Scotland's Empire : The Origins of the Global Diaspora

In Scotland's Empire, T.M Devine tells the compelling story of Scotland's role in forging and expanding the British Empire, from the Americas to Australia, India to the Caribbean. By 1820 Britain controlled a fifth of the world's population, and no people had made a more essential contribution than the Scots - working across the globe as soldiers and merchants, administrators and clerics, doctors and teachers. In this widely praised book, T. M. Devine - acclaimed author of The Scottish Nation and To the Ends of the Earth: Scotland's Global Diaspora - traces the vital part Scotland played in creating an empire - and the fundamental effect this had in moulding the modern Scottish nation. 'A tour de force ... Tom Devine is the pre-eminent historian of modern Scotland' Niall Ferguson, author of Empire 'Captivating ... tells the story of the Scots who put their marching boots on, or were forced into them, to start a new life abroad' Barclay McBain, Herald 'A fascinating work, replete with telling detail' Allan Massie, Literary Review 'Nobody has done more over the past thirty years to bring Scottish historiography into rigorous and unsentimental alignment with developments elsewhere than Tom Devine' Colin Kidd, The Times Literary Supplement 'Captivating ... tells the story of the Scots who put their marching boots on, or were forced into them, to start a new life abroad' Economist T.M.Devine, OBE is University Research Professor and Director of the Research Institute of Irish and Scottish Studies at the University of Aberdeen.His other books include The Scottish Nation and To the Ends of the Earth.