Alistair Moffat
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English
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[an] exploration of Scotland's past through the eyes of a scholarly hiker ... Magnificent' - New Statesman, Books of the Year
Fourteen centuries ago, Irish saints journeyed to the Hebrides and Scotland's Atlantic shore. They sought spiritual solitude in remote places, but their mission was also to spread the word of God to the peoples of Scotland. Columba was the most famous of these pioneers who rowed their curraghs towards danger and uncertainty...
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The Holy Grail, the kingdom of Camelot, the Knights of the Round Table, and the magical sword Excalibur are all key ingredients of the legends surrounding King Arthur. But who was he really, where did he come from, and how much of what we read about him in stories that date back to the Dark Ages is true? So far, historians have failed to show that King Arthur really existed at all, and for a good reason-they have been looking in the wrong place.
In...
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An "exciting and dramatic" history of the raiders who ruled the lawless Anglo-Scottish borderlands for over a century (Cumberland News).
Nowhere else in Britain in the modern era, or indeed in Europe, did civil order break down over such a wide area, or for such a long time, as on the border country between Scotland and England. For more than a century, the hoofbeats of countless raiding parties drummed over the border. From Dumfriesshire to the...
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Five hundred million years of Scottish history from the author of Arthur and the Lost Kingdoms: "Deserves a prominent place in the history canon" (Scots Magazine).
Covering the Ice Age to the recent Scottish Referendum, the acclaimed historian and author explores the history of the Scottish nation. Focusing on key moments such as the Battle of Bannockburn and the Jacobite risings, Moffat also features other episodes in history that are perhaps less...
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An almost limitless archive of our history lies hidden inside our bodies, and this book traces the ancient story of Scotland from that scientific viewpoint. The mushrooming of genetic studies, of DNA analysis, is rewriting history in spectacular fashion.
In Scotland: A Genetic Journey, Alistair Moffat explores the history that is printed on our genes, and in a remarkable new approach, uncovers the detail of where Scots are from, where they have journeyed,...
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Hadrian's Wall is the largest and one of the most enigmatic historical monuments in Britain. Nothing else approaches its vast scale: a land wall running seventy-three miles from east to west and a sea wall stretching at least twenty-six miles down the Cumbrian coast. Many of its forts are as large as Britain's most formidable medieval castles, and the wide ditch dug to the south of the Wall, the vallum, is larger than any surviving prehistoric earthwork.
Built...
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Acclaimed historian Alistair Moffat sets off in the footsteps of the Highland clans. In thirteen journeys he explores places of conflict, recreating as he walks the tumult of battle. As he recounts the military prowess of the clans – surely the most feared fighting men in western Europe – he also speaks of their lives, their language and culture before it was all swept away. The disaster at Culloden in 1746 represented not just the defeat of the...
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This local history tells the centuries-long story of a Scottish Borders town through its battles, traditions and transformations from prehistory to today.
Hawick, Scotland, is famous for its annual Common Riding festival, an equestrian tradition that traces its roots to the 16th century Battle of Hornshole. But in this lively history, Alistair Moffat takes the narrative much further back into the mists of prehistory, to the time of the Romans,...
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A Scottish historian travels along the cultural and geographical border of the Highlands in this "seductive travelogue" (Scottish Field).
Running from the northeast to the southwest of Scotland, the Highland Line is the most profound internal boundary in Britain. First recognized by the Roman general Agricola in the first century AD, it divides the country in many senses-signaling the border between Highland and Lowland; Celtic and English-speaking;...
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Dive into Northern Britain's Dark Ages in "a book which gives a satisfying and convincing account of this little-known part of Scotland's history" (Undiscovered Scotland).
Modern communications have driven motorways and pylons through the countryside, dwarfed us with TV and telephone masts, and drastically altered the way in which we move around, see, and understand Scotland. Recent politics and logistics have established borders and jurisdictions...
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June 1945. Hitler has triumphed, Britain is under German occupation and America cowers under the threat of nuclear attack.
In the dead of night, a figure flits through the ruins of Dryburgh Abbey, searching for a hidden document he knows could change the course of history. The journal he discovers, by a young soldier, David Erskine, records an extraordinary story.
When the Allies drive the Germans out of France and victory seems imminent, Erskine...
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Fourteen centuries ago, Irish saints brought the Word of God to the Hebrides and Scotland's Atlantic shore. These "white martyrs" sought solitude, remoteness, even harshness, in places apart from the world where they could fast, pray, and move closer to an understanding of God: places where they could see angels. Columba, who founded the famous monastery at Iona, was the most well-known of these courageous men who rowed their curraghs towards danger...
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Entertaining and provocative, this book from an expert on Scotland's cultural heritage reveals the lost history of an ancient, proud nation.
While Scotland's history cannot be separated from its kings and queens, saints, and warriors, there is a rich story to tell about the country's lesser-known places, people, and events. This colorful history of Scotland from award-winning writer Alistair Moffat chooses episodes, half-forgotten or misunderstood,...
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In "To the Island of Tides," Alistair Moffat travels to – and through the history of – the fated island of Lindisfarne. Walking from his home in the Borders, through the historical landscape of Scotland and northern England, he takes us on a pilgrimage in the footsteps of saints and scholars, before arriving for a secular retreat on the Holy Isle. Lindisfarne, famous for its monastery, has long been a place of sanctuary. It is an island rich in...
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The story of the Highland clans of Scotland is famous, the names celebrated, and the deeds heroic. Having clung to ancient traditions of family, loyalty, and valor for centuries, the clans met the beginning of their end at the fateful Battle of Culloden in 1746.
Alistair Moffat traces the history of the clans from their Celtic origins to the coming of the Romans; from Somer led the Viking to Robert the Bruce; from the great battles of Bannockburn...
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Kathleen Jamie, Alexander McCall Smith, Alistair Moffat, James Robertson and James Crawford travel across the country to tell the story of the nation, from abandoned islands and lonely glens to the heart of our modern cities. Whether visiting Shetland's Mousa Broch at midsummer, following in the footsteps of pilgrims to Iona Abbey, joining the tourist bustle at Edinburgh Castle, scaling the Forth Bridge or staying in an off-the-grid eco-bothy, the...