A review by pocketvolcano
A History Of Scotland by Neil Oliver

4.0

This goes up to the early to mid 1990s which makes sense. It was hard to get into at first -the author starts at the very beginning and I mean very beginning. He recounts how the land mass that became Scotland started out connected to the other continents, broke off and drifted up into the North Atlantic to where it is now. It was a unique choice to start off the book but eventually he gets into the pre-historic record of where the first Scots came from and things pick up from there. The author focuses a lot on the land itself throughout the book but also does a fine job with the people as well.

One thing in particular I liked was the fact that his wit and “voice” are on full display here. Some of his observations & recounting of events had me laughing. This isn’t a dry recounting of facts but a story infused with the author’s distinctive opinions.