Description
Book Synopsis'What we build always reveals things that are deeply and innately human. Because all buildings are stories, one way or another.'
Kathleen Jamie, Alexander McCall Smith, Alistair Moffat, James Robertson and James Crawford travel across the country to tell the story of the nation, from abandoned islands and lonely glens to the heart of our modern cities.
Whether visiting Shetland’s Mousa Broch at midsummer, following in the footsteps of pilgrims to Iona Abbey, joining the tourist bustle at Edinburgh Castle, scaling the Forth Bridge or staying in an off-the-grid eco-bothy, the authors unravel the stories of the places, people and passions that have had an enduring impact on the landscape and character of Scotland.
Trade Review'The 25 essays are all admirable appreciations of buildings – or of landscapes and places from which buildings have long disappeared. They are written with knowledge and enthusiasm and the photographs are gorgeous . . . [Who Built Scotland] is very enjoyable and rich in information. You would have to be quite exceptionally knowledgeable not to learn much from it, and it certainly paints a fine picture of our strange and varied country and its history'
-- Allan Massie * The Scotsman *
'The quality of the writing is uniformly high . . . This is a very good book; edifying and, at times, revelatory'
* The Herald *
'A fascinating alternative take on the country's social, political and cultural histories . . . While the buildings are the focus of this book, the stories of the people who built them and use them are what really stay in the mind. It's easy to think of buildings as inanimate but this book demonstrates the life behind them.' - 5 star review.
* Scottish Field *
'the history is skilfully woven throughout the course of the book in a way that is intriguing and easy to follow . . . It really reads as an epic love story to Scotland'
* The Courier *
''The result is a book that is by turns inspiring and fascinating; a book that gives perspective to Scotland's many and varied architectural traditions; and a book that gives context to the Scotland we see around us today . . . There's one sense in which the title of the book is misleading in that you find rather more than 25 buildings between its covers. Some contributions cover themes or groups of buildings rather than individual structures. The effect is to broaden further the scope of the book and adds to its already considerable lasting value.'
* Undiscovered Scotland *
