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This title, one of the "Historic Scotland" series, traces by means of surviving buildings and archaeological remains, the intense military activity in Scotland during the Jacobite era. It brings to life the men who formed part of the first standing army, and covers sites existing today together with the problems of preserving them.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Mixed bag,
By Junius (London, Middlesex United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Fortress Scotland and the Jacobites (Historic Scotland) (Paperback)
The clue to this book lies on the blurb; that it is one of a series aimed at 'a wide readership'. Herein lies its strength and its weakness. The book is certainly easy to read, well and profusely illustrated with maps and contemporary pictures. There is an index and a list of books for further reading. It gives an outline of the fortresses built, rebuilt and altered (castles, barracks and forts per se)in Scotland in the seventeenth and eighteenth century, as well as accounts of the standing army who garrisoned them and the background to these unsettled times. For anyone new to these subjects, this is all worth reading.
Unfortunately, from another viewpoint, all this is rather thin. Much of the book concentrates on the period before the Jacobite rebellions, or long afterwards, and although this context is necessary to understand the origns of the fortresses and their legacy, it could have been cut back; likewise, the information about the standing army is easily found elsewhere and there's nothiong new to be said here.Instead, the space saved could have been devoted to a rather fuller account of the sieges which took place in 1745-6; of Ruthven barracks, Stirling castle, Forts George, William and Augustus. Instead we are given only a couple of sentences on each. Given that these were a test of these forts, this is a serious ommission. I had the impression that few if any primary sources, such as State Papers for Scotland, Jacobite memoirs, contemporary newspapers etc., were used here, to give more authenticity to the book. The authors' background knowledge on the rebellions is not wonderful; errors of fact and simplification occur and the reading list negelects recent scholarship - this book was published before Reids's and Duffy's excellent books, but works by McLynn, Speck and Black could have been used instead of such outdated works such as Petrie's and Taylers'. In their brief account of the '45, we are told that on the Jacobite retreat from England in 1745, Wade was at Newcastle and Cumberland was in the south. In reality, the former was in Yorkshire and the latter at Litchfield (in the Midlands). We are told several times that Cumberland was the Butcher and Lord George Murray was the genius of the Jacobite army, London was in panic and that to retreat from Derby was merely good sense. All these are arguable, but there's no discussion or shades of grey, so these come across as gross simplifications. This is not a bad book as an introduction to the topic, but it could have been better.
5.0 out of 5 stars
great book,
This review is from: Fortress Scotland and the Jacobites (Historic Scotland) (Paperback)
An excellent book with good illustrations covering a fine subject in an easily aproachable way. Thoroughly enjoyed reading it and it will will remain on my referance shelf amongst other worthy tomes.
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