No Gods and Precious Few Heroes - (New History of Scotland) 4th Edition by Christopher Harvie (Paperback)

About the Book

Christopher Harvie analyses the pressures and influences that over the last hundred years have eroded to the point of destruction Scotland's position as a world industrial power.

Book Synopsis

A colourful and stimulating history of modern Scotland
This introductory history takes Scotland through two world wars and subsequent social exhaustion, through the re-energising adjustments loosely referred to as 'the sixties' to a final endgame of Union versus Independence. The novel structure of Harvie's history mirrors that of a grand engineering project, or a structure as complex as the Forth Railway Bridge: 'three periods of change rendered as towers, and two great cantilevered arches of life-in-common, over which day-to-day life proceeds'.
Key Features:

A final narrative of 'Union versus Independence'Thematically rebuilt chapters: Economy/Society/Politics/CultureThe '60s' reinterpretedFrom the APF (JW to ammend)
'When No Gods and Precious Few Heroes first appeared in 1981 Paul Addison, in the English Historical Review, called Christopher Harvie's book 'a masterly synthesis of the most important political, economic social and cultural developments in Scotland's recent past, written too with great wit and style.' Updated in 1987, after two further editions in 1996 and 2000 comes this near- total refashioning. 'Starting and finishing in melodrama', its much-travelled author, after living with politics and media in Europe, assesses the new parliamentary state against thirty-five turbulent, vertiginous years. Narrative and episodes shift from squaddies in Iraq camps to working mothers reclaiming civic life from failing religion and big crime. Traceable all-too -often to an untended past, the demand for 'love patience and power to absolve those tormented' might at last - through most unusual politics - be getting to it

From the Back Cover

[APPROVED] SERIES EDITOR: JENNY WORMALD A flagship series for Edinburgh University Press for many years, The New History of Scotland books have become classic texts. Written by authors at the forefront of their discipline, titles in this series provide an ideal introduction to Scottish history for students and for general readers. This popular and enduring series is now being updated with thoroughly revised editions both by original and by new authors. [Neal Ascherson endorsement to follow] Praise for previous editions: 'Harvie has achieved a masterly synthesis of the most important political, economic, social and cultural developments in Scotland's recent past, written too with great wit and style ... fully deserves the gratitude of students and scholars for making Scottish history so accessible and stimulating.' English Historical Review 'Indispensable to anyone seeking to understand modern Scotland.' The Herald '... a bold and original book shot through with novel ideas.' Scottish Historical Review Fully revised and updated edition of this classic text on the history of Scotland since World War I Epitomised by political, social and technological change this history appraises a fast-evolving century, from the outbreak of World War I up to the present and the politics of devolution and the age of the internet. The book begins with the devastating impact of World War I and Scotland's critical role in its conduct, then continues to explore Scots institutional life, from 1922 to 1964, governed by the problems of economy, society, politics and culture embedded in a mature industrialised state with economic problems and governmental deficits. Two further chapters cover the period from 1964 to 1999, including the challenge of new industries, oil discoveries, and the rise of devolutionary and nationalist politics. A new section for this edition covers the course of devolved politics, from the Scottish parliament of 1999 to the financial collapse of 2008 and the constitutional upheavals of 2014-15, rounding off this unique interpretation of a century of Scottish life from a cherished and multi-faceted historian. CHRISTOPHER HARVIE, Professor of British and Irish Studies at the University of Tübingen, has written extensively on UK and Scottish history. A founder-historian at the Open University, 1969‒80, he is the author of over 16 books, including The Lights of Liberalism (1976), Scotland and Nationalism (1977), The Rise of Regional Europe (1994), A Floating Commonwealth (2008), Scotland: A Short History (2014) and the historical novel Dalriada (2015). He was a Member of the Scottish Parliament, 2007‒11.

Review Quotes

A landmark work of original scholarship...[No Gods and Precious Few Heroes] is hugely informative, compressing a mass of fine detail into the description of broad trends, and ranging widely across economic, social, political and cultural history.'--Paul Addison "Scottish Affairs"

About the Author

Christopher Harvie, Professor of British and Irish Studies at the University of Tübingen, has written extensively on UK and Scottish history. A founder-historian at the Open University, 1969‒80, he is the author of over 16 books, including The Lights of Liberalism (1976), Scotland and Nationalism (1977), The Rise of Regional Europe (1994), Nineteenth-Century Britain (2000), and Scotland: A Short History (2014). He was a Member of the Scottish Parliament, 2007‒11. He spent 2007-11 in Scottish Parliament as MSP (SNP Regional List) for Fife, and was Political Liaison Officer to First Minister Alex Salmond. He has made several TV and Radio documentaries for the BBC and European media concerns, and lectured in Europe, East and West, North America and the Near East.