The Faded Map - The Lost Kingdoms of Scotland

Here, guided by Jim Wilson’s researches into Scottish genetic history, he (Alistair Moffat) tackles on the of the biggest stories possible: linking up the story of the earliest Scots to the earliest men... He is wonderfully able to communicate the epic elements of the story which matters because that’s precisely what man’s survival has been’ - David Robinson, The Scotsman I’ve been enjoyably immersed in it since it arrived on my doorstep last week...wonderfully readable. This is no dry, academic account, but it’s the most fascinating and thought-provoking treatment of interlocking aspects of our early history I’ve yet to read. I recommend it whole-heartedly’ - Colin Will, poet and publisher Alistair Moffat explores the history of where we all came from, with the help of new DNA science’ - BBC Radio Scotland In The Scots: A Genetic Journey, historian and broadcaster Alistair Moffat taps into the latest advances in DNA science to find that our origins lie not only deep in the mists of time, but right off the map... with the help of historical geneticist Jim Wilson, he finds that, post-Ice Age, Scotland's earliest settlers walked here from what is now Spain’ - Jim Gilchrist, Scotsman In The Scots: A Genetic Journey, Alistair Moffat and James F. Wilson explore the history that is printed in our genes, and in a remarkable new approach come to some fascinating conclusions about who we are and where we came from’ - The Orcadian The fusion of science and the physical history like an abandoned croft allows people to trace their Scots ancestry with precision’ - Sunday Herald The Scots: A Genetic Journey, a book and radio series based on Moffat and Wilson’s research, concludes that all Scots are immigrants by descent. Britain as a whole is a mongrel nation’ - Julian Baggini Skillfully written, weaving together genetics, archaeology, history, and topics of interest like red hair - James Honeychuck on Amazon History has always mattered to Scots, and rarely more so than now at the outset of a new century, with a new census appearing in 2011 and after more than ten years of a new parliament. An almost limitless archive of our history lies hidden inside our bodies and we carry the ancient story of Scotland around with us. The mushrooming of genetic studies, of DNA analysis, is rewriting our history in spectacular fashion. In The Scots: A Genetic Journey, Alistair Moffat explores the history that is printed on our genes, and in a remarkable new approach, uncovers the detail of where we are from, who we are and in so doing colour vividly a DNA map of Scotland.

Who owns Scotland? How did they get it? What happened to all the common land in Scotland? Has the Scottish Parliament made any difference? Can we get our common good land back? In The Poor Had No Lawyers, Andy Wightman, author of Who Owns Scotland, updates the statistics of landownership in Scotland and takes the reader on a voyage of discovery into Scotland's history to find out how and why landowners got their hands on the millions of acres of land that were once held in common. He tells the untold story of how Scotland's legal establishment and politicians managed to appropriate land through legal fixes. From Robert the Bruce to Willie Ross and from James V to Donald Dewar, land has conferred political and economic power. Have attempts to redistribute this power more equitably made any difference and what are the full implications of the recent debt-fuelled housing bubble? For all those with an interest in urban and rural land in Scotland, this updated edition of The Poor Had No Lawyers provides a fascinating analysis of one the most important political questions in Scotland - who owns Scotland and how did they get it?

This is a page-turning history, lucidly written, and it is enhanced by a selection of five famous Border ballads. One of the best reads of the year, without doubt' - Hamish Coghill, Scottish Life 'This is a history as exciting and dramatic as the Border ballads themselves' - Cumberland News 'a most compelling, thought-provoking and entertaining history' - The Herald Only one period in history is immediately, indelibly and uniquely linked to the whole area of the Scottish and English Border country, and that is the time of the Reivers. Whenever anyone mentions 'Reiver', no-one hesitates to add 'Border'. It is an inextricable association, and rightly so. Nowhere else in Britain in the modern era, or indeed in Europe, did civil order break down over such a wide area, or for such a long time. For more than a century the hoof-beats of countless raiding parties drummed over the border. From Dumfriesshire to the high wastes of East Cumbria, from Roxburghshire to Redesdale, from the lonely valley of Liddesdale to the fortress city of Carlisle, swords and spears spoke while the law remained silent. Fierce family loyalty counted for everything while the rules of nationality counted for nothing.The whole range of the Cheviot Hills, its watershed ridges and the river valleys which flowed out of them became the landscape of larceny while Maxwells, Grahams, Fenwicks, Carletons, Armstrongs and Elliots rode hard and often for plunder. These were the Riding Times and in modern European history, they have no parallel. This book tells the remarkable story of the Reivers and how they made the Borders.

Scotland's story cannot be told merely in terms of documentary evidence, for this would be to neglect an integral part of the nation's heritage. The legends, myths, stories and memories handed down from generation to generation must be added to the bare bones of factual record if the character of the country is to be truly revealed. Nigel Tranter was able to combine the two with a masterly hand, expertly weaving the colourful threads of folklore into the fabric of historical fact. Tranter was impeccably qualified to tell the story of Scotland, having written many books detailing the nation's rich past and he possessed an exceptional gift for storytelling. His account begins in the years before records made traditional history possible and ends with the transformation of Scotland during the 19th century into a workshop of the world and a source of pioneers for Britain's empire. In this perennial bestseller, Niigel Tranter's incomparable tale of a nation's enthralling history is the most comprehensible primer on the subject yet published. Before he passed away in January 2000, Tranter had written over 70 novels and several works of non-fiction, almost all of them historical works set in Scotland.