Product Description

The Scottish Nation examines the social, political, religious and economic factors that have shaped modern Scotland. Drawing on the latest research, Devine places Scotland firmly within an international context and provides a key focus for the ongoing debate regarding Scotland's future. This new edition brings the reader up-to-date with Scotland's recent history, from the high politics of the devolved parliament to the everyday effects of huge and growing levels of social inequality.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #105194 in Books
• Published on: 2006-11-30
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 768 pages

About the Author
T.M. Devine is Sir William Fraser Professor of Scottish History and Palaeography at the University of Edinburgh and formerly Glucksman Research Chair of Irish and Scottish Studies at the University of Aberdeen. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the British Academy. He is a winner of Scotland's premier academic accolade, the Royal Medal, conferred by the Queen in 2001. In the 2005 New Year's Honour Lists he was appointed OBE for services to Scottish history. Among Professor Devine's numerous publications is Scotland's Empire, 1600-1815 published by Penguin Books in 2003.

Customer Reviews

An outstanding revisionist history
Devine's book is a really interesting social history of Scotland. For anyone like myself born post-1970, Devine's account of poverty and deprivation in overcrowded post-ww1 schemes makes you stop to think how far we've come and still need to go. The description of how Scotland came to be in the Union is fascinating and throughout, Devine is free of bias on either the Unionist or Nationalist side. Devine always shows a mastery of the evidence and delivers a flowing, readable prose. In conclusion, a thoroughly enjoyable introduction to modern Scottish history.

QUALITY OF LIFE AND THE SCOTTISH NATION
The second edition of Professor Devine's history of Modern Scotland includes a chapter covering the first years of devolution.
This chapter is a sober, retrained assessment, until the last two pages. Then it - accurately - describes much of urban Scotland as suffering from Third World life expectancy and a worse than Third World quality of life. Nothing in the preceeding account has prepared the reader for this.
(In the first edition, Irvine Welsh was in the index; drug abuse was not.)
Professor Devine's explanation that some people lose out in a meritocracy is entirely unconvincing.
The problem is that for the last 40 years Establishment Scotland has been obsessed by the 'Scottish Question'. As a result, social problems though clearly identified, have been allowed to fester. The area with the most severe problems, the East End of Glasgow was highlighted for improvement in 1976, when the GEAR was set up.
Professor Devine suggest that Scotland has coped better with de-industrialization than the Rustbelt of North East USA.
'Not As Bad As Detroit' is a more honest slogan than 'The Best Small Country In The World' but it suggests the bar is being set low.
It is to be hoped that the Third Edition will face up to the responsibility of the media, and the rest of the Scottish Establishment, in allowing so many of Scotland's citizens to lose so much ground in terms of quality of life.