Īnd Duncan A. This is a worthwhile book for the general reader, although much of the material has been covered better elsewhere, most recently in T.M.
The "democratic" Scottish system of education found a home in the developing U.S. At the University of Glasgow, James Watt perfected the crucial technology of the Industrial Revolution: the steam engine. In 19th-century Britain, the Scottish Enlightenment, as popularized by Dugald Stewart, became the basis of classical liberalism. Herman elucidates at length the ideas of the Scottish Enlightenment and their worldwide impact. Hume developed philosophical concepts that directly influenced James Madison and thus the U.S. Smith, in his monumental Wealth of Nations,Īdvocated liberty in the sphere of commerce and the global economy. Hutcheson, the father of the Scottish Enlightenment, championed political liberty and the right of popular rebellion against tyranny.
The 18th-century Scottish Enlightenment, embodied by such brilliant thinkers as Francis Hutcheson, Adam Smith and David Hume, paved the way for Scottish and, Herman argues, global modernity. into a modern society, and open up a cultural and social revolution." Herman credits Scotland's sudden transformation to its system of education, especially its leading universities at Edinburgh and Glasgow. Union gave Scotland access to England's global marketplace, triggering an economic and cultural boom "transform Scotland. When Scotland ratified the 1707 Act of Union, it was an economic backwater. Focusing on the 18th and 19th centuries, Herman (coordinator of the Western Heritage Program at the Smithsonian and an assistant professor of history at George Mason University) has written a successful exploration of Scotland's disproportionately large impact on the modern world's intellectual and industrial development.
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