Download or read book Radical Scotland written by Kenny MacAskill and published by Biteback Publishing. This book was released on 2020-02-27 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Political Martyrs memorial in Edinburgh looms large on the city's skyline but its history is relatively unknown. And that is not by accident. As Edinburgh's New Town was constructed, a narrative of kilts and loyalty was created for Scotland, with its radical history deliberately excluded. The French Revolution lit a spark in Scotland, inspiring radicals and working people alike, and uniting them in opposition to the King and his government. The oligarchy of landowners that ran Scotland was worried. Leading radicals like Thomas Muir and fellow political reformists were later rounded up and transported to Botany Bay. But they fought back and formed the Society of the United Scotsmen, seeking widespread political reform throughout the Union and were prepared to use physical force in defence of their ideals. As social and economic hardship followed in Waterloo's wake, the flame of radicalism was further ignited. This is Scotland's radical history.
Download or read book Scotland Free or a Desart The Radical Insurrection of 1820 written by T J Dowds and published by Paragon Publishing. This book was released on 2020-07-22 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In April 1820 there was a general strike in west-central Scotland that was followed by an armed rising to win workers the right to form trade unions, to vote and for the creation of a Scottish Parliament. After a battle with troops at Bonnymuir, it failed and the leaders, John Baird, Andrew Hardie and James Wilson were executed, and eighteen transported to Australia after show trials held under English Law. This book, using new information, traces the events of and leading to the insurrection, the role of spies and agents in the events, together with a detailed look at the trials, and what became of those transported. It is hoped that on the bicentenary of the Rising, the men who were sacrificed everything for democracy will be given the recognition they have been long denied.
Download or read book One Week in April written by Maggie Craig and published by Birlinn Ltd. This book was released on 2020-04-02 with total page 327 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In April 1820, a series of dramatic events exploded around Glasgow, central Scotland and Ayrshire. Demanding political reform and better living and working conditions, 60,000 weavers and other workers went on strike. Revolution was in the air. It was the culmination of several years of unrest, which had seen huge mass meetings in Glasgow and Paisley. In Manchester in 1819, in what became known as Peterloo, drunken yeomanry with their sabres drawn infamously rode into a peaceful crowd calling for reform, killing fifteen people and wounding hundreds more. In 1820, some Scottish Radicals marched under a flag emblazoned with the words 'Scotland Free, or Scotland a Desart' [sic]. Others armed themselves and set off for the Carron Ironworks, seeking cannons. Intercepted by Government soldiers, a bloody skirmish took place at Bonnymuir near Falkirk. A curfew was imposed on Glasgow and Paisley. Aiming to free Radical prisoners, a crowd in Greenock was attacked by the Port Glasgow militia. Among the dead and wounded were a 65-year-old woman and a young boy. In the recriminations that followed, three men were hanged and nineteen were transported to Australia from Scotland. In this book Maggie Craig sets the rising into the wider social and political context of the time and paints an intense portrait of the people who were caught up in these momentous events.
Download or read book Burns the Radical written by Liam McIlvanney and published by John Donald. This book was released on 2002 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study of poet Robert Burns's politics uncovers the intellectual context of the poet's political radicalism. Burns is revealed as a sophisticated political poet whose work draws on the democratic, contractarian ideology of Scottish Presbyterianism; the English and Irish Real Whig tradition; and the political theory of the Scottish Enlightenment. Casting new light on the poet's education and his early reading, this book provides detailed new readings of Burns's major poems and offers research on his links with Irish poets and radicals, providing a major reinterpretation of the man who is coming to be recognized as the poet laureate of the radical Enlightenment.
Download or read book The Fight for Scottish Democracy written by Murray Armstrong and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A brand-new history of Scotland's radical war for democracy in 1820.
Download or read book The Scottish Insurrection of 1820 written by Peter Berresford Ellis and published by John Donald. This book was released on 2001 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recapturing the desperation of the people & the extraordinary heroism of the radical leaders, this book offers an incisive analysis of the Scottish Insurrection of 1820 & the events that led up to it.
Download or read book Ireland and Scotland in the Age of Revolution written by Elaine W. McFarland and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The United Irishmen were one of the most determined and energetic radical organisations challenging the old regime in the British Isles at the end of the eighteenth century. Based on extensive new research, this book explores a previously little-known dimension of their activity - their involvement in Scottish society and politics - and sets the Scottish relationship against the climate of international brotherhood which followed the French Revolution." "From the 'Polite Era' of constitutional reform, to the role of Irish agents in the creation of a Scottish revolutionary underground, it describes the growth of ideological and organisational connections between Irish and Scottish radical movements. It then examines the United Irishmen's Rebellion of 1798 and its impact on the Scottish press, government agencies and the radicals themselves, before exploring the fate of refugees from the Irish crisis in the political and industrial strife in Scotland in the early nineteenth century." "This challenging book places Scottish radicalism within its full European context, and sheds new light on the nature of the United Irishmen's movement and the threat it posed to the existing social order."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Download or read book Yes written by James Foley and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An urgent and compelling argument for a 'Yes' vote on Scottish Independence, from a radical left perspective.
Download or read book A Companion to Contemporary British and Irish Poetry 1960 2015 written by Wolfgang Gortschacher and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2020-12-21 with total page 656 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive and scholarly review of contemporary British and Irish Poetry With contributions from noted scholars in the field, A Companion to Contemporary British and Irish Poetry, 1960-2015 offers a collection of writings from a diverse group of experts. They explore the richness of individual poets, genres, forms, techniques, traditions, concerns, and institutions that comprise these two distinct but interrelated national poetries. Part of the acclaimed Blackwell Companion to Literature and Culture series, this book contains a comprehensive survey of the most important contemporary Irish and British poetry. The contributors provide new perspectives and positions on the topic. This important book: Explores the institutions, histories, and receptions of contemporary Irish and British poetry Contains contributions from leading scholars of British and Irish poetry Includes an analysis of the most prominent Irish and British poets Puts contemporary Irish and British poetry in context Written for students and academics of contemporary poetry, A Companion to Contemporary British and Irish Poetry, 1960-2015 offers a comprehensive review of contemporary poetry from a wide range of diverse contributors.
Download or read book Strange Death of Labour Scotland written by Gerry Hassan and published by Edinburgh University Press. This book was released on 2012-06-20 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Analyses the last 30 years of Scottish Labour, from the arrival of Thatcherism in 1979 to the aftermath of the party's defeat in the 2007.
Download or read book Ireland Radicalism and the Scottish Highlands c 1870 1912 written by Andrew Newby and published by Edinburgh University Press. This book was released on 2019-08-06 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book focuses on the leading figures in radical politics in Ireland and Scottish highlands and explores the links between them. It deals with topics that have been at the centre of recent discussions on the Highland land question, the politics of the Irish community in Scotland, and the development of the labour movement in Scotland. The author argues that the Irish activists in the Scottish Highlands and in urban Scotland should be seen as adherents to notions of social and economic reform, such as land nationalisation, and not as Irish nationalists or Home Rulers. This leads him to make radical reassessments of the contributions of individuals such as John Ferguson, Michael Davitt and Edward McHugh. Andrew Newby looks closely at the political activities and ambitions of the Crofter MPs showing them to be a widely influential but diverse group: he reveals, for example, the extensive links between Angus Sutherland, the most radical of the Highland MPs, and John Ferguson's groupings of Irish political activists of urban Scotland. This is a balanced and vivid account of a turbulent period of modern Scottish history.
Download or read book Glasgow 1919 written by Kenny MacAskill and published by Biteback Publishing. This book was released on 2019-01-22 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The arrival of January 1919 sees Europe in turmoil, with revolution breaking out across the Continent. Glasgow's industrial community has been steeled by radicalism throughout the Great War, and as the spectre of mass unemployment and poverty threatens, a cadre of shop stewards, supported by political activists, is ready to strike for a forty-hour week. They face a state nervous of their strength and anxious about the wider consequences of their action, with the War Cabinet monitoring the situation closely. On 31 January, now known as Bloody Friday, tensions came to a head when 60,000 demonstrators clashed with police in George Square. The Scottish Bolshevik Revolution (so termed by the Secretary of State for Scotland) erupted, with tanks and 10,000 soldiers immediately despatched to the city to enforce order. The strike may have failed, but 1922 saw the arrival of Red Clydeside, as the Independent Labour Party swept the board in the general election. Now, 100 years on, Kenny MacAskill separates fact from fiction in this adept social history to explore how the events of that fateful day transpired and why their legacy still endures. Drawing on original material from speeches and newspaper reports of the time, MacAskill also paints a vivid picture of the solidarity amongst the working class in a rousing testimony to Glasgow's long radical history.
Download or read book The Case for Scottish Independence written by Ben Jackson and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2020-07-09 with total page 223 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scottish nationalism is a powerful movement in contemporary politics, yet the goal of Scottish independence emerged surprisingly recently into public debate. The origins of Scottish nationalism lie not in the medieval battles for Scottish statehood, the Acts of Union, the Scottish Enlightenment, or any other traditional historical milestone. Instead, an influential separatist Scottish nationalism began to take shape only in the 1970s and achieved its present ideological maturity in the course of the 1980s and 1990s. The nationalism that emerged from this testing period of Scottish history was unusual in that it demanded independence not to defend a threatened ancestral culture but as the most effective way to promote the agenda of the left. This accessible and engaging account of the political thought of Scottish nationalism explores how the arguments for Scottish independence were crafted over some fifty years by intellectuals, politicians and activists, and why these ideas had such a seismic impact on Scottish and British politics in the 2014 independence referendum.
Download or read book Literary Politics of Scottish Devolution written by Hames Scott Hames and published by Edinburgh University Press. This book was released on 2019-11-01 with total page 333 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Provides a cultural history and political critique of Scottish devolutionProvides the first critical history of Scottish devolutionOffers the first multidisciplinary study of (UK or Scottish) devolution: engaging extensively with the work of historians, sociologists, political scientists and cultural theoristsCombines close attention to political and electoral factors with cultural issues and developments Draws on political theory which illuminates devolution from outside its terms This book is about the role of writers and intellectuals in shaping constitutional change. Considering an unprecedented range of literary, political and archival materials, it explores how questions of 'voice', language and identity featured in debates leading to the new Scottish Parliament in 1999. Tracing both the 'dream' of cultural empowerment and the 'grind' of electoral strategy, it reconstructs the influence of magazines such as Scottish International, Radical Scotland, Cencrastus and Edinburgh Review, and sets the fiction of William McIlvanney, James Kelman, Irvine Welsh, A. L. Kennedy and James Robertson within a radically altered picture of devolved Scotland.
Download or read book The Spirit of the Union written by Gordon Pentland and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-10-06 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pentland's study has 3 aims: to place the uprising in a wider context by exploring the modes of extra-parliamentary politics between 1815 and1820 as well as the situation outside Scotland; (ii) to provide the first full account of the rising itself; and (iii) to examine the legacies of both the politics of 1815-20 and the Radical War.
Download or read book The Scottish Question written by James Mitchell and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2014-06-12 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over half a century ago, a leading commentator suggested that Scotland was very unusual in being a country which was, in some sense at least, a nation but in no sense a state. He asked whether something 'so anomalous' could continue to exist in the modern world. The Scottish Question considers how Scotland has retained its sense of self, and how the country has changed against a backdrop of fundamental changes in society, economy, and the role of the state over the course of the union. The Scottish Question has been a shifting mix of linked issues and concerns including national identity; Scotland's constitutional status and structures of government; Scotland's distinctive party politics; and everyday public policy. In this volume, James Mitchell explores how these issues have interacted against a backdrop of these changes. He concludes that while the independence referendum may prove an important event, there can be no definitive answer to the Scottish Question. The Scottish Question offers a fresh interpretation of what has made Scotland distinctive and how this changed over time, drawing on an array of primary and secondary sources. It challenges a number of myths, including how radical Scottish politics has been, and suggests that an oppositional political culture was one of the most distinguishing features of Scottish politics in the twentieth century. A Scottish lobby, consisting of public and private bodies, became adept in making the case for more resources from the Treasury without facing up to some of Scotland's most deep-rooted problems.
Download or read book The First Scottish Enlightenment written by Kelsey Jackson Williams and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2020-02-25 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Traditional accounts of the Scottish Enlightenment present the half-century or so before 1750 as, at best, a not-yet fully realised precursor to the era of Hume and Smith, at worst, a period of superstition and religious bigotry. This is the first book-length study to systematically challenge that notion. Instead, it argues that the era between approximately 1680 and 1745 was a 'First' Scottish Enlightenment, part of the continent-wide phenomenon of early Enlightenment and led by the Jacobites, Episcopalians, and Catholics of north-eastern Scotland. It makes this argument through an intensive study of the dramatic changes in historiographical practice which took place in Scotland during this era, showing how the documentary scholarship of Jean Mabillon and the Maurists was eagerly received and rapidly developed in Scottish historical circles, resulting in the wholesale demolition of the older, Humanist myths of Scottish origins and their replacement with the foundations of our modern understanding of early Scottish history. This volume accordingly challenges many of the truisms surrounding seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Scottish history, pushing back against notions of pre-Enlightenment Scotland as backward, insular, and intellectually impoverished and mapping a richly polymathic, erudite, and transnational web of scholars, readers, and polemicists. It highlights the enduring cultural links with France and argues for the central importance of Scotland's two principal religious minorities—Episcopalians and Catholics—in the growth of Enlightenment thinking. As such, it makes a major intervention in the intellectual and cultural histories of Scotland, early modern Europe, and the Enlightenment itself.