Book - Hugh Miller: Stonemason, Geologist, Writer

Hugh Miller was born in 1802 in Cromarty, Ross-shire. He started his working life as a stonemason's apprentice; he later became a social commentator and crusader. His was a household name in his lifetime, not only in Scotland but across the English-speaking world. With the benefit of recent research for the 2002 conferences, this biography does full justice to the self-educated man, a figure of renown in the 19th century, whose literary genius and scientific acumen still resonates in the 21st.

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Book - Clyde Built: The Blockade Runners of the American Civil War

The Blockade of the US's Southern ports during the American Civil War is well known and thoroughly documented, the conflict defined as a massive game of chess between two steely opponents - the aggressive Navy of the Federation and the determined Confederate States. However, this black-and-white interpretation of events neglects the role of Scotland in this historical siege, sidelining the Scots to mere shipbuilders and suppliers. In reality, their role in the Blockade was much more pronounced. The Blockade Runners illuminates the events of the Blockade as viewed and experienced from Scotland. The shipbuilding industry was overwhelmed at the scale of profit available, and these financial rewards stimulated much ship building activity in the Clyde. Aside from being the principal provider of steamers and armed cruisers to both sides of the American Civil War, the Scots saw further opportunity in promoting private ventures, both on the water and off, as they sent privately owned Blockade runners into the stand-off, and also provided a location for secret agency activity from both sides. The ideological conflict unfolding between American anti-slavery supporters and anti-abolitionists also spread to the other side of the Atlantic and forced the Scots to examine their own values, polarising opinions and forcing the individual to reassess their position on the most basic human rights.

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Book - The Wallace Book

Through his personality, ingenuity and ability, he initiated a resistance movement which ultimately secured the nation's freedom and independence. Yet, Wallace was reviled, opposed and eventually betrayed by the nobility in his own day to re-surface in the epic poetry of the fifteenth century as a champion and liberator. Eventually, his legend overtook the historical reality, a process which has continued for centuries as manifested in modern media and film. A team of leading historians and critics from both Scotland and England investigate what is known of the medieval warrior's career from contemporary sources, most of which, unusually for a national hero, were created by his enemies. His reputation, from the time of his horrendous execution to the present, is examined to ascertain what the figure of Wallace meant to different generations of Scots. Too dangerous perhaps for his own era, he became the supreme Scottish hero of all time; the archetypal Scot who would teach kings and nobles where their duty lay, and who would live free or freely die for the liberty of his nation.

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Book - The Battle of Prestonpans 1745

This is the first history of the Jacobite battle fought on 21st September 1745 between the forces of the Hanoverian regime and Prince Charles Edward Stuart, better known as 'Bonnie Prince Charles'. Lieutenant-General Sir John Cope, the leader of the English army, has been ridiculed, in song and in history books, for losing the Battle of Prestonpans - the first major battle of the 1745 Jacobite Rising. His defeat led to the invasion of England, in which the Jacobites almost drove King George II from the throne. But was Cope really to blame? The Jacobite Risings occurred after Parliament ousted King James Stuart in 1688 and installed a new dynasty. Stuart loyalists, many of them based in Scotland, took up arms repeatedly in futile attempts to restore James' descendants. The 1745 Rising, led by Bonnie Prince Charlie, was the last. Martin Margulies traces Scottish history up to 'the '45', describes the sharply contrasting weapons and tactics of the opposing armies, and follows the Prestonpans campaign from the time Charlie landed, almost alone, on the remote Isle of Eriskay through the moment his tiny force destroyed Cope's regulars in an early morning highland charge.

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Book - The Hidden Places of Scotland

The Hidden Places of Scotland has been extensively updated and
contains a wealth of interesting information on the history, the
countryside, the towns and villages and the many places of interest such as
churches, castles, monuments and great mansions. The guide is beautifully
illustrated and explores Scotland in a relaxed narrative style.

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Book - In Famed Breadalbane

This is a history of a district of the Grampian Mountains in western Perthshire, bordered by Lochaber and Atholl on the north and Strathearn and Menteith on the south. We long have been in pursuit of this elusive regional history, which begins with an account of the region in earliest times and proceeds through the coming of the Scots, the Celtic church, the coming of the Campbells, the establishment of the Campbells of Breadalbane, down into the 20th century. It is of particular relevance for the Campbell, MacNab, Buchanan, Cameron, Dewar, Drummond, MacDonald, MacDougall, MacEwen, MacFarlane, MacGregor, MacIntyre, Mackay, Mackenzie, MacNaughton, and Menzies families, as well as many others. A wealth of local history!

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Book - Highland Reflections by Donald Fraser(Aberfeldy)

Donald Fraser’s book Highland Reflections is a fascinating insight into a lifetime spent in and around forestry. It is also an account of life in the Highlands, and offers a very personal reflection on the often radical changes seen and experienced by that society over recent generations.

Highland Reflections is the story of a Perthshire man brought up on a highland estate in the 1930’s, who spent the majority of his life working for the Forestry Commission based in a variety of locations in central and highland Scotland.

As well as being the story of a forester, the book charts Donald’s life and is populated by an array of lively characters encountered over his period of service and beyond. Highland Reflections also includes accounts of general and historical interest directly related to forestry life. It unfolds at a gentle, conversational pace and will reinforce the views held by many on the nature of rural life and its qualities.


Highland Reflections takes readers on a lifetime’s journey starting in Blair Atholl, and includes life in Fife, Inverness, Angus and Lochtayside. The story also takes in visits to Avoch in the Black Isle, Islay, and RAF national service in the 1950s England.

This is the diverse narrative of a career in and around forestry and it offers readers an often lighthearted insight into a highland man’s life spent in a very specialised industry.

Highland Reflections by Donald Fraser (Wm Culross & Son, Coupar Angus)ISBN 1 873891 80 6

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Eating out in Aberfeldy

Scottish Fiction Book - Poverty Castle

Poverty Castle By Robin Jenkins

There is a long list of famous Scottish authors of fiction including JM Barrie, Arthur Conan Doyle, Alistair MacLean, Gavin Maxwell, Sir Walter Scott, Robert Louis Stevenson and Ian Rankin. This is a list of some of their books and some of the less well known authors' offerings.

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Scottish History book - Scottish Queens 1034-1714

Scottish Queens 1034-1714 By Rosalind K. Marshall

The lives of the Scottish queens, both those who ruled in their own right, and also the consorts, have largely been obscured and neglected. Rosalind K. Marshall addresses this oversight with a collection of mini-biographies, illuminating the fascinating lives of these unusual women, who all found themselves at the helm of a kingdom, and reacted in very different ways.

One of the earliest known Scottish queens was none other than the notorious Lady MacBeth. Was she really the wicked woman depicted in Shakespeare's famous play? Was St Margaret a demure and obedient wife? Why did Margaret Logie exercise such an influence over her husband, David II, and have we underestimated James VI's consort, Anne of Denmark, frequently written off as a stupid and wilful woman? These are just a few of the questions addressed by Dr Marshall in her entertaining, scholarly study.

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Scottish History book - Companion to Scottish History

Companion to Scottish History By Ian Donnachie; George R. Hewitt

This is a fully updated, revised and extended edition of an authoritative and comprehensive survey of Scottish history from the tenth century to the present day. As well as fully referenced entries and suggestions for further reading, there are also key articles on major themes and issues. An easy-to-use reference work that will also satisfy the browser, this is the perfect source for anyone wishing to understand and explore Scottish history.

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Scottish History book - I Crossed the Minch

I Crossed the Minch By Louis MacNeice

In 1937 Louis MacNeice and his wife Nancy visited the Hebrides in 1937. Following loosely in the footsteps of Johnson and Boswell, MacNeice describes with distinctive candour the people, customs and landscapes of the Hebrides. Alienated from the way of life he encountered in the islands yet utterly fascinated by it, Louis MacNeice provides a unique insight into a now vanished culture and, as such, the book is a fascinating social historical document of Scottish rural life in the late 1930s.

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Scottish Interest Books - The Yellow on the Broom

The Yellow on the Broom: The Early Days of a Traveller Woman
By Betsy Whyte

Betsy Whyte was born into a family of travellers who roamed the Scottish countryside between the wars. The summers were the best times, out on the open road, while the winters were spent in houses, pining for the first sign of spring - the yellow on the broom. Betsy Whyte's vivid description of a childhood on the road amidst a misunderstood people is a rich evocation of a vanishing world.

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Scottish Interest Books - Bruar's Rest

Bruar's Rest - By Jess Smith

The story open in the Highlands as the twentieth century begins. The gypsy wife of wild drunkard Rory Stewart dies giving birth to their second son. Many years pass, and Rory and his sons are rootless travellers on the roads of Scotland. One night, during a winter storm, they
save another traveller family from freezing to death in a blizzard. Bruar Stewart and one of the girls he rescues, the hot-blooded and beautiful Megan, fall in love. But the First World War is declared, tearing their lives apart. Bruar is reported missing in action, an Megan sets off on a
long and perilous journey to find him...

An epic tale of love and loyalty by the author of the spellbinding autobiographical trilogy, Jessie's Journey.

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Scottish Interest Books - Tears for a Tinker

Tears for a Tinker - By Jess Smith

In the first two books of her autibiography, Jessie's Journey and Tales from the Tent, Jess Smith told the story of her wandering years on the road with the last of Scotland's travellers, hawkers and gypsies. This third volume in the trilogy is Jess's at-times painful farewell to the travelling lifestyle which she loved.

Settling down to 'scaldy' (non-traveller) existence - marriage, kids and domesticity in a small council house - was never going to be easy for her. But though there were some tears, laughter is never far away. We move from a story of the car with no floor to a medical emergency, from the tall tales of her husband Dave's duck-hunt to his seafaring experiences, and from a chilling seance to a startling experiment with peroxide hair-colouring. There are more memories of Jess's early years on the road with her family in the old, blue bus.
Through it all are scattered wondeful gems from Jess's treasury of traditional tales - what the Loch Ness Monster really is, the strange fate of Blind Harry, and the ominous appearances of shapeshifters and werewolves. Handing on the tales told to her as she grew up, Jess reminds us that though most travellers have gone from the roads, their approach to life, understanding of nature and precious cultural legacy lives on, no matter how times may change.

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Scottish Interest Books - Tales from the Tent

Tales from the Tent: Jessie's Journey Continues
By Jess Smith

In Tales from the Tent, Jess Smith - Scottish traveller, hawker, gypsy, 'gan-about' and storyteller - continues the unforgettable story of her life on the road. Unable to adjust to settled life working in a factory after leaving school, she finds herself drawn once again to the wild countryside of Scotland.
Having grown up on the road in an old blue bus with her parents and seven sisters, Jessie now joins her family in caravans, stopping to rest in campsites and lay-bys as they follow work around the country - berry-picking, hay-stacking, ragging, fortune-telling and hawking. Making the most of their freedom, Jessie and her family continue the traditional way of life that is disappearing before their eyes, wandering the roads and byways, sharing tales and living on the edge of 'acceptable' society.

Intertwined with the story of Jessie's loveable but infuriating family, incorrigible friends, first loves and first losses are her 'tales from the tent', a collection of folklore from the traveller's world. As Jessie travels through Scotland's silver-birch woods, along the salty shores of the west coast and over the border into England, she tells intriguing tales of romance, mythical beasts, dreams, ghostly apparitions and strange encounters.

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Scottish Interest Books - Jessie's Journey

Jessie's Journey: Autobiography of a Traveller Girl
By Jess Smith

Jessie's Journey, the first book in Jess Smith's autobiographical trilogy, is an unforgettable account of a way of life that has all but vanished. It is the story of Jessie, her seven sisters and their unconventional childhood roaming the country in an old blue Bedford bus. In this moving, honest and heart-warming memoir, Jess describes her life among an extraordinary people and their never-ending sruggle to survive as free travellers.

Jessie's parents lacked material wealth, but they clung to 'the richness that comes from freedom, a traveller's freedom'. Living as they did on the edge of "respectable" society, prejudice was never far away, but their world was brimming with laughter, love and adventure. Earning their living hay-stacking, beachcombing, ragging, midden-raking, berry-picking, fortune-telling and hawking, Jessie and her family travelled the length and breadth of Scotland and beyond.

Reflecting on the friendships, feuds, trials and tribulations of her boisterous family, Jess recalls a magical childhood, surrounded by the sea spray, birch woods and wild places of a Scotland few of us will ever know.

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Scottish Interest Books - Wherever the Saltire Flies

Wherever the Saltire Flies
From Luath Press Ltd

Considering the history of these organisations, their members and influence in their respective locations, they note the changing nature of Scottish culture as it flourishes amongst international diversity. Written as a series of specially conducted interviews with each chapter, a new location and new organisation "Wherever the Saltire Flies" investigates many and varied personalities.

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Scottish Interest Books - Land of Mountain and Flood

Land of Mountain and Flood: The Geology and Landforms of Scotland
By Alan McKirdy, John Gordon, Roger Crofts

The sheer diversity of Scotland's rocks and landforms are the physical reminders of a fascinating physical and chronological journey which shows that the land that makes up Scotland today has travelled the world from the Equator to the South Pole and back north again, and has not always even belonged to the same continental landmass. This book, published by Birlinn in association with Scottish Natural Heritage will help the reader to understand Scotland's place in the geological history of the planet.

Three eminent geologists introduce and trace the country's development, unravelling and explaining what is seen now in the landscape and why it came to be the way it is. They show readers exactly where they can find evidence of these natural changes in the country's landscape on the ground in different parts of Scotland. The Geology of Scotland is an essential book for anyone who is interested in the natural world around them and who wishes to develop a good knowledge about the original formation of their country. It is accessible and beautifully presented, contains a huge amount of detailed information told in clear, comprehensible language and is enhanced throughout with specially commissioned illustrations, diagrams and photographs.

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Scottish Interest Books - Women of the Highlands

Women of the Highlands
By Katharine Stewart

THE HIGHLAND FREE PRESS, 16 March 2007
`the grande dame of mainland Highland literature'

Dundee Courier,23 March 2007
"But when 92-year-old Katharine Stewart decided to write her latest in a long line of books on Highland culture, she made a conscious effort to explore the contribution of WOMEN to Highland history, charting the development and preservation of the yarns, myths and songs that contributed to the development of Gaelic civilisation, and the impact women specifically have had on Highland history through the ages."

Scottish Review of Books,13 May 2007
`an uncomplicated look at history, the kind of take on historical continuity that reassures and comforts, rather than disturbs or unsettles.'

`her over-riding argument - that women of the Highlands contributed just as much to the culture of the region as well as to its survival as its menfolk did - is hard to refute.'

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Scottish Interest Books - The Hired Lad

The Hired Lad - By Ian Campbell Thomson

Ian Campbell Thomson relives his time as a young farmworker on a Stirlingshire farm after the Second World War.

It is a touching coming-of-age tale: we see the author make new friends and romances while finding his own way in a changing world. He describes the passing of age-old country ways, as technology begins to replace traditional farming methods.

The book is dedicated to Donald and Blossom, the magnificent pair of Clydesdale horses with which he ploughed, until the sad day when they were replaced by a smart Fordson tractor. Of those early times he writes: ` I often wondered how far I walked in a day behind the plough. My guess was somewhere between 12 and 15 miles...the words "the ploughman homeward wends his weary way" just about sums up the end of the day trudge back to the farm, with darkness closing in and the stable work to be done.'

Peopled with memorable characters including the hard-working `boss', and the wise Aunt Kit, this is a unique tribute, full of humour and nostalgia
to a disappearing culture.

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