The idea of some kind of representative democracy has taken root in these damp islands of ours many centuries ago. Arguably, the long struggle against absolute tryranny began with Magna Carta in 1215. Anyone with the faintest understanding of that history is enraged by the complacency of individuals who can’t be bothered to vote. It is […]
The Romanovs: 1613-1918 Read More »
Sometimes a new history book receives so many plaudits and commendations from a variety of sources that it would be remiss not to read it. Peter Frankopan’s The Silk Roads: A New History of the World is one such. It’s a reasonable assessment that Lanark is not the centre of the world. That being granted, has there
This is a book for all those, such as I, who love being by the sea. It is a book that convinces the reader of the centrality of the sea to human civilisation. Maine-based maritime historian Lincoln P. Paine (http://lincolnpaine.com/about-the-author/) takes a broad view of his subject, beginning in deepest antiquity: “It is impossible to know
The Sea and Civilisation Read More »
There is a bunch of people living in a land just 66 miles south of Lanark. Their population is 10 times the size of the Scots. Our Parliaments have been joined since 1707. This strange, complex and fascinating lot are called ‘The English’. It’s not really contentious to say that we’re dominated by them in these
The English and Their History Read More »
An infant gurgling in its cot imagines that its nursery constitutes the whole world. The warm breast of its mother exists solely for its nurture. It takes a long series of painful adjustments to comprehend the immense scale of the world and diversity of other human beings, all with their individual motivations and interests which probably
The Age of Genius by Anthony Grayling Read More »
The Bible (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible) is the most widely distributed collection of literary texts in human culture. The Greek word βιβλία (biblía) means ‘books’. Its two parts, The Old and New Testaments between them comprise 66 books. This number itself is contentious because there is no one ‘Bible’. Different faith traditions have fixed their ‘canon’ of Scripture in different ways. It is nevertheless the
The Unauthorized Version by Robin Lane Fox Read More »
Lisa Jardine has died on 25 October 2015. (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/11955153/Lisa-Jardine-historian-obituary.html, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa_Jardine) Daughter of Jacob Bronowski, she became a brilliant historian, Renaissance scholar, humanist and polymath. Everything I have read of hers has been a pleasure and an education. Hers was the voice of sanity, erudition and wisdom. Selecting only one of her works is difficult, but please read Ingenious
Ingenious Pursuits by Lisa Jardine Read More »
Alistair Moffat was born and bred in the Scottish Borders. A former Director of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Director of Programmes at Scottish Television, he now runs the Borders Book Festival. He is the author of a number of highly acclaimed books and is a former Rector of St. Andrews University. In this new single volume
Scotland: A History from Earliest Times by Alistair Moffat Read More »
In the period 2013-2015 The European Union has been desperately trying to prevent Greece from crashing out of the Euro. Bailout follows bailout. Why? It is a basket case of an economy saddled with a 320 billion Euro debt, a society mired in corruption from top to bottom, and with a hopelessly divided political class. For every
Introducing the Ancient Greeks by Edith Hall Read More »
