The Scottish Nation: 1700-2000 [Paperback]

T.M. Devine, professor of Irish and Scottish Studies at the University of Aberdeen, has put together the first comprehensive and authoritative history of the Scottish nation during this 'non-parliamentary' (and, thus perhaps one might consider, non-sovereign) period in a generation. Scotland, as Devine explains in 'The Scottish Nation: A History 1700-2000', has almost always been misunderstood by the outside world. Thought of Scotland today (by those outside) conjure up visions of green sweeping Highland views, quaint tartan-patterned objects, kilts, bagpipes, Scotch whisky, and a wild rusticity that is quite at odds with the modern, urbanised character that is more typical of Scottish life today. As any good Scotsman will tell you, Scotland had seven universities when England had only two; even in the nineteenth century as London reigned supreme on the world stage politically and, in many ways, economically, Scotland was an industrial pioneer, providing much of the backbone for British success.

'For historians of Scotland the last three decades have been an exciting time. Research has boomed, established views are vigourously challenged and entirely new fields of investigation opened up which were uncharted in the older historiography.'

Devine commends the modern trend toward further investigation and research in Scottish and other non-England nations of the British Isles, but worries that most of this research is being shared and read only with professional peers rather than the general public. His book, The Scottish Nation is intended to be (and, in my opinion, succeeds at being) an accessible resource for the casual reader while being authoritative and thorough enough for the scholar to find it valuable.

Devine breaks the history of Scotland into four broad ranges: 1700-1760; 1760-1830; 1830-1939; 1939-2000. These periods roughly correspond to the eras of consolidation of political domination by England, the growing urbanisation of Scotland and attendant decline of Clanship, the period of immigration and Highland clearances , and finally the resurgence of Scottish nationalism in the wake of Irish independence and the aftermath of the second world war.

Devine examines the breakdown of traditional Scottish government in the aftermath of the ouster of a hereditary Stuart king in favour of William and Mary; Devine examines both English efforts to consolidate political and economic hegemony over Scotland (which included a movement in 1705 to declare all Scots aliens, thus subject to import duties and taxes that would be ruinous to the Scottish economy) as well as the Scottish problems of maintaining their own institutions in the face of English power. This is a different perspective than most will be used to, as history (traditionally written by the victors) has usually been stated 'authoritatively' from Oxford or Cambridge, not from Aberdeen or Edinburgh.

Following issues that are economic, military, social and political, Devine traces the various strands of Scottish history through to the present Parliament, detailing the London Parliament's intriguing struggle to deal with the issue of devolution and maintenance of the union through the post-war period. Devine devotes attention to aspects of family life, the role of women at various points in Scottish history, the development of educational systems, church/state relationships, and the status of the royals in Scotland -- again, any good Scotsman will tell you, it is inappropriate to say the present reigning monarch is Elizabeth II in Scotland, because Elizabeth I was never queen there.

This is a rather hefty book for light reading, but is quite enlightening for those of us with Scottish background (my family background includes many strands).