Impaled Upon a Thistle

Ewen Cameron explores the political debate between unionism, liberalism, socialism and nationalism, and the changing political relationship between Scotland and the United Kingdom. He sets Scottish experience alongside the Irish, Welsh and European, and considers British dimensions of historical change - involvement in two world wars, imperial growth and decline, for example - from a Scottish perspective. He relates political events to trends and movements in the economy, culture and society of the nation's regions - borders, lowlands, highlands, and islands. Underlying the history, and sometimes impelling its ambitions, are the evolution and growth of national self-confidence and identity which fundamentally affected Scotland's destiny in the last century. Dr Cameron ends by considering how such forces may transform it in this one. Like the period it describes this book has politics at its heart. The recent upsurge of scholarship and publication, backed by the author's extensive primary research, underpin its vivid and well-paced narrative.

He [Cameron] is a marvellous and masterly guide. This book is one of the most factually rich accounts of Scotland's most recent history one could hope for, and is a valuable addition to existing work in this area... Dr. Cameron's mastery of the literature is impressive and the book's bibliography is itself a most useful source for scholars of this period... The rich factual content of this work will, however, ensure its longevity on our bookshelves. Good scholarship never goes out of fashion. -- Catriona MacDonald Scottish Review of Books Cameron's book will be an essential reading for anyone wishing to seriously engage with late modern Scottish history. It will feature on all reading lists and I can already see the pencil defacement of the book by undergraduates, which is in itself a tribute to the author, though a nuisance to other readers. -- Bill Knox, University of St Andrews Contemporary British History This is a dense political study, but the best of its kind, with enough social history to explicate the changes underway. The research is superb, and the full, up-to-date bibliography alone makes this book worth the price. Essential. -- J. J. Butt, James Madison University Choice Cameron is a skilled story-teller, able to weave simultaneous strands of history together! An absorbing and insightful history of modern Scottish politics. -- Patricia Bowley, University of Guelph International Review of Scottish Studies He [Cameron] is a marvellous and masterly guide. This book is one of the most factually rich accounts of Scotland's most recent history one could hope for, and is a valuable addition to existing work in this area... Dr. Cameron's mastery of the literature is impressive and the book's bibliography is itself a most useful source for scholars of this period... The rich factual content of this work will, however, ensure its longevity on our bookshelves. Good scholarship never goes out of fashion. Cameron's book will be an essential reading for anyone wishing to seriously engage with late modern Scottish history. It will feature on all reading lists and I can already see the pencil defacement of the book by undergraduates, which is in itself a tribute to the author, though a nuisance to other readers. This is a dense political study, but the best of its kind, with enough social history to explicate the changes underway. The research is superb, and the full, up-to-date bibliography alone makes this book worth the price. Essential. Cameron is a skilled story-teller, able to weave simultaneous strands of history together! An absorbing and insightful history of modern Scottish politics.

Ewen A. Cameron is Reader in Scottish History at the University of Edinburgh. His research interests cover the political history of modern Scotland and the history of the Scottish highlands. From 2004 to 2009 he was join editor of the Scottish Historical Review.