Fully updated: the case for a radical independent Scotland

A People's History of Scotland looks beyond the kings and queens, the battles and bloody defeats of the past. It captures the history that matters today, stories of freedom fighters, suffragettes, the workers of Red Clydeside, and the hardship and protest of the treacherous Thatcher era.

With riveting storytelling, Chris Bambery recounts the struggles for nationhood. He charts the lives of Scots who changed the world, as well as those who fought for the cause of ordinary people at home, from the poets Robbie Burns and Hugh MacDiarmid to campaigners such as John Maclean and Helen Crawfurd. This is a passionate cry for more than just independence but also for a nation based on social justice. Fully updated to include the rise of the SNP post 2014.

"“Splendid … The careful social and economic analysis in A People’s History of Scotland offers a close reading of the rise and fall of industry and mining, resulting in consequences which were scarcely cheerful.”
—Paul Buhle, Monthly Review

“Offers a Scottish version of E. P. Thompson’s The Making of the English Working Class.”
—Scotsman"

“Readable, committed and making excellent use of poetry and song to illustrate the fight for
social justice across the centuries, Bambery’s book is as concerned with Scotland’s future as
with its past. It should be welcomed by everyone involved today in building on the historical
struggles for freedom”
—Neil Davidson, author of Discovering the Scottish Revolution