Scotland's Past and Scotland's Present

Independence or Union

'Deserves to be read by everyone interested in the future of the United Kingdom' Andrew Marr, The Sunday Times 
 
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.

Deserves to be read by everyone interested in the future of the United Kingdom... this is analytical, synthetic, argumentative history at its best; it slays lazy myths and tells us the "why" of a momentous story every intelligent Briton ought to understand...cracking.

Brilliant. Easily surpasses any of the glut of books surrounding our constitutional upheaval of the last five years or so.

Never less than compelling ...Independence or Union is his best book to date, is required reading and a perfect example of why history matters.

Surefooted, balanced and reliable in analysis throughout.

The book offers a crisp and well-paced assessment  of the Union... a  thoroughly reasoned assessment

Briskly, clearly and fairly he sketches a complex and detailed  history, bringing new life  and  fresh perspectives to old stories... if he  hadn't already been knighted for services to Scottish history, Devine would have been high on the list for preferment after this  new work.

Devine brings his usual acute historical critique to the question in hand.

T. M. Devine has written three books for Penguin: The Scottish Nation, Scotland's Empire and To the Ends of the Earth. He is Sir William Fraser Professor Emeritus of Scottish History and Palaeography at the University of Edinburgh. In 2001 he was awarded the Royal Gold Medal and has won all three major prizes for Scottish historical research. He was knighted in 2014.

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.

Scotland's Global Diaspora, 1750-2010

To the Ends of the Earth

Part of his trilogy on Scottish history, T. M. Devine's To the Ends of the Earth is a compelling account of the Scots as a 'global people', charting their forgotten role in the building of the modern world. 
 
The Scots are one of the world's greatest nations of emigrants. For centuries, untold numbers of men, women and children sought their fortunes in every part of the globe, from the British Empire to the United States, in cities and on prairie farms, as traders, bankers, missionaries, soldiers, politicians and engineers. 
 
With To the Ends of the Earth T.M. Devine - acclaimed author of The Scottish Nation and Scotland's Empire - puts this extraordinary epic centre stage in Scottish history, cutting through myth and sentiment surrounding stories such as the Highland Clearances and the Enlightenment to show the true impact of Scottish emigration on the world, and on the nation it left behind. 
 
 'A seminal work' &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; Harry McGrath, Herald 
 'Devine's final book in a remarkable trilogy ... fascinating and far-reaching ... His conclusions are ... thoughtful and incisive' &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; Scottish Field 
 '[This] rigorous and unsentimental history of Scotland's global diaspora ... explodes myths and foregrounds the prosaic realities of emigration ... it has the fascinating charm of a detective story' &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; Guardian 
 'Presents a grand overview of Scottish emigration ... very revealing' &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; Tom Nairn, Scottish Review of Books 
 'Devine has brought a greater understanding to this fascinating subject and offers an intriguing perspective on a key component of our history and national identity' &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; Alex Salmond, First Minister Of Scotland, Herald 
 
 T.M. Devine, OBE is University Research Professor and Director of the Research Institute of Irish and Scottish Studies at the University of Aberdeen. His other books include The Scottish Nation and To the Ends of the Earth.

A seminal work ... a new iconoclasm which is welcome given the tosh that sometimes passes for knowledge on the subject of the Scottish diaspora. Commendably, Devine is not afraid to name and shame ... [he] has a rare gift for detecting contradictions

Devine's final book in a remarkable trilogy ... fascinating and far-reaching ... His conclusions are as thoughtful and incisive as you'd expect from an academic who has established himself as one of the deepest thinkers on Scottish identity and history, and whose books remain staggeringly popular

[This] rigorous and unsentimental history of Scotland's global diaspora ... explodes myths and foregrounds the prosaic realities of emigration ... it has the fascinating charm of a detective story

Presents a grand overview of Scottish emigration ... very revealing ... an example of why To the Ends of the Earth is so timely [is that] it helps define the real landscape of choice and decision that is now presenting itself more plainly since the last Scottish election

Sharply written ... Devine is an admirable historian, acerbic in judgment, and a pleasure to read ... fill[s] a serious gap left by the tendency of imperial historians to dwell on the political and capital power wielded in Westminster and the City of London

Devine has brought a greater understanding to this fascinating subject and offers an intriguing perspective on a key component of our history and national identity

T.M. Devine (OBE) is University Research Professor and Director of the Research Institute of Irish and Scottish Studies at the University of Aberdeen.

The Origins of the Global Diaspora

Scotland's Empire

The second part of the Scotland Trilogy - a dazzling account of the roots of global expansion, enterprise and emigration

In Scotland's Empire, T.M Devine tells the compelling story of Scotland's role in forging and expanding the British Empire, from the Americas to Australia, India to the Caribbean. 
 
 By 1820 Britain controlled a fifth of the world's population, and no people had made a more essential contribution than the Scots - working across the globe as soldiers and merchants, administrators and clerics, doctors and teachers. 
 
 In this widely praised book, T. M. Devine - acclaimed author of The Scottish Nation and To the Ends of the Earth: Scotland's Global Diaspora - traces the vital part Scotland played in creating an empire - and the fundamental effect this had in moulding the modern Scottish nation. 
 
 'A tour de force ... Tom Devine is the pre-eminent historian of modern Scotland' &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Niall Ferguson, author of Empire 
 
 'Captivating ... tells the story of the Scots who put their marching boots on, or were forced into them, to start a new life abroad' &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Barclay McBain, Herald 
 
 'A fascinating work, replete with telling detail' &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Allan Massie, Literary Review 
 
 'Nobody has done more over the past thirty years to bring Scottish historiography into rigorous and unsentimental alignment with developments elsewhere than Tom Devine' &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Colin Kidd, The Times Literary Supplement 
 
 'Captivating ... tells the story of the Scots who put their marching boots on, or were forced into them, to start a new life abroad' &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Economist 
 
 T.M. Devine, OBE is University Research Professor and Director of the Research Institute of Irish and Scottish Studies at the University of Aberdeen. His other books include The Scottish Nation and To the Ends of the Earth.

Scotland's Empire is a fascinating work, replete with telling detail and continually throwing out observations which invite further speculation

A book that will be enjoyed by anyone interested in history, or who simply enjoys a good story, well told

The history of the British empire will never look the same after this book

Tom Devine, Scotland's foremost historian, follows up his majestic The Scottish Nation with a forensic analysis of Scotland's central role in the British Empire ... Devine creates a book that suits post-devolution Scotland - we only have ourselves to understand

As a sophisticated and clearly argued statement of Scots and Empire this book could hardly be bettered

A Modern History

The Scottish Nation

The bestselling opening of T M Devine's Scotland Trilogy - a masterly history of modern Scotland

HERALD BOOKS OF THE YEAR and NEW STATESMAN BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2014 
 
 
Part of a trilogy on Scottish history, T.M. Devine's The Scottish Nation: A Modern History traces the epic story of a nation from the Union with England to today's debates on the possibilities of Scottish independence. 
 
 Drawing on extensive research and exploring everything from the high politics of the devolved parliament to the everyday effects of huge and growing levels of social inequality, this bestselling history places Scotland firmly within an international context and provides a key focus for the ongoing debate regarding Scotland's future. 
 
 Ranging from high politics to everyday life, The Scottish Nation is the most read modern history of Scotland at home and abroad: vital to understanding an ancient nation at a crucial time. 
 
 'Outstanding ... if you are after answers to the big questions of Scottish history, Devine is your man' &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Niall Ferguson 
 
 'Magnificent ... a high achievement, a history of modern Scotland which, rarely for the subject, endows with sweep and power the changes that have created the country we live in' &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Michael Fry, The Herald 
 
 'The work of a compendious historical mind ... the first history of Scotland which both a nationalist and a unionist Scot can keep on their shelves with pride, and that is a large achievement in itself' &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;John Lloyd, Financial Times 
 
 'A formidable work ... quite remarkable' &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Donald Dewar 
 
 'A fiercely intelligent account of Scotland ... Devine is the country's most prominent historian, and from the evidence of this book, rightly so' &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Rosemary Goring, Scotland on Sunday 
 
 T.M. Devine, OBE is University Research Professor and Director of the Research Institute of Irish and Scottish Studies at the University of Aberdeen. His other books include The Scottish Nation and To the Ends of the Earth.

Magnificent ... a high achievement, a history of modern Scotland which, rarely for the subject, endows with sweep and power the changes that have created the country we live in

Devine's scholarship is state of the art ... if you are after answers to the big questions of Scottish history, Devine is your man

I think this book takes its place among the greatest accounts of Scotland's history available today

T. M. Devine

The definitive word for an academic generation at least on this most controversial of topics in Scottish history ... Dramatic

Powerful ... admirable lucidity ... important.

A History of the Dispossessed, 1600-1900

Eighteenth-century Scotland is famed for generating many of the enlightened ideas which helped to shape the modern world. But there was in the same period another side to the history of the nation. Many of Scotland's people were subjected to coercive and sometimes violent change: traditional and customary relationships were overturned and replaced by the 'rational' exploitation of land use. The Scottish Clearances is a superb and highly original account of this sometimes terrible process, which changed the Lowland countryside forever, as it also did, more infamously, the old society of the Highlands. 
 
Based on an extensive use of original sources, this pioneering book is the first to chart this tumultuous saga in one volume, with due attention to evictions and loss of land in both north and south of the Highland line. In the process, old myths are exploded and familiar assumptions undermined. With many fascinating details and the sense of an epic human story, The Scottish Clearances is an evocative memorial to all whose lives were irreparably changed in the interests of economic efficiency.

T. M. Devine

Praise for The Scottish Clearances

The definitive word for an academic generation at least on this most controversial of topics in Scottish history ... Dramatic

Persuasive... A necessary book

Powerful ... admirable lucidity ... important.

The definitive word for an academic generation at least on this most controversial of topics in Scottish history ... Dramatic

Persuasive... A necessary book

Powerful ... admirable lucidity ... important.

The definitive word for an academic generation at least on this most controversial of topics in Scottish history ... Dramatic

Persuasive... A necessary book

Powerful ... admirable lucidity ... important.

Books by T. M. Devine

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