Product Description

This work charts the involvement of the Scots in the British Empire from its earliest days to the end of the 20th century. It is a tale of dramatic extremes and craggy characters, of a variety of concerns, from education, evangelism and philanthropy to spying, swindles and drug running. It sets stories of Scottish regiments on the rampage, of cannibalism and of atrocities beside the deeds of heroic pioneers such as David Livingstone and Mary Slessor. It tells of little known incidents of famous men - such as William Gladstone's punch-up with a Greek bishop and of the Earl of Elgin's burning of the Summer Palace in Peking. But above all, this work tells of how the British Empire came to be dominated by and run by Scots and of how it truly became "The Scottish Empire".

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #237555 in Books
• Published on: 2002-11-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 624 pages

About the Author
Michael Fry is active in three aspects of modern Scotland: politics, journalism and scholarship. he has written for many newspapers in Britain and abroad. He is the author of works on the political, religious and intellectual history of Scotland, and is the biographer of Henry Dundas.

Customer Reviews

The Sun also Sets
Michael Fry argues that the experiences of the Reformation, Union with England, Enlightenment, and Empire were the most formative forces in shaping the modern Scottish nation.

However, if the intellectual and social forces which propelled Scotland towards Enlightenment and industrialisation predated Union and were independent of it, the very experience of Empire - being part of the English Empire and helping service it as soldiers, sailors, engineers, administrators, colonists, etc. - changed the face and the outlook of the Scots.

The contradictions of Empire abound - not least the American War of Independence, where Scots were prominent in the rebellion... and were sent in regiments to try to suppress it. Such contradictions created a dissonance in the Scottish psyche. The experience of Empire could have an invigorating and a depressing impact.

Fry's book combines scholarly insight with a touch of Boy's Own adventure story and imperial derring-do. He is probably best at his 19th century analysis, exploring the contradictions between Tory imperialism and Liberal free trade ideals - a conflict which helped promote the Home Rule movement in Scotland.

The experience of Empire and imperialism has largely been taken for granted by 'British' historians - viewed as an English phenomenon with the Scots treated as synonymous with the English. But the experience for Scots was problematic, combining, as it does, the roles of coloniser and colonised.