- Paperback: 280 pages
- Publisher: The History Press Ltd; New Ed edition (8 April 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0750935235
- ISBN-13: 978-0750935234
- Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 12.8 x 1.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 772,119 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Based on original research, Graeme Morton examines both the contemporary sources available on William Wallace's life and the way the Wallace myth has been constructed, communicated and appropriated from his death in 1305 right up to the present day.
About the Author
Graeme Morton is Lecturer in Economic and Social History at the University of Edinburgh. He is the author of Unionist-Nationalism: Governing Urban Scotland, 1830-1860 (Tuckwell Press, 1999), Locality, Community and Nation (Hodder and Stoughton, 1998) and a number of articles and essays in journals and edited volumes. He is also an occasional contributor to press and radio on matters to do with Scottish nationalism. He lives in Kirkcaldy, Fife.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
an excellent account of the mystery that surrounds the life of William Wallace. This book deals carefully with the myths that have persisted since Wallace's era. It aknowledges the different ways that Wallace has been represented through history and used for different purposes.
8 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
First of all, Graeme Morton's book is NOT a biography, as rightly pointed out by the previous, rather scathing review. If you're seeking a biography, there are several on the market, although I wouldn't credit any of them particularly highly.
Rather "William Wallace: Man and Myth" brings a vital truth to light - a biography of the actual William Wallace, as he appears in chronicles and sources contemporary to his time, would fill all of three pages. Any book purporting to be a biography of the enigmatic Scot is actually a collection of "Wallaciana" - compendeum of 700 years of reconstruction and downright fictionalisation. The truth is very simple: Wallace has become a myth almost as potent (and controversial) as Arthur, and it is this Wallace, the man made out of myth, that Graeme Morton's book sets about deconstructing.
He provides a sequence of chapters comparing the Wallace myth with a)the actual sources b)subsequent literary and cinematic adaptations (like Blind Harry's 15th century epic "Wallace" and its glory-child of the 1990's "Braveheart") c)localised/national legends of Wallace. He follows up with an analysis of why and how an obscure medieval rebel leader has become a national (and international) symbol of identity and independence, including an interesting examination of the connection between Wallace and the ex-pat Scots communities of North America.
Overall, a tolerably written study, although it lacks some relevant scholarship and, like its recent counterparts, is born out of popular Wallace history rather than academic texts. Certainly worth it for those interested in the connection between the real Wallace and the Wallace we now know.
6 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is one of the only practical looks at the context of and historical facts behind William Wallace. I it a difficult pill to swallow for those wanting to know only what Mel Gibson and Randall Wallace have to teach the world. This is a suprisingly lighthearted academic study that will help anyone who is evolved enough to care get to the bottom of William Wallace as well as the perpetual Scottish obsession with its nationalist-mutated history.
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