A gripping and enlightening work of history. One could read all of these facts countless times and yet miss the larger picture, but Neil Oliver has a writer's gift of drawing the forces, natural, military, religious, political and artistic, that created Scotland. We witness the ruthless passions which shape history; the unbridled fanaticism which shatters lives and yet becomes integrated into a larger dialog, which (sometimes) turns to the good. In 435 pages, Neil Oliver covers centuries without ever seeming to rush. His unsparing devotion to truth approaches a force of righteous judgment; in his Scotland, I saw a mirror of the patterns which have shaped America, and my own psyche. I recommend A History of Scotland without reserve.