Robert the Bruce: King of Scots

Excellent book. Well written and precise yet not hard to read. Informative and factual yet not written like a textbook. Worth the time reading it.

Robert the Bruce was unequaled in his warring and political life. No other king commanded or earned so much respect from countrymen and foes alike. A well written and factual homage to a great leader.

Ronald McNair Scott's "Robert the Bruce: King of Scots" is one of the best books I have read in a long while. The story of the life of Robert the Bruce is already well-known to me; it is the author's ability to weave the various story-lines together and keep me riveted on what was going to happen next that I found outstanding. This is a very well written biography that reads tremendously fast.If you're not familiar with the life of Robert the Bruce and were to read this book as a piece of fiction, you'd finish thinking that there's no possible way that the events that take place in Bruce's lifetime life actually took place. It becomes obvious why the Scottish highly revere this man.

Really enjoyed this book. Exciting from start to finish. Read like an adventure. Much respect to the Scottish people.

I love this book. It's not just a biography. It's the story of the making of a kingdom out Edward I's attempt to turn Scotland into just one more province belonging to the English Crown. The genius, wit, intellect, and great beating heart of Robert, Lord of Annandale, Earl of Carrick, King of Scots comes leaping off of the page. A must read for anyone with a drop of Scottish blood.

The detailed background information, necessary to set up the story, made for a slow start.It should be the aspiration of all heroic characters in fiction to be as noble, brave, and able as King Robert.

The book was well sourced and researched, and was well laid out. It was a detailed and fairly interesting account of Robert’s life. It was a bit dry at times, and lacking a bit in narrative personality, but overall was a decent read.

Robert McNair Scott's biography of "Robert the Bruce - King of Scots" gives a very full account of the life of one of the most significant figures in Scotland's history. Of interest, he writes that his research confirms the reliability of the epic life of Robert Bruce, written less than fifty years after Bruce's death. Bruce's life makes for very dramatic and interesting reading, and well worth the retelling.

Extremely well written and illuminating.

Really enjoyed this. Clear concise and well written

I did not appreciate that, given the intervening 700 years , such a gripping and , seemingly valid, history of the life of Robert the Bruce could be written. The language of the book is straight out of Walter Scott , without the spider.The apocryphal history I was taught at school, of "Sir William Wallace" and "King Robert the Bruce", is rendered much more credibly, and vividly, by the "forgotten history" between Bannockburn and the declaration of Arbroath.The Scots armies "ravishing" and the North of England, was a realistic revelation, given the Scots history taught in Scottish Schools.The scorched earth policy of Robert the Bruce, in the face of the overwhelming military power of Edward II, revealed the true military Guerilla genius of Robert the Bruce.

映画ブレイブハートで一躍有名になったスコットランドの国民的英雄ウィリアムウォレス。彼が処刑された後を継ぐようにスコットランド史の前面に出てきたのが有力貴族のロバートブルース。彼は貴族から王になり、イングランド王及びスコットランド内部の敵と戦い、スコットランドを独立に導いた、13〜14世紀を波乱万丈に生きた有名な王です。この本は、新書サイズの彼の伝記です。歴史背景もさることながら、この本は主に戦（大きな戦だけでなくゲリラ戦や城の攻防など含む）が中心に書かれており、戦記物が好きな私はワクワクしながら読みました。また、鬼神のごとく強い騎士としてイングランドから恐れられたロバート王の右腕であり親友　James Douglas、ダグラス伯に次ぐ武人とされ彼の友人でもありライバルでもあったThomas Randolph、ロバート王の2度目の妃　Elizabeth de Burgh、ロバート王の弟でアイルランド王として即位した　Edward Bruceなど、特筆すべき主要人物に関しては、性格や容姿、周囲とのエピソードなども記述されており、決してロバート王だけに偏った伝記ではなく、小説的要素も含んでいて、大変興味深いです。軍事的にも経済的にもイングランドに圧倒的劣位にあったスコットランドがとにもかくにも大きな戦（Battle of Bannockburn）でイングランドを破り、いったんは独立したというまでの背景には、そういった傑出した人物たちが同時期に生まれ、揃ったという偶然だか必然があるんだなーー、そんな時期に生まれて間近で歴史のうねりを感じてみたかった〜〜（命懸け間違いなし）！　などど、歴史のロマンを感じて浸ってしまいました。ロバートブルースの伝記は無数にあり、著者によって彼の人格／能力像の描写が違います。何冊か読みましたが、この著者の描くブルース像が、一番いろいろな意味でバランスが取れた王者で、格好いいと思います。

A carefully researched interesting, well written book. Worth taking the time to read some of the references and other books on The Bruce.