This book 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 book tells of how the British Empire came to be dominated by and run by Scots and of how it truly became ’The Scottish Empire’.
Throughout his book Michael Fry takes care to connect the colourful external history with the more humdrum realities of the internal history, but especially with the continuing development of the Scottish intellect, which has done so much to keep the idea of the nation alive. What emerges is a history also of Scotland’s precarious place in the world, from hard-fought independence to uncertain Union, from deceptive imperialism to self-government now seeking its definitive form.
No other small nation can boast such a wealth of experience.
View cart
