Drawing on a range of methodologies associated with the history of reading, this book explores the reception of the Scottish Enlightenment, assessing the impact that major texts had on the lives, beliefs and habits of mind of contemporary readers.

A new series of the Scottish antiquary established 1886.

There can be no relationship in Europe's history more creative, significant, vexed and uneasy than that between Scotland and England. From the Middle Ages onwards the island of Britain has been shaped by the unique dynamic between Edinburgh and London, exchanging inhabitants, monarchs, money and ideas, sometimes in a spirit of friendship and at others in a spirit of murderous dislike. Tom Devine's seminal new book explores this extraordinary history in all its ambiguity, from the seventeenth century to the present. When not undermining each other with invading armies, both Scotland and England have broadly benefitted from each other's presence - indeed for long periods of time nobody questioned the union which joined them. But as Devine makes clear, it has for the most part been a relationship based on consent, not force, on mutual advantage, rather than antagonism - and it has always held the possibility of a political parting of the ways. With the United Kingdom under a level of scrutiny unmatched since the eighteenth century Independence or Union is the essential guide.

This work argues for a new interpretation of the seventeenth-century Scottish revolution that goes beyond questions about its radicalism, and reconsiders its place within an overarching 'British' narrative. The narrative links the forging of a distinct political and religious culture to the emergence of an autonomous Scottish state.

Riveting selections from a 15-century account of Scottish history, one of Scotland’s national treasures. Writing on a small island in the Firth of Forth in the 1440s, Walter Bower set out to tell the whole story of the Scottish nation in a single huge book, the Scotichronicon— “a history book for Scots.” It begins with the mythical voyage of Scota, the Pharaoh’s daughter, from Egypt with the Stone of Destiny. The land that her sons discovered in the Western Ocean was named after her: Scotland. It then describes the turbulent events that followed, among them the wars of the Scots and the Picts (begun by a quarrel over a dog); the poisoning of King Fergus by his wife; Macbeth’s usurpation and uneasy reign; the good deeds of Margaret, queen and saint; Bruce’s murder of the Red Comyn; the founding of Scotland’s first university at St. Andrews; the “Burnt Candlemas;” and the endless troubles between Scotland and England. Weaving in and out of the events of Bower’s factual history are other subjects that fascinated him: harrowing visions of hell and purgatory, extraordinary miracles; the exploits of knights and beggars, merchants and monks; the ravages of flood and fire; the terrors of the plague; and the answers to such puzzling questions as what makes a good king, and why Englishmen have tails. This monumental work, in which the original Latin text appears side by side with a translation in modern English, was completed in 1998. It includes an introduction and notes that guide the reader through the complexities of Bower’s history and its background.

Thomas Reid was one of the greatest thinkers of the Scottish Enlightenment. In his own time he was seen as the most able opponent of the scepticism of David Hume and the architect of 'Common Sense' philosophy. His ideas were immensely influential both in his native Scotland and abroad, and the last forty years have seen a marked revival of interest in his work. Reid published very little about religion and his notes from the lectures on natural theology that he regularly gave have not survived. This volume - a companion to Thomas Reid: Selected Philosophical Writings (Imprint Academic, 2012) - makes available material from Reid's autograph manuscripts, housed in the University of Aberdeen Library, and student notes of Reid's lectures, edited from original manuscripts in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow. It includes an introductory essay by Nicholas Wolterstorff, a leading philosopher of religion and interpreter of Reid.