Description
Book SynopsisThis book examines how the dramatic intellectual developments of the Scottish Enlightenment undermined a patriotic reading of Scotland's history, and shows how this led to the failure of the nineteenth-century Scottish intelligentsia to mount a nationalist movement comparable to the romantic nationalisms of other European peoples.
Trade Review'In its sweep and unrelenting power the analysis is impressive. Highly recommended.' Glasgow Herald
' … a very important book … His work is a significant contribution to current debates about Scottish nationalism, political and cultural …' Andrew Hook, The Times Literary Supplement
Table of ContentsIntroduction; Prologue: National identity in late medieval and early modern Scotland; Part I. The End of the Tradition: 1. History, national identity and the union of 1707; 2. Presbyterian historiography and the age of Wodow; 3. Scottish whig historiography, 1707–c.1750; Part II. Disenchantment: 4. The decline of the ancient Scottish constitution; 5. Faultlines in Scotland's unusable past; 6. Presbyterianism and whig historiography in the age of Robertson; 7. The Scottish construction of Anglo-British identity; Part III. Critical Renewal: 8. Enlightened reconstructions: The routes of James Macpherson and Gilbert Stuart; 9. History and national identity in the age of Scott; Conclusion.
