Scotland: A Concise History

Book arrived in great timing. I loved how this book was written & the ground it covers in the history of Scotland.

How can any history book NOT have footnotes? I find the lack of these irritating if not downright uninformative. The fact that it's 'concise' also leads to the narrative being unremitting in it's giving of Facts/Names/Dates and all I'm left with is an overall impression of carnage which makes me wonder why/how anyone survived or could be bothered to go on living in such inhospitable areas (both north & south of today's borders). I'm left feeling ever more disgusted by man's inhumanity to man - a general criticism of all sides. No surprises then that the Scots (or the Irish for that matter) haven't got over it all and that the English seem to have a general ability to deal with it by denial for the part they played in it all. You may gather by this that I've only got halfway through (start of 18th century) and don't think I can face any more...

A good overview with nice illustrations. Reads like its meant for a UK or Scottish reader who already knows the places and names. The constant back and forth of who's fighting who can be hard to keep track of but that's not really the books fault - just the reality of Scottish history.

Well written and descriptive history of the Scotts. Those guys were always fighting someone. I got a better understanding of the clans and jacobites

I guess it is well written and researched, but there were simply too many battles and dates to fully understand the significance in history.