In this book, Alistair Moffat brings vividly to life the story of this great nation, from the dawn of prehistory through to the twenty-first century.

Ambitious, richly detailed and highly readable, Scotland: A History From Earliest Times skilfully weaves together a dazzling array of fact and anecdote from a vast range of sources. The result is an imaginative, informative, balanced and varied portrait of Scotland, seen not just through the experience of the kings, saints, warriors, aristocrats and politicians who populate the pages of conventional history books, but also through that of ordinary people who have lived Scotland’s history and have played their own important part in shaping its destiny.

About the Author

Alistair Moffat was born and bred in the Scottish Borders. He is the author of a number of highly acclaimed books including The Reivers, The Wall: Rome’s Greatest Frontier, Arthur and the Lost Kingdoms, The Faded Map, The Scots: A Genetic Journey and The Sea Kingdoms.

Reviews

‘The great thing about Moffat’s account is that, for all its emphasis on uncertainty, it rattles along with complete narrative certainty, to the extent that great events consistently take even a historically literate reader unawares’

* Scottish Review of Books *

‘For Alistair Moffat, history is rooted in the personal. Now … he has produced what is undoubtedly his most ambitious work. Scotland: A History From Earliest Times encompasses 500 million years, from when the tectonic plates were shifting to form the land mass we recognize today to the referendum and its aftermath’

— Alan Taylor * The Herald *

‘Moffat plunders the facts and fables to create a richly-detailed and comprehensive analysis of a nation’s past and references a huge number of sources’

* Scotland Magazine *

‘[T]his is a very readable, well-researched and fluent account’

* Scotland on Sunday *

‘A very readable, well-researched and fluent account’

— Stuart Kelly * The Scotsman *

‘With his instinctive flair and accessible style, Moffat gets right under the skin of the country’

* Farming Scotland *Book InformationISBN 9781780274386Author Alistair MoffatFormat PaperbackPage Count 544Imprint Birlinn LtdPublisher Birlinn GeneralWeight(grams) 720gDimensions(mm) 195mm * 130mm * 55mm