Antonia Fraser - Mary Queen Of Scots

Mary Stuart was born at Linlithgow Palace in 1542. She was part of the House of Stuart, who came into power through bloodlines to the House of Bruce. Both houses of Bruce and Stuart are of Norman origin. Mary actually spoke French and French was also spoken by the royalty of Scotland and England thanks to the Norman invasion of 1066. She married Lord Darnley who was also a relative, a half cousin. She had one of her advisors murdered, David Rizzio, an Italian, by Darnley and some of his followers. What followed was a very secretive and intriguing real-life murder mystery, involving the murder of her husband, Darnley, in a payback to the murder of Rizzio, who was also rumoured to be the father of her child, who was the eventual king of Scotland and England, Ireland and Wales, James I and VI. She was eventually executed due to this partaking in this murder conspiracy.

Carl Von Clausewitz - On Wellington: A Critique Of Waterloo

The Battle of Waterloo heralded the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte, by an alliance of several states including Britain and Prussia called The Seventh Coalition. Many Scots were to fight against the French, and the Scots had a profound influence on the armies during this time. The percussion cap was a Scottish invention; it allowed muskets to fire in the rain, so you could imagine that to be lethal. The first breech-loading rifle was invented by a Scotsman named Patrick Ferguson and was used in the American Revolutionary Wars. There were tactics used in the Battle of Culloden where the Jacobites would parry the bayonet out of way to the Jacobite's left, and strike with his right hand with the Scottish Broadsword. The redcoats knew that the Jacobite's right arm and chest would be vulnerable, so each redcoat would bayonet to his right to capture the Jacobite without his targe shield protecting him. This tactic like many tactics of the British Military was devastating, and of course, there were many Scots fighting in the lines for the British.

Sir Walter Scott - The Heart Of Midlothian

Sir Walter Scott is a very fascinating figure; he effectively invented the historical novel. He had polio at a young age, and at school met Robert Burns once, and what a meeting of minds that would have been. He became a lawyer and had a rich understanding of human rights; this may have played a part in his writings. He owned a small castle and once had a very small detachment of soldiers. He collected antiquarian lore and old Scottish History relics like the real pistol of Rob Roy, and I believe he owned a William Wallace relic also. Sir Walter Scott also was a very early sort of journalist because he was the first non-soldier on the scene of Waterloo and wrote some vivid poetry of the battle scene. A very spectacular monument to his memory is in Edinburgh and it is astonishing.

Carl Von Clausewitz - Napoleon's 1796 Italian Campaign

The young and relatively unknown Corsican led his army to success over the Austrian and Sardinian armies, and it is within these pages that von Clausewitz expresses his prowess as a refined military tactician. Napoleon coincidentally was inspired by the Jacobite rebellion as a method of revolutionary warfare in order to achieve political gain with not much in the way of resources. Napoleon is a somewhat intriguing character, hailing from Corsica he was from a somewhat rich family, but his heart and mind were with the working class and him, like many other revolutionary commanders, saw war and to arm the people to gain political leverage, as a way of social and political change. Napoleon hails from Corsica, and Ajaccio specifically and these people the Corsicans are renowned for being fiery and proudly Corsican and not French. This may have played a part in his political views.

John Bannerman - The Beatons: A Medical Kindred In The Classical Gaelic Tradition

This is the clan of my family, but I can also trace Clan Buchanan and Clan Donnachaidh going back two generations or so. The Beatons offer some surprise as they were not original Scots from the ancient Gaelic kingdom of Dal Riata, the migrants came bearing this name during the Scottish Wars of Independence and a Patrick Macbeth is recorded as the principal physician of Robert Bruce, the famous warrior, and the king of Scotland. The Beatons were medical people, and their name is derived from ' son of life' in Scots Gaelic and  'son of seed' in Irish, so they are known for their nurturing and medical qualities. Of course, they were not originally called Beaton as this is an Anglicised version of Macbeth. Macbeatha is actually the original spelling. Macbeth the famous king of Scotland was not a Macbeth, he lived in a time before the migrants came from Ireland, and Macbeth was his first name, well a variation, Macbethad. The Beatons were the principal kindred of Clan MacLeod and Clan Donald for nearly 500 years.

Carl Von Clausewitz - Principles Of War

Carl von Clausewitz was a general in the Prussian army and experienced first-hand the effects of war and alongside Machiavelli were political scientists who had engaged in either politics or warfare. Many people claim von Clausewitz coined the argument that war is the extension of politics, but this is not true as it is explored in Machiavelli's book The Art of War. It is true in the sense that politicians will seek to use warfare or violence of some sort to gain some sort of political leverage, but von Clausewitz has the sort of credibility of being at the 'pointy end' of politics. A soldier is used as a political pawn by the methods of his master. Von Clausewitz not only inspired leaders like Lenin but also working class political philosophy of Marx and Engels.

Irvine Welsh - Trainspotting

Scottish history does not only contain many battles, but it also contains as I stated before great ingenuity in the face of adversity. From the stories compiled in the Ossian poems to the first ever historical novels written by Sir Walter Scott, Scottish literature has been hugely influential on many writers of today. John Knox actually made sure there were libraries in every village, the universities of Scotland were to be world leading. Such pioneering works in the areas of their field during Scotland's enlightenment, including Adam Smith and his theories on economics, to David Hume who boasts the biggest contribution to atheism philosophy prior to Darwinism. This prowess of literature still exists in the modern era with Trainspotting by Welsh, which landed on the literary scene with a bang. It is up there with the all-time classic Scottish literature, and its vernacular is often described as spectacular. Set in Edinburgh, the language of Scots shines through.

Reinhold Niebuhr - The Children Of Light And The Children Of Darkness

Niebuhr really argues in his works that the way in which mankind shall progress is to understand their rights, and I mean there are many rights like labor rights, animal rights, religious rights, and human rights. Man will progress if he has knowledge of rights. He was also religious and Christian for that matter and preached compassionate values about religion. Of course, many realists like Machiavelli believed religion to have strayed far from its original intentions of charity and compassion. Niebuhr was also American, so for a realist like E.H. Carr to write and think in this manner when idealism was such a mainstream set of values, Carr and Niebuhr would have been very progressive for their times. Neibhur also is acknowledged by President Obama on the front cover.

Norman Newton - The Life And Times Of Inverness

Inverness is the central hub of the Scottish Highlands and is not far from the famous Loch Ness. From its early history, it was an ancient Pictish stronghold known as Fidach and the prefix commonly found in areas of the north and northeast of Inver- and Aber- are actually of a Pictish origin and mean confluence of waters. Inverness being found on the River Ness and Aberdeen is a coastal city. More recently the city was near the battleground of Culloden which is the last battle fought on British soil, the scene where many Scots fought on both sides in sheer brutality. It is famous for being featured in the Shakespeare play of Macbeth. The city's inhabitants are usually proud highlanders, but there are also many migrants in the city including Polish.

Reinhold Niebuhr - Man's Nature And His Communities

Niebuhr really explores the concepts of to further aid man's intellect he must take himself into account, and value his self over his master. The rights of the proletariat are the most important thing to mankind. In a system that values the individual as a sacrifice to a bigger profit to the master, the liberation of the working class can be seen as a bigger liberation than liberty and equality preached by liberalism. A state will give someone all that they need when there is an invasion and someone needs to take themselves and their family, money has no worth. There is a bigger picture of the world that does not contain the concept of absolute wealth, and most people like the normal and common sense people just need enough money to survive and it makes them happy.

Tim Clarkson - The Picts: A History

The Picts are one of the most remarkable civilizations to ever grace the planet. We still have very little understanding of their society, basically, because they were not Christian till very late (the last converted people in the British Isles) and did not keep written documents. So we still do not know what they called themselves, the term Picts comes from the word pictus, which means painted in Latin. So, they caught the tail end of the Romans in Britain and lasted through the dark ages and into the early medieval period. The great Scottish craft of invention and pragmatism must have come from the Picts because the Picts invented some interesting things like the triangular harp, pike (long spear used against cavalry) and early forms of the crossbow. They were also animist up until very late and quite artistic, painting themselves and their standing stones (this is possibly why the Romans called them Picts). They were also known to be epic seafarers like the Vikings and the Gaels who they were surrounded by.

Reinhold Niebuhr - Moral Man And Immoral Society: A Study In Ethics And Politics

Reinhold Niebuhr basically explores the idea of Marxism 'taking off' in countries and nations that had an existing monarchy class, and not in the existing liberal democracies like the USA who actually tried to contain Marxism for large periods of time in the last 100 years or so. When there is a long-suffering impoverished class who are being severely punished in quality of life by a class of monarchy, who basically think it is their divine right to govern with privilege because they were born into a family, then there is an environment and breeding ground for radical change. Marx basically inspired people to cast off the shackles. Whereas in a liberal democracy if someone was given the choice in an election, part of democracy and it's a natural process, given the choice between strong personal wealth, or a strong state, man's basic state will reveal itself and that it is one of greed. 

Alistair Moffat - Scotland: A History From Earliest Times

Alistair Moffat is a DNA expert and some of his studies looked at tracing the lineage of some of the people from the far western isles of Scotland. What he found was remarkable, Scots can trace their ancestry back to ancient Mesopotamia. Most of the clans have a single ancestor and progenitor which the clan was named after. For example, Clan Donald can trace their ancestry to Somerled who was a Viking. There are many septs of a clan which can usually all trace their ancestry to the clan. Scottish historians really can trace the first known Scot in the history books was Calgacus who fought the Romans in the Caledonian Confederacy, and some historians like Magnus Magnusson assert that the Scottish nation died at Culloden, whereas some like Tom Devine trace modern Scotland and its diaspora abroad.