History has been a favourite subject of mine since my early teens.

So over the past 20-odd years, I've been reading Scottish history books (but I regret I didn't always have the good sense to make adequate notes). My favourite subject is undoubtedly early Scottish history. Unfortunately, many books about that era are no longer available in print - or are too expensive - ( or are only available on one side of the Channel). Below you may find a selection of the books I've read. If you can think of books I might be interested in, I'd be happy to know.

Listed in alphabetical order.

Forteviot - A Pictish and Scottish Royal Centre
by Nick Aitchison

Interesting read on Forteviot and the Kingdom of Fortriu. Includes pictures and drawings. I made pages of notes reading this book, so I picked up quite a bit.

Published 2006, 288 pages, ISBN 9 780752 435992

 

Kings and Kingship in Early Scotland
by Marjorie O. Anderson

Now I have to admit, this is not one to read commuting to work, or at the end of the day when you have half an hour left before you go to bed. This is packed with really fascinating information, even though the original version was published in 1973. Some of the theories still stand, others don't. But it is a really interesting book about Early Scotland, the kings of DálRiata and of the Picts, and how Early Scotland may have evolved until it unified under Kenneth Mac Alpin.

Published 2011, 310 pages, ISBN 978 1 906566 30 2

 

Medieval Scotland
by A.D.M Barrell

I used this as a reference book when I did the Dundee Course on Scottish History - Medieval and Early Modern Scotland (1100-1707).
A good reference book covering a broad period.

Published 2000, 296 pages, ISBN 978 0 521 58443 2

 

The Campbells 1250-1513
by Stephen Boardman

I had to read this, if only to know how one could possibly justify the ruthless expansionism of Clan Campbell. If this is your first book about that era, and you believe the fairies will come and help you out, you might just be tricked into thinking any enlargement was accidental and totally fortuitous. As for the one clan that was as fortunate to be their neighbour - aye, I'm talking about the MacGregors - they do not exist. They are not mentioned in this book. There were no MacGregors of Glenstrae; there were no MacGregors in Glen Orchy.
Here's to the fairies.

Published 2006, 374 pages, ISBN 978 0 85976 662 4

 

Selections from SCOTICHRONICON - A History Book for Scots
by Walter Bower

"Christ! He is not a Scot who is not pleased with this book."
Take a deep breath, because this is it: the history of Scotland and its neighbours through the eyes of a 15th-century Augustinian. Like moral and fantasy ever so briefly touching reality.
Read how Scota, the Pharaoh's daughter, came to Scotland, bringing the Stone of Destiny with her. Read how history is always written from the winners' side, so the Scots were there first really and certainly not the Picts, those inferior beings, evil as they were, stealing a dog from those nice Scots and breaking the peace. They simply had to be exterminated.
Read how a murderer is still good, as long as he's a rightful king, or will be one.
Read how the English are first decribed as monkeys aping one another and then as treacherous eels.
Read about the conduct of good wives and bad ones, Bower's disgust of Highlanders - all caterans - and his hostility to peasants claiming power.
Read all this and more. Then take another deep breath.

Published 2012, 306 pages, ISBN 978 1 906566 59 3

 

Islay - The Land of the Lordship
by David Caldwell

A book about one of the most fascinating islands, with a very, very rich history at that. Seat of the Lordship of the Isles, it was a Gaelic centre for hundreds of years. Plenty of history, from the very beginning, over Somerled and of course the Lords of the Isles, the subsequent Campbell owners and the later proprietors. The Clearances are naturally included as well as the past and current economy. There is however, only talk of seven distilleries, with the youngest distillery of Kilchoman (built 2005) too juvenile to be included. But that's about the only comment.

Published 2008, 396 pages, ISBN 978 1 84158 358 7

 

Kingship and Clientage - Highland Clanship 1451-1609
by Alison Cathcart

The Highlands from the other side of Drum Alban, so this is an interesting perspective. Instead of concentrating on the western Highlands and Islands, Cathcart focuses on the central and eastern Highlands instead, and illustrates clanship through the Mackintoshes and Grants. Very interesting indeed.

Published 2006, 257 pages, ISBN 978 90 04 15045 4

 

Early Scotland
by H. M. Chadwick

Now this is an older reference book with still very interesting - although some very outdated - theories. But always interesting to read how the views concerning Picts and how they rose to and disappeared from power have changed over time.
This book was written well before it was published as the author passed away and it was his spouse finishing it.

Published 1949, 171 pages, ISBN 978 1 107 69391 3

 

The Picts - A History
by Tim Clarkson

Now this is my mistake. I read the 2008 version, so just before his conversion to the North, which means Fortriu is still placed in Strathearn, whereas now there is increasing belief the centre of Pictavia may well have been around Inverness.
Mostly straightforward telling, easy going and usually crystal clear. I do wonder why one would name a Strathclyde king by his Gaelic version instead of his own name though. But maybe I'm being too demanding now.

Published 2008, 189 pages, ISBN - 978 0 7524 4392 8
[the 2010/2013 version is ISBN - 978 1780271682]

The Men of the North - The Britons of Southern Scotland
by Tim Clarkson

Starting from roughly the Roman age, this places the Britons in the bigger picture of Scots and Gaels in the North, Anglo-Saxons in the South and Vikings... everywhere. Includes pictures.

Published 2010, 230 pages, ISBN 978 1 906566 18 0

 

The Age of the Picts
by W. A. Cummins

A broad history with loads of dates in a rather concise book. Includes pictures.

Published 2009, 192 pages, ISBN 978 0 7524 4959 3

 

Decoding the Pictish Symbols
by W. A. Cummins

What do the Pictish symbols mean and can they be linked to Pictish kings? Well, this is an attempt to do so. Fascinating read and makes you eager to grab your rucksack and go and see the stones right now.

Published 2009 - Reprinted 2014, 218 pages, ISBN 978 0 7524 5239 5

 

Clanship to Crofters' War - The social transformation of the Scottish Highlands
by T. M. Devine

Still regarded as an essential read concerning the Highland area from the Jacobite period until the early 1900s, I read this book for a first time for my thesis in my early twenties, and now I read it again (making plenty of notes this time) for a more thorough study of Highland history. Very accessible literature packed with facts that I seem to have been using continuously in the past two decades.
Thank you, Prof. Devine.

Published 1994 - 258 pages, ISBN 0-71903482-5

 

From Chiefs to Landlords - Social and Economic Change in the Western Highlands and Islands, c. 1493-1820
by Robert A. Dodgshon

Written by a Professor in Human Geography, this is a very interesting perspective on the western Highlands and Islands, as it take geography at the heart of the era leading to the Clearances. How did it dominate Highland economy? How was the chiefly economy organised and how did it develop into the market economy? Necessary brain food for the history of the Western Highlands and Islands post-forfeiture.

Published 1998 - 265 pages, ISBN 0-7486-1034-0

 

The Pictish Conquest - The Battle of Dunnichen 685 & the Birth of Scotland
by James E. Fraser

A comprehensive book on what others mention in a mere paragraph. Cause, possible location, description and immediate aftermath of the Battle of Dunnichen. I liked it. Loads of maps of where and how the battle took place.

Published 2006, 189 pages, ISBN 9 780752 439624

 

From Caledonia to Pictland - Scotland to 795
by James E. Fraser

Big book which triggered the biggest bunch of notes I've ever made from any book. Then again, it's a fascinating, yet very unclear period. Loads of dates, loads of kings from every part of Scotland. This book is not a side dish; this is starter, main course and dessert. All you need is tea.

Published 2009, 436 pages, ISBN 978 0 7486 1232 1

 

In Famed Breadalbane - The Story ofthe Antiquities, Lands and People of a Highland District
by William A. Gillies

As Minister of Kenmore, you won't be surprised to read plenty of information about church issues, but even those can be fun and illuminative. But the wealth of information about the Glen Orchy lairds / Breadalbane earls is fascinating. As is the history on the Macnabs and Breadalbane's people of old.

Originally published 1938, 439 pages, ISBN 0 905489 82 9

 

The Art of the Picts - Sculpture and Metalwork in Early Medieval Scotland
by George Henderson & Isabel Henderson

Fancy book challenging the three classes set in the late 1800s concerning the Pictish stones. Lots of pictures and details about what Christian events are depicted on the various stones and on metalwork found in Scotland. Not so much about what the "traditional" symbols mean. But you will never have seen so many pictures in one book. Time to go and explore the stones yourself now.

Published 2011, 256 pages, ISBN 978 0 500 28963 1

 

On the Other Side of Sorrow
by James Hunter

A reprint of the 1995 book in which Hunter explores environmentalism among Gaelic culture. Have no doubt where this man's loyalties are. An empty glen is an unnatural glen. Away with Romanticism; bring back Gaelic visionaries.
Loved this book.

Published 2014, 280 pages, ISBN 978 1 78027 187 3

 

Last of the Free
by James Hunter

Some find it confrontational. I thought it was great. The Highlands not seen as one grand wasteland and mere beauty, but the origin of Scotland, where grand things were and are still possible.
A champion of Gaelic and non-Gaelic Highland culture and history.
I was advised to read this as a start of History of the Highlands and Islands, and I very much appreciated it.

Published 1999, 416 pages, ISBN 978 1 84596 539 6

 

Scotland - A New History
by Michael Lynch

From the early Gaels to the Union of Scotland and England, this book encompasses the entire period. A good reference book which I also used for the Dundee Course.

Published 1992, 506 pages, ISBN 978 0 712 69893 1

 

The Kingdom of the Isles - Scotland's Western Seaboard, c. 1100 - c. 1336
by R. Andrew McDonald

This book covers a truly fascinating period, starting with the rise of Somerled, king of the Isles, over his descendants - the MacSorleys - to the demise of the MacDougalls and the rise of the MacDonalds, with the MacRuairis in-between. Hop in one of the birlinns and sail along.

Published 2002 (new edition available, 280 pages, ISBN 1 898410 85 2

 

Clan Gregor
by Forbes MacGregor

This is a very decent history of Clan MacGregor without praising them to the skies or promoting popular belief.
Easy reading.

Published 2012, 159 pages, ISBN 978 1 904246 37 4

 

Kings Mormaers Rebels - Early Scotland's Other Royal Family
by John Marsden

I always love reading about the "losers" of history. Fascinating read about the rulers of the North.

Published 2010, 194 pages, ISBN 978 1 906566 19 7

 

A Description of the Western Islands of Scotland Circa 1695 - A Late Voyage to St Kilda
by Martin Martin
and
A Description of the Occidental i.e. Western Islands of Scotland
by Donald Monro

How did the western islands look like in the seventeeth century, or even better, how were they described in the mid-sixteenth century - that highly restless period following the 1493 forfeiture of the Lordship of the Isles, through the eyes of the High Dean of the Isles? Well, this is your chance to find out.

Published 2010, 346 pages, ISBN 978 1 84158 020 3

 

Reading the Gaelic Landscape - Leughadh Ahaidh na Tìre
by John Murray

For all those who want to know what all these fantastically sounding names in the Highlands are all about.
Pages and tables of explanations about the Gaelic landscape, with pronunciation guide. Show off your talents when rambling around the Highlands.

Published 2014, 232 pages, ISBN 978 1 84995 100 5

 

Literature of the Gaelic Landscape - Song Poem and Tale - Litreachas na Tìre - òran, bàrchachd is sgeul
by John Murray

That Gaelic poets loved nature and knew how to describe it, is well attested. So here's the Gaelic landscape through the eyes of the Glen Orchy Bard (Duncan Ban MacIntyre aka Donnchadh Bàn Mac an t-Saoir), Sorley MacLean and novelist Neil Gunn.
I have the feeling this book was published a bit too urgently, as the spelling and other mistakes are more plentiful than in the other book by his name.

Published 2017, 248 pages, ISBN 978 1 84995 363 4

 

Warriors of the Word - The World of the Scottish Highlanders
by Michael Newton

A very thick book full of interesting and less interesting facts and trivialities about the oral world of the Highlander. Now did you know that the Gaels claimed to be a branch of the human race untouched by the Fall of Adam and Eve? Beat that!

Published 2009, 424 pages, ISBN 978 1 84158 826 1

The Argyll Book
by Donald Omand

Very interesting book with a chapter to everyone's liking: history; archaeology; geology; religion; agriculture; industry; folklore; literature; MacDonalds; Campbells; and more. It's all in there, written by different authors, and with details specific to this area.

Published 2006, 304 pages, ISBN 1 84158 480 0

Macbeth - A True Story
by Fiona Watson

Macbeth, the tyrannical king of Scotland, or so Shakespeare makes us believe. Nothing could be further from the truth. Here's a book about a king whom contemporary writers could not find one single negative thing to say about, yet who became the ultimate villain a few centuries later. If you want to know just how that happened, this is an interesting book.
The only disappointment for me was that the pages about Macbeth himself are limited to some sixty pages. Then again, Scotland around 1000 did not exactly leave a lot of documents.

Published 2010, 320 pages, ISBN 978 1 84916 160 2

 

Sons of the Wolf - Campbells and MacGregors and the Cleansing of the Inland Glens
by Ronald Williams

Fascinating read, but as it reads like a piece of fiction, you wonder if half of it isn't fiction as well.
Also, google 'sons of the wolf' and you won't end up with MacGregors. So read with caution.

Published 1998, 99 pages, ISBN 1 899863 42 7

 

From Pictland to Alba - 789-1030
by Alex Woolf

Broad and all-encompassing, with a decent introduction. It starts with Viking raids and with the ending of the Pictish kingdom, until you witness the birth of Alba. The mutual interaction with and influence of its southern neighbour is amply discussed.

Published 2007, 384 pages, ISBN 9978 0 7486 1234 5