Search results for ""nmse - publishing ltd""

History and science collide in the fascinating history of anatomy, from artistic explorations by Leonardo da Vinci and the full-body papier-mâché model produced by Louis Auzoux to the crimes of William Burke and William Hare in 19th-century Edinburgh. This history of how anatomy was studied focuses on Edinburgh and the West Port murders in 1828 and acknowledges the science’s reliance on dead bodies taken without consent. Edinburgh was an important centre for medical teaching at this time but the sixteen murders exposed the darker side of the practice and study of medicine – the bodies were sold by Burke and Hare to the Edinburgh University anatomist Dr Robert Knox. The book accompanies a major exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland beginning 2 July 2022 which charts five hundred years of medical exploration.

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This account shows the full range of Hugh Miller's interests - the lyrical description of the scenery and accounts of beautiful fossils show a deep affection for the Scottish landscape, while his role as a serious religious journalist and social crusader is highlighted in his discussions on the Disruption and the Highland Clearances.

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In telling the story of Bonnie Prince Charlie, this book, unusually, places his ancestry, birth and life against the Scoto-Polish and pan-European backgrounds of his parents’ families. With over one hundred and fifty illustrations, including seventy portraits, the selection shows those rarely or never-before included in other works, while the captions are extensive and detailed. The cover shows a portrait of Bonnie Prince Charlie that was in a private collection and unknown to the general public until 2018. The third distinguishing factor is that the book presents the full story of the prince’s only child, Charlotte, Duchess of Albany (Robert Burns’ ‘Bonnie Lass of Albany’); her mother, the tragic Scottish Jacobite Clementina Walkinshaw; and Charlotte Stuart’s children, describing their fates during and after the French Revolution. First published by Amberley in 2010, this edition of Bonnie Prince Charlie has been rewritten and updated. It features on the cover a portrait of Bonnie Prince Charlie that was in a private collection and unknown to the general public until 2018 when it was purchased by the Pininski Foundation.

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Excavated from Traprain Law, East Lothian, Scotland, in May 1919, was one of the most spectacular discoveries of Roman silver ever made in Europe - and the biggest hoard of `hacksilver': 23kg, battered, crushed and chopped up. Blame for the destruction has hitherto been laid at the door of `barbarians' but this study changes that view. An international team of scholars has reviewed the hoard's origins and manufacture, its use as elite tableware, its hacking and later reuse. A century of new discoveries and ideas allow fresh conclusions, especially about the hacking. With wide-ranging parallels from across Europe, the authors argue that hacking was a deliberate Roman policy to create bullion at times of economic crisis, turning valued vessels into weights of silver to be used in frontier politics, to pay off groups from beyond the empire, or hire them as mercenaries.

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Set in the months before the outbreak of the Great War and in print for almost 100 years The Thirty-Nine Steps is John Buchan's most popular novel. This timely look at the book - what inspired it, its themes and metaphors - and at its author - how much of John Buchan's own self and experiences are in it - will greatly enhance the reader's enjoyment.

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When Charles-I came to the throne in 1625 he began to make changes in the way Scotland was run, including the introduction of a new prayer book. He believed that a king was given his position by God and that no one had the right to question his actions, so when protests were made and a document known as 'The National Covenant' was drawn up, cruel punishments were inflicted on the protesters who became known as the 'Covenanters'. This brand-new title in the "Scotties Series" explains the complex topic of the Covenanters to children - it will also be a useful introduction to the subject for adults. "Scotties Books" contain a wealth of interesting facts, stimulating activities, websites and suggestions for places to visit.

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"Scotties" are exciting, full colour information books for young readers. Each title contains a wealth of interesting facts, stimulating activities, websites and suggestions for places to visit. An 8pp pull-out black and white section with games, puzzles and drawings for colouring-in can be used at home or photocopied for classroom use. In this brand new title find out about: Ghosts and Graveyards - including the Undead Sailor, and the Weeping Tombstone; Haunted Houses - such as Haddington House with its ghostly horse; Witches - good spells and bad spells; Hallowe'en - guising, and Mischief Night; Fairies - fallen angels, household helpers, changelings, and more; Glaistigs and Brownies - a glaistig is a thin woman with a face like 'a grey stone overgrown with lichen'; and, Merfolk - from golden-haired mermaids to the Blue Men of the Minch.

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"Robert Burns in Time and Place" is a brand new title in the "Scotties Books" series which contain a wealth of interesting facts, stimulating activities, web sites and suggestions for places to visit. The year 2009 is the 250th anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns but studying the life and work of the poet is no longer just a celebration around his birthday, but can be embedded across the school curriculum. The book looks at Ayrshire, Scotland and the wider world as they were in his time and which shaped his experiences and his work.

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An introduction about the Women's Land Army in the First and Second World Wars is followed by reminiscences, recorded recently by the editor, of ten ex-Land Girls. It is co-published by NMS Enterprises Limited - Publishing and the European Ethnological Research Centre (EERC) an independent unit within Celtic & Scottish Studies at the University of Edinburgh.

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In this book on the history of flight in Scotland you can: find out about the man who tried to fly off the wall at Stirling Castle and about Percy Pilcher and his fragile 'Bat' glider; be amazed at the story of Vincenzo Lunardi, and his balloon flight in 1785 from Edinburgh to Fife; see how aircraft are used in war, from the airships, and planes with open cock-pits, in World War I, to the Cold War V-bombers; read about UFOs in the 'Falkirk Triangle', the short-lived Rocket Post and much more; and check out how you can visit Concorde Alpha Alpha at the National Museum of Flight in East Lothian, and the other flying machines there.

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Queen Margaret died in 1093 and was canonised in 1250. Until a generation ago, every Scots child was taught a pallid and uncontentious version of her life, drawn from the hagiography written not long after her death. Even twentieth-century biographies have been uncritical and pious in tone. Eileen Dunlop has produced a book, which aims at a more balanced, psychologically probing account of a remarkable life.

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The elaborately carved Hilton of Cadboll stone, the house-shaped Monymusk Reliquary and the sumptuously decorated Hunterston brooch (all on view in the National Museum of Scotland) are evidence of the sophistication of Scottish craftsmen in the time AD 300-900. A pioneering partnership between National Museums Scotland and The Glenmorangie Company has supported a major programme of research into the archaeology of Scotland during the Early Medieval period. This is the paperback edition of the book first published in 2012.

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The objects in the Museum's extensive collection range in date from the Late Bronze Age to the Middle Ages, spanning over 2000 years of glassmaking. All four of the major techniques - core-forming, casting , blowing and mould-blowing are represented in this catalogue, and the different ways in which the glass was decorated and used are described.

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In nineteenth century Japan, woodblock prints were a cultural phenomenon, with thousands of designs issued annually. Prints were a cheap and colourful medium of entertainment, much like magazines and posters today. Kabuki is a unique combination of drama, dance, music, and acrobatics, still enthusiastically followed today. It is distinctive for its stylisation, lavish visual appearance, and intense kinetic energy. The plots concern tragic romances, feats of derring-do, and conflicts of loyalty, involving larger-than-life heroes, heroines, and villains. Whatever the story of the play, however, it was the actor above all that the audience came to see. Most of National Museums Scotland's magnificent collection of around 4,000 prints was acquired in the 1880s at the peak of the craze for Japanese art and design in Europe, and features the major artists of the time. This book features the highlights of the exhibition opening at the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh, October 2013.

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This new edition is a co-publication between NMS Enterprises - Publishing and the Edinburgh Geological Society. It has been expanded and redesigned and has a practical flexi-binding. The book describes the varied rocks and structures that occur within the largely metasediments of the Moine Supergroup of the northern and central highlands of Scotland. The excursions are, for the most part, along major roads, allowing easy access to some of the finest outcrops of deformed and metamorphosed sandstones in Scotland. Professional geologists will find the book invaluable as will the enthusiastic amateur and the undergraduate student.

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Scottish Furniture offers a narrative account of furniture-making in Scotland, from the sixteenth century to the twentieth century. Written to scholarly standards, it disseminates a wealth of new research and specialist knowledge to a wide audience.The book is written primarily for readers with an existing knowledge of, and passion for, furniture history. It offers a broad-ranging perspective and covers an unusually long period. In addition to identifying key makers and diagnostic features, the text discusses the nature of national characteristics in material culture through time and across a range of contrasting socio-economic settings, as well as the interaction between design and making in material culture.It is thus of interest to a secondary set of academic readers, unfamiliar with furniture yet engaged with Scottish cultural history.

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Pickers came from near and far year after year – and from a variety of backgrounds – for the berry-picking season. For local people, adults and children, it was an opportunity to supplement the family income; Glasgow folk combined it with a holiday. For the Scottish Traveller community it was an annual opportunity to meet up with friends and family, and forge new relationships. Roger Leitch encouraged many of those local berry pickers to share their recollections for this book – which is published at a time of political change with challenges for the soft fruit cultivation business. He also interviewed workers in other seasonal employments such as potato picking and ghillieing.

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The Tomb in question was built for a Chief of Police and his wife in the city of Thebes (modern Luxor) at the height of the ancient Egyptian empire. It was reused by numerous people over the next few hundred years before being sealed and lying undisturbed until it was excavated in 1857. Many of the objects found were among the first to be acquired by what is now called the National Museum of Scotland.This is the souvenir guide to the exhibition The Tomb: Ancient Egyptian Burial which was shown at the National Museum of Scotland in 2017.

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Showcases over a hundred treasures from the collections of the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, from the departments of Scottish History and Archaeology/Art and Design/Science and Technology/Natural Sciences/World Cultures.

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In the middle of the nineteenth century a sympathetic relationship between art, science and technology laid the groundwork for photography to flourish, including camera obscura and the panorama. This is a lavishly produced book on the eventful first thirty years of photography in Scotland - around 1840 - 70. The photographers whose work is discussed include David Octavius Hill, Robert Adamson, James Valentine, Thomas Annan and George Washington Wilson plus practitioners not previously mentioned in any publication. Julia Margaret Cameron's encounter with Scotland is also described as is the work of Scottish photographers abroad.

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Professor Matthew Heddle (1828-97) was a larger-than-life character, a renowned academic and one of Scotland's most famous mineralogists. His rich legacy includes: Encyclopaedia Britannica 9th edition (section on Mineralogy) A fossil fish Heddleichthys A mineral named after him (Mattheddleite) A summary of the Mineralogy of Scotland (published posthumously) 55 scientific papers 5,700 specimens from his collection now housed in the National Museum of Scotland and the National Museums Collection Centre. 10 children This book, by Heddle's great-great-grandson, is not an account of his scientific work but is about Heddle the man; it provides a much fuller picture of him than anything that has appeared before.

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Scotties are exciting, full-colour, Scottish information books for young readers, with a photocopiable black/white 8pp section for home or classroom use. The book looks at the landscape of Scotland before people, and at the islands, coasts, moorlands, machair, lochs, rivers and flora and fauna that we know now. It also discusses topics such as climate change, renewable energy and carbon footprint and at how the countryside can be enjoyed and protected.

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Co-published with the European Ethnological Research Centre in the Flashbacks series. Andrew Ramage was the son of a farm servant and he himself worked on the land in the Lothians and Berwickshire, in Scotland. Subsequently he became a dock worker, lorry driver and railwayman. Of the diary he kept over many years only three notebooks remain. The first covers Andrew's early life from 1884 until the mid 1870s and the period from November 1888 until April 1889. The last two cover July 1914 to June 1917. In his account the uncertain realities of rural employment and dwelling are revealed and they dispel the bucolic image often attached to descriptions of 19th-century country life. We learn of the travails of a young man making his way in the world at a time of great social and economic change and, later, of the concerns of parenthood and aging at a time of war-time strife.

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Travelling showfolk have been entertaining Scots for centuries and a visit to 'the shows' was a highlight of the year until recent memory. The Codonas are one of the longest and most established show families, having arrived from the continent in the late eighteenth century. The book is based almost entirely on original research and draws on interviews with three generations to give a vivid and richly anecdotal account of this ever-changing world. Illustrations, mostly previously unpublished, enhance the text. The interviews have been kept intact as much as possible, to keep the flow of overlapping individual life stories but are organised chronologically from the 1890s, when it enters living memory, up to the present. The hundred years from 1790 are described in a lively introduction including many first-hand accounts and following the family fortunes in the United Kingdom, the United States where members reached the top of the circus profession and as far afield as Hawaii.

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Devils, witches and evil - the insubstantial but terrifying world of the supernatural as it was seen by Robert Burns and his contemporaries is examined in this new book, brought out for the 250th anniversary of the poet's birth. Several of Burns' poems dealt with the supernatural, the most famous of which, "Tam o Shanter", is examined in detail. It is from this poem that the book's title comes: 'And roars out, "Weel done, Cutty-sark!" And in an instant all was dark And scarcely had he Maggie rallied When out the hellish legion sallied.' In contrast with the 'other world' was the everyday lives of the country people and the nature of the material world in which they lived; the book also examines this and the changes that were taking place in Burns' time.

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This memoir is by and about George Taylor: the manuscript was handed down through generations of his family. It recalls the varied and interesting life of a man who, at the age of 50, moved his family from Kelso in the Scottish Borders to Kalamazoo, Michigan, in the mid-nineteenth century. George Taylor was a gardener and nurseryman and, when settled in Kalamazoo, he soon established a successful business supplying plants and hedging. He was an award-winning horticulturalist and was responsible for the introduction of the cultivation of celery to the USA. In the course of hearing about George Taylor's life - including the death of three of his four wives in childbirth - we encounter people such as the widow of the man who supposedly served as the inspiration for Robert Burns' "Tam o' Shanter", and events such as the Great Fire of Chicago. From Kelso to Kalamazoo is all too rare a primary source testament to the realities of emigration from the lowlands of Scotland to the USA.

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National Museums Scotland is home to a world-class collection of ancient Egyptian artefacts. Though a public collection for 150 years, its breadth and depth remains largely unknown. This book aims to bring to public attention the many exceptional funerary items which include the royal burial group from Qurna, the coffin of the priest Iufenaumun, and the unusual double-coffin and mummies of the young half-brothers, Petamun and Penhorpabik. In bringing the collection to light, this book provides a wider understanding of its history, including the numerous figures who were responsible for acquiring, researching and preserving it over the years - egyptologists, curators and historians.

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Hallmarks, guaranteeing the honesty of the metal and maker alike, have been used in Scotland since the sixteenth century. The 550th anniversary of Scottish hallmarking in 2008 is being celebrated with an exhibition in Nation Museums Scotland (25 January - 27 April 08)which gathers together for the first time all the most important examples of marked Scottish silver and gold, most from NMS' unrivalled collections. The exhibition and the accompanying book are concerned not only with silver and gold vessels, from earliest surviving marked examples right up to pieces made today, but also with the people who made them and the people for whom they were made. Objects, historic records, paintings, illustrations and contemporary accounts will be combined to present a dazzling display. The book distils the exhibition, making it a must for silver enthusiasts and collectors everywhere.

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This the first book to describe the system of weights and measures used in medieval Scotland and to explain its evolution into modern times, and also the first to provide secure and accurate figures for the sizes of the units. The book's radical approach includes an emphasis on the physical evidence from surviving measurement standards, and it demonstrates that Scotland's meteorology was sophisticated and was closely involved with those of her trading partners. The book will appeal to a specialist market that includes social, economic and science historians; Scottish historians; weight and scale collectors; museums; and science and technology libraries.

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This pocket-sized, flexi-back guide gives an overview of the geological evolution of the island of Rum and provides a comprehensive selection of excursions illustrating Rum's Paleocene igneous rocks. It gives advice on travelling to the island, accommodation, weather conditions - and midges.

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This book features exceptionally important tapestries from major European collections showing the world-class research - scientific, artistic and historical - applied to their preservation. The collections, mostly of Renaissance Flemish tapestries, belong to the UK's Royal Collection at Hampton Court Palace (for example, a piece from a set depicting 'The Story of Tobias' first noted in Henry VIII's inventory of 1547); the Spanish Royal Collections tapestries at the Palacio Real, Madrid; and tapestries from several sites in Belgium. The information is presented in an understandable and practical way.

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The book explores the rich material contained within a collection of oral history recordings with Peeblesshire textile mill workers, made by Ian MacDougall between 1996 and 2004. Their testimonies chart a period of immense change across all aspects of textile manufacturing, an industry which was always in a state of flux with innovations in processes and fibres. The recordings encompass the experience of a generation of workers affected by two World Wars – their fathers having been in the First and themselves in the Second. They also reflects on the role of women in the workplace, and community life and how this has changed in correlation to the rise and decline of the textile industry. Published by NMS Enterprises Limited – Publishing in association with The Scottish Working People's History Trust and the European Ethnological Research Centre.

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A new look at National Museums Scotland collections covering the period 800-1200: the fall of the Pictish kingdoms and rise of the Viking Age; the emergence of new players like Alba, Moray, Strathclyde, Galloway and the Norse Earldom of Orkney. Out of this turmoil were forged the roots of the kingdoms of Scotland and England.National Museums Scotland houses one of the most significant collections of Viking-age and early medieval artefacts in the world. This book offers new perspectives on star objects which have been on display for decades, and on lesser-known artefacts which have never been seen in public, and shows these in photographs taken specially for third part of The Glenmorangie Company Research Project.The previous two books coming out of the project are Early Medieval Scotland and Scotland's Early Silver.

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At its inception, the ‘Little Black Dress’ was radically modern: a masculine-inspired, anti-traditionalist female attire. Yet it has remained a wardrobe staple for almost a century, each new silhouette redressing gendered boundaries of fashion to reflect evolving ideals of beauty and sexuality. In attempting to reconcile the historical study of fashion in the West with the reality of a global fashion system of production, distribution and consumption, and the urgent demand for the industry to be more aware of its footfalls in our culture, Little Black Dress: A Radical Fashion widens the lens through which we interpret the colour black. In this book, international scholars, curators and fashion writers explore how black’s paradoxical meanings have made the LBD simultaneously expressive of respect and rebellion, sophistication and dissident sexualities, piety and perversion. Bridging tradition and innovation, fashion and anti-fashion, the LBD emerges as a radical fashion for the 21st century.

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This book is based on the artwork of Sue Jane Taylor. She is no stranger to extreme working environments, having worked for over thirty years recording the lives of workers in the North Sea oil industry on sites such as Piper Alpha, Piper B, Forties platforms and recently Murchison in the Northern Seas. Her work now extends to the offshore renewable energy industry. The book brings a unique perspective to the relationship between art, environment and industry while revealing a relatively alien way of life on board a North Sea oil platform. Among other themes it will consider the future of energy in Scotland. The book has an introductory essay by Elsa Cox, Senior Curator of Technology at National Museums Scotland, illustrated by relevant objects from the collections in the National Museum. This is followed by Sue Jane Taylor's artwork, with extended captions.

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The breadth of National Museums Scotland's collections, together with the support of The Glenmorangie Company, puts National Museums in a unique position to reveal the role of silver in the development of the first kingdoms of Scotland. It was silver, not gold, which was the most important and powerful precious metal in Scotland for over six hundred years and, as well as showcasing beautiful objects, the book builds on the Glenmorangie Research Project to gives fresh insights into this formative period of Scottish history. Based on the exhibition Scotland's Early Silver which was at the National Museum of Scotland and is now on tour.

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This book tells the history of Scotland between 1249 and 1371 from the Golden Age of Alexander III to Robert II, the first Stewart king. This takes in the Scottish Wars of Independence: William Wallace and the Battle of Stirling Bridge; and Robert the Bruce and the decisive Battle of Bannockburn. Find out ...* Who was the 'Maid of Norway' * How John Balliol got his nickname * What was the 'Ragman Roll' * What the name Wallace means * What is the Stone of Destiny

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This is the souvenir book of the exhibition Photography: A Victorian Sensation at National Museums Scotland June - November 2015. Meet the pioneers of photography and discover how the Victorian craze for the photograph transformed the way we capture images today and mirrors our own modern-day fascination for recording the world around us. The book highlights objects in National Museum Scotland's history of photography collections and explains the importance of such Scottish practitioners such as David Octavius Hill, Robert Adamson and George Washington Wilson.

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In nineteenth century Japan, woodblock prints were a cultural phenomenon, with thousands of designs issued annually. Prints were a cheap and colourful medium of entertainment, much like magazines and posters today. Kabuki is a unique combination of drama, dance, music, and acrobatics, still enthusiastically followed today. It is distinctive for its stylisation, lavish visual appearance, and intense kinetic energy. The plots concern tragic romances, feats of derring-do, and conflicts of loyalty, involving larger-than-life heroes, heroines, and villains. Whatever the story of the play, however, it was the actor above all that the audience came to see. Most of National Museums Scotland's magnificent collection of around 4,000 prints was acquired in the 1880s at the peak of the craze for Japanese art and design in Europe, and features the major artists of the time. This book features the highlights of the exhibition opening at the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh, October 2013.

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In 1914, as the world prepared for war, thousands of men enlisted in Scotland. But thousands more Scots, and those of Scottish descent, joined up across the world. As the optimism of 1914 gave way to the grim reality of years of conflict, the human cost of fighting the First World War became a foundation of national consciousness - for Canada at Vimy Ridge, for Australia and New Zealand at Gallipoli, for South Africa at Delville Wood. Based on the exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland (11 July to 12 October 2014) the book explores how military service was related to other expressions of Scottish identity. And, following the structure of the exhibition, personal story vignettes, based on National Museum Scotland and on international collections, will reinforce the main themes of migration, multiple identity and loss.

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An up-to-date geological excursion guide to the Stirling and Perth area.

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The Millennium Clock first chimed on 1 January 2000 and crowds still gather round it in the National Museum of Scotland. The finished clock tower echoes the form of a medieval cathedral, standing just over ten metres high. It marks the passing of time but is also a summary of the best and worst of the twentieth century. The animated construction comprises four sections: The Crypt, The Nave, The Belfry and The Spire. Each has its own stories to tell and secrets to reveal. This edition is in a new format and has 12 superb replacement photographs which give close-ups of some of the clock's intricate details. The clock tower is a collaboration between E Bersudsky, A Sandstrom, T Stead and J Tubbecke.

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When John Napier published his invention of logarithms in 1614 he was announcing one of the greatest advances in the history of mathematics, and log tables were used universally until the mid 1970s. With his Rabdologia, an ingenious calculating tool composed of numbered rods which came to be known as 'Napier's Bones', he enabled people in the marketplace to do multiplication sums without knowing any multiplication tables. Perhaps the most extraordinary thing about this most extrordinary man was that his great inventions were made without the stimulus of talking to other mathematicians in mainstream Europe. Working away in comparative isolation in a tower house in Scotland, Napier produced methods of calculation that literally changed lives all over the world. He is the father of the slide-rule and the grandfather of today's calculators. Despite his achievements, he remains curiously uncelebrated, and this absorbing story of his life aims to give John Napier his true status. This new edition has been redesigned in a new format and has a new cover.

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Now rewritten and redesigned to include photographs of objects from National Museums Scotland, "The Clans" explains how the idea of clanship developed and traces the one-time hostility between Highlanders and Lowlanders. Readers can find out: where the clans were found; what the connection was with the Gaelic language; who the clan chiefs were, and how the clans were organised; how the clansmen dressed; where clan names came from; how to design their own tartan; and, how to write a praise poem or lament - and more. The book also includes a list of websites and suggestions for places to visit.

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From the wrath of Macbeth to the kindness of Margaret, from the warrior-like Robert I to the poetic charms of James I, from the romantic spirit of Mary, Queen of Scots to the trend-setting George IV - the Kings and Queens of Scotland are brought vividly to life in this colorful pageant of characters, and there are many tales of plotting and fighting along the way. The book features photographs, portraits, prints and etchings, and interesting objects from National Museums Scotland and other national collections. It also contains an additional 8-page section of facts and activities for children of 7-10. You can find out: which King was known as 'Great Chief' or 'Big Head'; what Robert the Bruce learned from the spider; which King died because of a blocked drain; which King used to wander about in disguise; and, how Mary, Queen of Scots escaped from an island castle. The new look Scotties are exciting, full-color information books containing a wealth of interesting facts, illustrations and photographs, stimulating activities, places of interest, and selected websites.

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Dr Isabel Grant (1887-1983) was a pioneer who, early in life, was intrigued by the lives and ways of living of her fellow Highlanders. She eventually pursued this by collecting objects - farming, fishing, crofting and domestic - from across the Scottish Highlands and presenting them to the public, initially as an exhibition in Inverness in 1930, then in Iona, and later in a dedicated museum Am Fasgadh ('the Shelter'). The tenacity shown by Dr Grant in pursuit of an idea that first struck her while on a childhood visit to Sweden is revealed in her own words. In the face of indifference, little money, sexism and the erratic Scottish climate, Dr Grant succeeded in presenting items which told of the working and home lives of the people she so admired. Am Fasgadh continues today as the popular Highland Folk Museum at Kingussie and Newtonmore, Inverness-shire, Scotland.

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The Scottish highlands played a pivotal role in the secret development of special service training during the Second World War. The remote and rough terrain came into its own as a training and testing ground for new types of fighting. "Commando Country" looks at the variety of special training establishments set up (mostly highland shooting lodges), and at how use was made of the landscape and coastline and of specialist civilian skills such as stalking and mountaineering. It stresses how these new methods of warfare, tested in Scotland, spread internationally into the present day elite status of 'special forces' world-wide.The story involves many famous names from a variety of backgrounds such as actors David Niven and Alec Guinness, mountaineer John Hunt, and polar explorer Martin Lindsay, as well as famous military figures such as David Stirling, founder of the SAS and Special Operations Executive agent Violet Szabo. Conveying the atmosphere of remote highland locations, the book makes strong use of photographs and personal testimony collected from those involved, bringing a unique Scottish perspective to a popular subject.

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Scotland's unique geography and topography provided a useful base for Allied military preparations during the Cold War, a 40-year nuclear stand-off between the USA and the Soviet Union ending with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.This book accompanies an exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland (13 July-26 January 24) which explores Scotland's critical position on the front line.Scots played active roles as soldiers, within intelligence services and as part of voluntary civil defences. Also drawn on is Scotland's rich history of Cold War-era protest.The physical legacy of the Cold War is revealed too the ruined bases, forgotten bunkers and decommissioned nuclear power stations still evident across the Scottish landscape.

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