Neil MacGregor was Director of the National Gallery, London from 1987 to 2002 and of the British Museum from 2002 to 2015, and Chair of the Steering Committee of the Humboldt Forum in Berlin from 2015 to 2018. His previous books include A History of the World in 100 Objects, Shakespeare's Restless World and Germany: Memories of a Nation, all available in Penguin and now between them translated into more than a dozen languages. In 2010, he was made a member of the Order of Merit, the UK's highest civil honour. In 2015 he was awarded the Goethe Medal and the German National Prize. In 2018 the radio series Living with the Gods received the Sandford Saint Martin Award for Religious Broadcasting.

Neil MacGregor

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Trevor Royle

On a spring morning in 1903, Major-General Sir Hector Macdonald, one of Britain's greatest military heroes, took his life in a hotel room in Paris. A few days later he was buried hastily in an Edinburgh cemetary as his fellow countrymen tried to come to terms with the fact that one of Scotland's most famous soldiers had ended his life rather than face charges against his character.The suicide and its aftermath created a national scandal and one which still reverberates long after those dramatic events - it is now clear that the official files dealing with his case, the papers of the Judge Advocate have been destroyed. Macdonald or 'Fighting Mac' as he was known to an adoring public, was no ordinary soldier. A crofter's son who had risen from the ranks in the Victorian army, he covered himself with glory during a long and successful military career and in 1898 was widely acknowledged as the true hero of the Battle of Omdurman, which cemented British Imperial rule in Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. Everything lay at his feet - a knighthood, honours, the respect of fellow generals such as Roberts and Kitchener - but Macdonald's career came to a shocking full stop when he stood accused of homosexuality and was ordered to face a court martial. Unable to come to terms with the disgrace, he committed suicide. That should have been the end of his story but so powerful was the myth created by Fighting Mac that people refused to believe he was dead. Soon rumours were circulating that Macdonald had faked his death and had adopted the persona of a prominent Prussian officer, the future Field Marshal August con Mackensen, one of Germany's great leaders during the First World War. FIGHTING MAC tells the true story behind his disgrace and sheds new light on the myths....

Fighting Mac

The Downfall of Major-General Sir Hector Macdonald

Neil Jenkins

Paul Rees

Neil Jenkins is the most prolific goal-kicker in the history of British international rugby. A match-winner with Pontypridd and Wales, a veteran of the Lions Tours – including the 2001 Tour of Australia – his crowning moment came with the Lions in South Africa in 1997 when his unerring accuracy with the boot earned the tourists only their second series victory against the Springboks. 
 
Capped by Wales when he was just 19, Jenkins helped to turn Pontypridd from the Cinderellas of Welsh rugby into the league champions and one of the most feared teams in the country. After just 28 internationals he broke the Welsh points-scoring record. 
 
First published in 1998, Life at Numer 10 is a fascinating account of how Jenkins, a boy from the tip of the Rhondda Valley, started his working life as a scrap merchant – only to become one of the most sought-after players in Britain and the most-capped player for Wales. He tells how the pressure of being the Wales outside-half, following in the footsteps of legends such as Cliff Morgan, David Watkins, Barry John, Phil Bennett and Jonathon Davies, took its toll; and his frustration at being moved by Wales to centre full-back. He reveals the secrets behind Pontypridd's rise to prominence, the reasons why he left them in 1999 to join Cardiff, and his fears for the future of the Welsh game.

Life At Number 10

An Autobiography

Hugh G. Allison

Roots of Stone is a passionate tapestry, weaving the story of Scotland with the lives of ordinary and extraordinary people. This fascinating sweep over two thousand years of Scotland's past blends with a true family story stretching back over these same two millennia in a spellbinding fusion of history and memoir. This is an exploration of the Scottish identity through actual tales of the author's forebears - tales drawn from royal bloodline and from crofting hearth, tales of high drama and of quiet everyday satisfactions. Mackays and MacDonalds tread most heavily across these pages, but they are far from alone. Munros, MacDougalls, Murrays and dozens of other clans and families also feature. 
 
Kenneth MacAlpin, Macbeth, Robert the Bruce and Alexander 'Wolf of Badenoch' all have a place in the tapestry. The dreadful deeds of the Wicked Earls of Orkney are laid bare, but counterbalanced by the work of those famous healers, the Beatons. Stepping closer to the present day, the human tragedy of the Clearances becomes all-consuming. 
 
Poets, pipers and poachers play their part, as do dukes and drovers, their tales unfolding within evocatively described landscapes and ancient places of power. The castles and mountains are hauntingly illustrated and the tale is enhanced by the inclusion of two rare piping compositions and some words by the great Gaelic bard Rob Donn. 
 
More than anything else, Roots of Stone is the story of all the ones who came before, those who can still be felt in the blood at times when deep emotion is stirred.

Roots of Stone

The Story of those who Came Before

Charles Lavery

He drugged his first wife and staged a fireball car crash, collecting a £200,000 insurance payout. 
 
He cheated his second wife of her life savings and attempted to kill her in a copycat crash. 
 
He faked cancer to dupe his third victim into a bigamous marriage, plotting her murder to steal her inheritance. 
 
He is Malcolm Webster: The Black Widower. 
 
After seventeen years of deception and brutality, Webster was finally jailed for thirty years in July 2011 at the climax of one of the longest trials in Scottish legal history. In this chilling book, award-winning journalist Charles Lavery documents the Black Widower’s life and crimes, giving a compelling insight into the mind of a man who killed for money and attempted to cover his tracks with drugs and fire.

The Black Widower

The Life and Crimes of a Sociopathic Killer

Pat Woods

Peter Burns

Celtic's astonishing 7-1 victory over arch-rivals Rangers in the 1957 Scottish League Cup final brought the club its last major trophy prior to the appointment of Jock Stein as manager in 1965 and the glory years which followed. The triumph was the final major success achieved by such famous Celtic stars of the '50s as Charlie Tully, Neil Mochan, Willie Fernie, Bobby Evans, Bertie Peacock, Sean Fallon and Bobby Collins. Oh, Hampden in the Sun . . . not only tells the story of that remarkable game - which still stands as the most emphatic victory in a national cup final in Britain - but also commemorates Celtic, their players and supporters, viewed in the social context of life in the West of Scotland 40 years ago. This book explores both the romance and the reality of Celtic and the club's supporters in that era through extensive interviews with players and fans, supplemented by much original research. The mystery of the missing television film of the 7-1 match in finally solved, and Celtic fans will be able to revel in a mass of anecdotes and reminiscences surrounding one of the greatest moments in their history and in indelible part of the club's folklore.

Oh, Hampden in the Sun . . .

Colin MacFarlane

In his last book, The Real Gorbals Story, Colin MacFarlane detailed how he witnessed a once great area, home to wonderful characters and grand old buildings, disappear before his eyes. By the time MacFarlane's tenement was knocked down in the early 1970s, he had left school and been rehoused in another part of the city. In an attempt to extricate himself from his Gorbals gang days, he took a job as an apprentice chef at one of Glasgow's top restaurants, where he soon discovered that his colleagues were just as insane as those he had mixed with on the city streets. Meanwhile, MacFarlane struggled to integrate into the more affluent area that his family had been moved to and soon found himself returning to his old haunts and back in trouble again. 
 
In No Mean Glasgow, MacFarlane charts his eventful, fun-packed passage from Gorbals street boy to grown man on the brink of a new beginning. He describes his adventures with a mixture of humour, sadness and delight. It is a book for those people living all over the world who remember the old Glasgow - a city teeming with warmth, passion, patter and characters who could brighten up even the darkest of days.

No Mean Glasgow

Revelations of a Gorbals Guy

John Cairney

'Clutching in my hand my seven copper pennies, I ran down the two flights of stone stairs from our tenement flat and through the East End to Kinloch Street, where, puffing a bit, I joined the queue of other wee boys lining up to place their coins on the brass plate above the iron turnstile, push hard against it, then climb up onto the dirt terracing and into Paradise. The rest of the world called it Celtic Park.' 
 
This is a story seen through green-and-white spectacles. It begins when nine-year-old Glaswegian John Cairney walks through the boys' gate at Celtic Park and embarks on a series of adventures that, over the years, take him all over Scotland and beyond. 
 
The Sevenpenny Gate is about a search for heroes, Celtic heroes. It is also the tale of an East End club of humble Irish origins that has developed into a worldwide brand and continues to command the devotion of its fans, even with the Celtic diaspora now spread across the globe.

The Sevenpenny Gate

A Lifelong Love Affair with Celtic FC

Colin Shindler

Before the Thai millions and Abu Dhabi billions, Manchester City was always a club that attracted fierce controversy. 
 
July 1965: Manchester City are on the scrapheap, managerless and languishing in Second Division mediocrity. Desperate to reverse the club's fortunes, the board turns to Joe Mercer, a respected football veteran hungry for a final chance to achieve management glory. Yet age and ill health are against Joe: he needs an assistant, and volatile, ambitious coaching genius Malcolm Allison is his man. Recently sacked from managing Plymouth, Malcolm is out to prove that his innovative tactics can breathe new life into the staid English game. City is the perfect opportunity to show off his talents - especially since Joe promises him the manager's job in two years' time . . . 
 
July 1970: City rule supreme, having just won their fifth trophy in as many seasons. The Mercer-Allison partnership is the most successful management team in the club's history. But, unwilling to let go of his success, Joe breaks his word and refuses to step aside. In order to fulfil his self-proclaimed destiny as the greatest manager in English football, an embittered Malcolm engineers a boardroom takeover that risks everything he and Joe have worked for. 
 
Based on real events, Colin Shindler's novel explores the clash of personalities that led to the spectacular rise and fall of Manchester City's 'Golden Age'. Malcolm and Joe's story is a cautionary tale of how ambition and betrayal brought down two men who had the world at their feet and of how two of the greatest management partners in British football history became the worst of friends.

The Worst of Friends

The Betrayal of Joe Mercer

David Tossell

Malcolm Allison is one of the most controversial figures of the last half-century of English football. Leader of the famed 'West Ham Academy', his playing career was cut short by the loss of a lung to tuberculosis. Disillusioned, he became a professional gambler before acknowledging that football was his calling. After humble beginnings as a coach, he began a celebrated partnership with Joe Mercer, turning Manchester City into one of the most stylish teams English football has produced. 
 
 Along with the trophies came the birth of Big Mal, the larger-than-life personality who helped revolutionise televised football. He became instantly recognisable for his cigar and Fedora, and equally notorious for a string of affairs with beautiful women. 
 
 As the dark side of Big Mal took over, he was banned for life from the touchlines, became embroiled in a series of boardroom battles and spent time in police cells and rehabilitation clinics fighting the effects of alcoholism. Yet despite the often-destructive effect of his Big Mal persona, Malcolm Allison retains his status as one of the most incisive minds to have graced the game. This book tells both sides of the story, tracing the life and times of one of the most charismatic characters in British sport.

Big Mal

The High Life and Hard Times of Malcolm Allison, Football Legend

Jack Alexander

McCrae's Own was the 'Heart of Midlothian Battalion' mentioned all too briefly in Martin Middlebrook's classic book The First Day on the Somme. Raised in Edinburgh shortly after the start of the Great War, it was perhaps the finest unit in Lord Kitchener's volunteer army - a brotherhood of sportsmen, bound together by their extraordinary colonel and their loyalty to a quaintly named Association Football club, the famous Gorgie 'Hearts'. McCrae's were blooded in the Battle of the Somme, losing three-quarters of their strength on the first day alone. The Colonel himself was invalided home. In time the battalion recovered. It came of age at Arras, endured the muddy horror of Passchendaele, and held the line unbroken in the face of furious German attacks on the Lys in 1918. For almost a century their story remained untold. It was all but lost forever. Now, after 12 years of exacting historical detective work, Jack Alexander has reclaimed the 16th Royal Scots for posterity. In this stirring book he draws upon interviews with veterans and a unique archive of letters, diaries and photographs, assembled from the families of more than 1,000 of Sir George McCrae's men.

McCrae's Battalion

The Story of the 16th Royal Scots

David Bryce

From running with the infamous Calton Tongs to running Calton Athletic, David Bryce's life story is a remarkable account of crime, violence, alcoholism and drug addiction in Glasgow's gangland. 
 
A respected 'hard man', Bryce worked his way through most of HM's prisons in Scotland before an epiphany in 1977 made him realise that he was a hopeless alcoholic who needed help. A five-year battle followed, during which he sank into the abyss of heroin addiction before finally getting clean. 
 
In 1985, in an effort to help others who were struggling against substance abuse, Bryce set up Calton Athletic, a football team and social group made up solely of recovering drug addicts. Reformed gangster Jimmy Boyle was one of the first to have faith in Bryce and Calton Athletic, but the club eventually won widespread respect. Gordon Brown, then a young MP, was so impressed that he wrote an article for The Observer which led to a TV film starring Lenny Henry and Robbie Coltrane. In the '90s, Ewan McGregor, Irvine Welsh and the Trainspotting crew sought Bryce's advice and friendship during the making of the internationally acclaimed cult film, while Robbie Williams begged to switch nationality and play for Calton Atheltic in an 'England v. Scotland' celebrity charity match. 
 
Bryce's uncompromising belief that the only way to come off drugs is to go cold turkey and stay completely clean saw him clash with government agencies over the 'harm-reduction' policy of recent years. The club's statutory funding was withdrawn in 1998, but today Calton Athletic are still providing an invaluable lifeline while the 'official' drugs policy has become increasingly discredited. 
 
Alive and Kicking is an inspirational tale of survival and success against the odds.

Alive and Kicking

A Story of Crime, Addiction and Redemption in Glasgow's Gangland

John Beattie

In 1992, John Beattie set out to sail around the world. Joined at times by an assortment of exotic characters - including a parrot called Hamish and the former Beirut hostage Brian Keenan - the joys and travails of his journey are depicted with complete honesty. But be it a storm at sea, a single-handed Atlantic crossing, or a near shipwreck in an uncharted jungle river, his humour and fortitude shine through. 
 
 A compelling travelogue, a voyage of the spirit and a love story, The Breath of Angels is also a tale which might never have been told but for one chance-in-a-million encounter. Once day at dawn, a man lay dying of thirst in an open boat that had been swept out to sea - his partner had already died in his arms. In the gloom of the early morning light he sees a tiny fleck of white on the distant horizon. The Warrior Queen is homeward bound from Venezuela and the dying man has one last slender chance of life . . .

The Breath Of Angels

Stephen Jones

Simon Roberts

Since making his national debut in 1998, Stephen Jones has emerged from the shadows of the true greats of Welsh rugby, such as Barry John, Phil Bennett, Jonathan Davies and Neil Jenkins, to make the fly-half position his own. In this revealing autobiography, he provides a rare insight into the demands and pressures of wearing the almost mythical number 10 jersey that has such a pre-eminent status in the Welsh psyche. 
 
As well as playing an integral role in Wales's two Grand Slam victories, Jones has appeared in three Rugby World Cups and was part of the 2005 British and Irish Lions squad. He has witnessed at first hand how the Welsh rugby establishment has struggled with the transition to professionalism, and in this candid memoir he recounts the many highs he has experienced, as well as the challenges he has faced, throughout his career so far. 
 
Jones gives an intriguing account of how he became one of the few Welsh players to play in France, recalling the brutality of the game there and how he became a cult figure amongst fans of Clermont Auvergne, where he was twice voted fly-half of the season. 
 
In Stephen Jones - A Thinking Man's Game: My Story, the Welsh rugby star reveals how his steely resolve, utter determination and sheer passion for rugby have allowed him to bounce back from numerous setbacks to become one of the most popular and respected figures in the game today.

A Thinking Man's Game: My Story

Andy Coogan

Andy Coogan was born in Glasgow in 1917, the oldest child of poor Irish immigrants. He was tipped for Olympic glory, but a promising running career was interrupted by war service. His capture during the fall of Singapore marked the beginning of a three-and-a-half-year nightmare of starvation, torture and disease. 
 
Andy was imprisoned in the notorious Changi camp before being transported to Taiwan, where he worked as a slave in a copper mine and was twice ordered to dig his own grave. He was later taken to Japan on a hellship voyage that nearly killed him, but Andy’s athleticism and spirit enable him to survive an ordeal in which many died. 
 
From his poverty-stricken boyhood in the slums of the Gorbals to the atomic wasteland of Nagasaki, Andy’s life story is vividly recounted in Tomorrow You Die, an epic, compassionate tale that will shock, enthral and inspire.

Tomorrow You Die

The Astonishing Survival Story of a Second World War Prisoner of the Japanese

Kenny Macdonald

In this, the follow-up to the critically acclaimed first volume of quotations about our national sport, Kenny MacDonald delves once more into Scotland's sweaty, smelly football dressing-rooms and emerges with a batch of statements which are profond, amusing, acerbic and sometimes plain bizarre.

Scottish Football Quotations

Tommy Cairns Livingstone

Thomas Cairns Livingstone began to note his day-to-day experiences in 1913 and continued faithfully for the next 20 years. With each witty and well-observed entry, he recorded events at home and abroad through times of war and peace, joy and sadness. 
 
In this follow-up to the acclaimed Tommy's War, the focus is on the post-war years. Alongside engaging, warm-hearted recollections of everyday life with his wide circle of family, neighbours and friends, Thomas documents everything from the lingering effects of the war and post-war politics to cultural and social aspects of the era, including the rise of cinema and radio, the standard of dentists and opticians before the NHS, the partition of Ireland, the General Strike, the division of domestic labour, Clyde coastal holidays and the expansion of Glasgow. Yet, above all, Thomas affectionately chronicles family life with his hard-working wife, Agnes, and writes with pride of his clever young son, Tommy. 
 
Illustrated throughout with black-and-white sketches from Thomas' original diaries and various other artefacts from the period, Tommy's Peace is a tremendous document of a bygone era that vividly evokes family life in Glasgow between the wars.

Tommy's Peace

A Family Diary 1919-33

The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders is one of the best-known regiments in the British Army. In a previous incarnation as the 93rd Highlanders, its soldiers were famed for being the 'thin red line' that repulsed the Russian heavy cavalry at the Battle of Balaklava during the Crimean War. When the regiment was ordered to disband in 1968 as part of wide-ranging defence cuts, a popular 'Save the Argylls' campaign was successful in keeping the regiment in being. In 2006, it became the 5th battalion of the new Royal Regiment of Scotland. 
 
Formed by two earlier regiments, The Argylls have a stirring history of service to the British Crown. They served all over the empire, taking part in the Indian Mutiny and the Boer War, and fought in both World Wars. In the post-war period the Argylls captured the public imagination in 1967 when they reoccupied the Crater district of Aden following a period of riots. 
 
Recruiting mainly from the west of Scotland, the regiment has a unique character and throughout its history has retained a fierce regimental pride which is summed up by its motto: 'sans peur', meaning 'without fear'. 
 
 The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders puts its story into the context of British military history and makes use of personal testimony to reveal the life of the regiment.

The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

A Concise History

Colin Fry

The Krays were a product of their age, nurtured by a doting mother and created by their community, the East End of London. Their name alone conjures up images of power, violence and greed - and even brother Charlie couldn't steer the twins Ron and Reg clear of murder mayhem as they killed their way to the top of the criminal tree. They lived by their own rules. And they died by them. The three brothers will never be forgotten. They are an indelible part of our history, whether we like it or not. And from media manipulation to control freak paranoia, The Krays were masters of deception. Even at the end Reg Kray was still portraying himself as just an ordinary East Ender - mistreated by the Home Office and the police, misunder-stood and mistakenly labelled `Godfather of Crime' by the media. The Kray Anthology traces their history from childhood and early adolescence to manhood and death. This book explores the brothers' fantasy lives, full as they were of mind games and false memories. Whatever you want to know about the Krays and the real reasons behind their success, you can read it here for the first time. Only now can the truth be revealed - without fear of intimidation, retribution or revenge. The Krays are dead and buried, but the myth lives on.

The Krays - The Final Countdown

The Ultimate Biography Of Ron, Reg And Charlie Kray

Alexander Shannon

David Leslie

Alexander Shannon escaped a shady past to enjoy a glittering career in the army, only to end up back in the thick of criminal activity. 
 
Shannon's time as a soldier saw him posted to the Falklands, Northern Ireland and war-torn Bosnia. The rigours of army life took their toll and he found himself drawn into a series of ruthless gang wars. He used the skills he'd learned in the forces to hide weapons, work for drugs racketeers and plot a massacre, and he was offered a fortune to work as a Mafia-style contract assassin. 
 
He was questioned over brutal killings and accused of a triple murder attempt, yet his dedication and determination to succeed in the army brought him accolades and a series of promotions. In The Underworld Captain, Shannon explains how he managed to combine a successful army career with dangerous gangland dealings for so long and how he finally broke free for good.

The Underworld Captain

From Gangland Goodfella To Army Officer

The Gordons recruited from the north-east of Scotland and the regiment's character was moulded by men from the farming counties of Aberdeenshire, Moray and Nairn. It was raised in 1794 by an aristocratic landowner, the Duke of Gordon, whose wife played a major role in attracting recruits by riding through her husband's estates and offering a guinea and a kiss to each man who enlisted. Originally raised as the 100th Highlanders, it was later renumbered the 92nd Highlanders and in 1881 was amalgamated with the 75th (Stirlingshire) Regiment to form The Gordon Highlanders. 
 
In the nineteenth century the two regiments were in constant service throughout the empire and in 1879 the 92nd Highlanders were involved in Lord Roberts' historic march from Kabul to Kandahar during the fighting in Afghanistan. One of the first Victoria Crosses was awarded to a Gordon Highlander, Private Beach, who was decorated for his supreme gallantry while serving in the Crimea in 1854. Another Victoria Cross winner was Major George White (Afghanistan, 1879), who went on to become a field marshal. During the fighting on the north-west frontier of India in 1897, Piper George Findlater was awarded the Victoria Cross for continuing to play his pipes despite being wounded and under heavy enemy fire. 
 
In 1994, The Gordon Highlanders amalgamated with Queen's Own Highlanders to form The Highlanders and in 2006 became the 4th Battalion of The Royal Regiment of Scotland. This is a celebratory account of the regiment's long and distinguished history.

The Gordon Highlanders

This anthology is the first ever acknowledgement of Scotland's unique contribution to the literature of the First World War. Here are gathered together well-known writers like John Buchan, Eric Linklater, Hugh MacDiarmid and Compton Mackenzie, as well as poets like Joseph Lee and Roderick Watson Kerr, who found their true voices fighting in a war to end wars. There is also a substantial contribution from women writers in the work of Violet Jacob, Naomi Mitchison and Mary Symon.

In Flanders Fields

Scottish Poetry and Prose of the First World War

James Davidson

With over six thousand miles of rugged coastline, nowhere in Scotland is more than forty-five miles from tidal waters, and seven of the biggest towns and cities are seaports. No wonder then that the sea has shaped Scotland, and in turn the Scots have helped to shape maritime history, trade and communications. 
 
Scots and the Sea is a unique and compelling account of a small, sparsely populated country's relationship with the most powerful force on earth. It is a celebration of the courage and endurance of fishermen and their families, the selfless bravery of lifeboat volunteers and the individual brilliance of leaders like Admiral Cochrane, who helped establish free nations across the globe. The illicit activities of scoundrels like Captain Kidd also provide a taste of the darker side of the story. 
 
Scotland's proud maritime tradition is traced through this volume, which examines the development of trade, the founding of a Scottish merchant navy and the pressures towards Union with England. It explores ports, harbours and shipyards, and outlines the vital role Scotland has played in shipbuilding and marine engineering - from the galleys and longships of early history to clippers, steamships, ocean liners, hovercraft and oil rigs. Also recounted are the exploits and achievements of Scots in all these fields, including those of James Watt, William Symington, Henry Bell and Robert Stevenson. Finally, it takes a look into the future, where Scottish research into wave and tidal power could become vital in providing a source of sustainable energy. 
 
Over the years, many Scots have made their living and their fortune from the sea, others have lost their lives to it – Scots and the Sea is a tribute to all of them.

Scots And The Sea

A Nation's Lifeblood

Martin Greig

Since his move to Celtic in the summer of 2005, Shunsuke Nakamura has become a cult hero in both Scotland and the Far East. From the wonderful goal in his Champions League debut against Manchester United in 2006 to the strike against Kilmarnock that secured Celtic's league win in 2006-07, Nakamura has firmly established himself as a Celtic legend. 
 
Nakamura's ability to confront and overcome adversity has been the key to his success. From his rejection as a youngster by home-town club Yokohama Marinos to his omission from the 2002 World Cup squad by Philippe Troussier and his struggle to adapt to the defensive nature of Italian football, Nakamura has bounced back stronger every time. 
 
The Zen of Naka is a comprehensive, revealing account of Nakamura's career to date. It explores his development from the early stages of his footballing journey to his time with Celtic at present, and looks ahead at what the future may hold for the star.

The Zen of Naka

The Journey of a Japanese Genius

Calum Maclean

In a new edition of this classic book, introduced by the world-renowned Gaelic poet Sorley Maclean, the late Calum I. Maclean, a Gaelic-speaking Highlander, interprets the traditional background, culture and ways of life of his native country. Calum's formal training in folk culture and the depth of his local knowledge make this book truly outstanding - it is written by a Highlander from the inside. 
 
 Many books on the Highlands have been penned by outsiders with an uncritical appreciation of the scenery and only the most superficial knowledge of the Gaelic language and culture. By contrast, Maclean brought informed attitudes and sympathetic opinions. He was concerned not so much with places, beauty spots and scenery as with the Highlanders in their own self-created environment. He writes in terms of individuals and suggests reasons why Highland culture is unique in the world - it is something that, if lost, can never be recovered or recreated.

The Highlands

Roger Hutchinson

Thirty years ago, the Gaelic language and culture which had been eminent in Scotland for 1,300 years seemed to be in the final stages of a 200-year terminal decline. The number of Gaelic speakers in Scotland had fallen tenfold over the previous century. The language itself was commonplace only in the scattered communities of the north-west Highlands and Hebrides.By the early years of the 21st century, however, a sea-change had taken place. Gaelic - for so long a subject of mockery and hostility - had become what some termed 'fashionable'. Gaelic-speaking jobs were available; Gaelic-medium education was established in many areas; and politicians and business-people saw benefits in acting as friends of the culture. While the numbers of Gaelic-speakers continued to fall as older people passed away, the decline was slowed and for the first time in 100 years the percentage of young people using the language began to rise proportionately. What had happened was a kind of renaissance: a Gaelic revival that manifested itself in popular music, literature, art, poetry, publishing, drama, radio and television. It was a phenomenon as obvious as it was unexpected. And at the heart of that movement lay education. A Gaelic Modern History will tell the story of one institution, Sabhal Mor Ostaig, the Gaelic College in Skye that has stood at the centre of this revival. But, chiefly, the book will examine how a venerable culture was given hope for the future at the point when all seemed lost. It recounts the scores of personalities, from Sorley Maclean and Runrig to Michael Forsyth and Gordon Brown, who have become involved in that process.

A Waxing Moon

The Modern Gaelic Revival

In May 1968, as part of cutbacks to the British Army, The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) was disbanded at a moving ceremony held at the same spot in Douglas in Lanarkshire at which it had been raised in 1689. And yet, although the regiment is no more, its place in history is unassailable. The ceremony embraced the history of one regiment, The Cameronians, which had its origins in the turbulent period that accompanied the rise of the House of Orange at the end of the seventeenth century, while its other component part - the 90th (Perthshire Light Infantry) - was raised as a light infantry regiment during the war against Revolutionary France. 
 
Following amalgamation in 1881, The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) quickly built up a solid reputation as a fighting regiment. During the First World War it raised 27 battalions and during the Second World War its battalions served in Europe and Burma. In the course of its long history, the regiment provided the British Army with many distinguished soldiers including three field marshals: Viscounts Hill and Wolseley and Sir Evelyn Wood. 
 
Always tough and enduring in battle, it reflected the character of its main recruitment area - Glasgow and Lanarkshire - and in later years it took self-conscious pride when the Germans nicknamed its soldiers Giftzwerge, or poison dwarfs. 
 
The Cameronians puts its story into the context of British military history and makes use of personal testimony to reveal the life of the regiment.

The Cameronians

Tom Morton

A name from the murkiest corners of Britain's secret war in Ireland: Serpentine. 
 
At first it's just gossip and fearful whispers. But then people begin to die and all hell breaks loose from Palestine to the remote Highlands of Scotland. 
 
Fresh from the toughest assignments in the mercenary world comes former SAS officer Murricane. Can he find Serpentine before it's too late and before the horrific secrets of the past threaten to cause chaos not just in Ireland but in the Middle East too? 
 
In a trail of mayhem that leads through Scotland, Gaza and Ireland, Murricane battles his own demons, as well as a monstrous former RUC officer, a disgraced policeman and a series of unreliable Land Rovers, until Serpentine plays his final, devastating game . . . 
 
Serpentine is an explosive, bitterly funny journey into the darkest heart of the Irish Troubles and the violence that lurks in Scotland's most scenic Highland communities.

Serpentine

Alex Gordon

Celtic strode majestically into the history books in 1967 as the first British club to conquer Europe, and the iconic photograph of captain Billy McNeill holding aloft the glittering European Cup in the Lisbon sunshine is the defining image of that footballing era. Yet at the start of the decade, Celtic were a team plagued by defeats and in disarray both on and off the field. What brought about their remarkable transformation? 
 
In Celtic: The Awakening, Alex Gordon enters uncharted territory to investigate the story of Celtic in the 1960s, an extraordinary decade in the club's roller-coaster 125-year history. Players of the era, good, bad and indifferent, are interviewed in depth in an attempt to unravel one of football’s greatest mysteries. 
 
Sweeping through the ’60s and beyond, Celtic: The Awakening details the previously untold story of how a proud club rose from grief to glory, from dismay to delight.

Celtic: The Awakening

From East End Misfits to European Masters

Derek Flory

Blanche Le Fleur

Sybil Le Fleur

When Sybil and Blanche Le Fleur were growing up in idyllic Burma in the 1920s and '30s, little did they realise the changes and challenges that they would face during their lives. With the death of first their mother and then their father, they had to cope with enormous personal tragedy, including the loss of all their family wealth. Then the Japanese bombed Rangoon on 23 December 1941. Sybil managed to get out of the city, but there was no way for her to return to her sister, or even to know if Blanche was still alive, as the death toll was so high. 
 
While Sybil escaped from Burma and settled in Scotland after marrying a Scottish soldier, Blanche lived for over three years under Japanese occupation. After leaving for India in 1958, Blanche made a new life while still thinking of and praying for her sister. Decades later, a chance set of circumstances led to the discovery by Sybil's son that Blanche was alive and living in India. 
 
Torn Apart is the heart-rending, inspirational account of how the Le Fleur sisters lived separate lives for more than 65 years before an emotional reunion brought them together again in 2007.

Torn Apart

How Two Sisters Found Each Other After Sixty-Five Years

Eileen Munro

Carol McKay

When Eileen Munro's mother became pregnant at 16, she was told to give her baby away to a 'good family', but the couple who paid the fee at the Salvation Army mother-and-baby home in Glasgow in 1963 turned out to be alcoholics who neglected and physically abused Eileen. Then, when their marriage broke down, they failed to protect her from sexual abuse at the hands of a family friend. 
 
After watching her adoptive mother drown on inhaled vomit, Eileen and her younger sister were taken into care, but her nightmare was to continue as she was subjected to further physical, sexual and emotional abuse. 
 
At the age of only seventeen, seven months into a secret pregnancy, she decided that the only way out was through a bottle of painkillers; when she survived and gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, he became her lifeline.

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