How the Scots Invented the Modern World: The True Story of How Western Europe's Poorest Nation Created Our World and Everything in It

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How the Scots Invented the Modern World: The True Story of How Western Europe's Poorest Nation Created Our World and Everything in It

3.85 of 5 stars 3.85 · rating details · 1,411 ratings · 152 reviews

Who formed the first modern nation?
Who created the first literate society?
Who invented our modern ideas of democracy and free market capitalism?
The Scots.

Mention of Scotland and the Scots usually conjures up images of kilts, bagpipes, Scotch whisky, and golf. But as historian and author Arthur Herman demonstrates, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries Scotland earned...more Who formed the first modern nation?
Who created the first literate society?
Who invented our modern ideas of democracy and free market capitalism?
The Scots.

Mention of Scotland and the Scots usually conjures up images of kilts, bagpipes, Scotch whisky, and golf. But as historian and author Arthur Herman demonstrates, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries Scotland earned the respect of the rest of the world for its crucial contributions to science, philosophy, literature, education, medicine, commerce, and politics—contributions that have formed and nurtured the modern West ever since.

Arthur Herman has charted a fascinating journey across the centuries of Scottish history. He lucidly summarizes the ideas, discoveries, and achievements that made this small country facing on the North Atlantic an inspiration and driving force in world history. Here is the untold story of how John Knox and the Church of Scotland laid the foundation for our modern idea of democracy; how the Scottish Enlightenment helped to inspire both the American Revolution and the U.S. Constitution; and how thousands of Scottish immigrants left their homes to create the American frontier, the Australian outback, and the British Empire in India and Hong Kong.

How the Scots Invented the Modern World reveals how Scottish genius for creating the basic ideas and institutions of modern life stamped the lives of a series of remarkable historical figures, from James Watt and Adam Smith to Andrew Carnegie and Arthur Conan Doyle, and how Scottish heroes continue to inspire our contemporary culture, from William “Braveheart” Wallace to James Bond.

Victorian historian John Anthony Froude once proclaimed, “No people so few in number have scored so deep a mark in the world’s history as the Scots have done.” And no one who has taken this incredible historical trek, from the Highland glens and the factories and slums of Glasgow to the California Gold Rush and the search for the source of the Nile, will ever view Scotland and the Scots—or the modern West—in the same way again. For this is a story not just about Scotland: it is an exciting account of the origins of the modern world and its consequences.

“The point of this book is that being Scottish turns out to be more than just a matter of nationality or place of origin or clan or even culture. It is also a state of mind, a way of viewing the world and our place in it. . . . This is the story of how the Scots created the basic idea of modernity. It will show how that idea transformed their own culture and society in the eighteenth century, and how they carried it with them wherever they went. Obviously, the Scots did not do everything by themselves: other nations—Germans, French, English, Italians, Russians, and many others—have their place in the making of the modern world. But it is the Scots more than anyone else who have created the lens through which we see the final product. When we gaze out on a contemporary world shaped by technology, capitalism, and modern democracy, and struggle to find our place as individuals in it, we are in effect viewing the world as the Scots did. . . . The story of Scotland in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries is one of hard-earned triumph and heart-rending tragedy, spilled blood and ruined lives, as well as of great achievement.”
—FROM THE PREFACE

From the Hardcover edition.(less)

Paperback, 480 pages

Published September 24th 2002 by Broadway (first published 2001)

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Jan 05, 2012 Jake rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-for-drummey, favorites

To be completely honest, it's hard to find a better written book out there, regardless of the obviously hyperbolic title. This text was so fastidiously researched, so utterly fascinating, and so easy to read that I can't fathom another work that could do the job better. Herman backs up his incredible title with myriad evidence that really supports how Scottish blood has invigorated and established some of the best concepts and inventions that have come out of the past three centuries or so. He s...more

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Aug 29, 2007 Matthew rated it 5 of 5 stars

The first three quarters of this book are absolutely amazing, showing how the Scottish Enlightenment period essentially created all modern political and philosophical teachings in the modernized world.

The book goes in to wonderful historical detail about brilliant individuals who were the product of a social program to bring education to everyone at a time when most people in Europe were illiterate. It discusses such brilliant philosophers as David Hume and Adam Smith, as well as great inventors...more

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Jan 19, 2011 Carolyn rated it 5 of 5 stars

Very engaging history of Scotland and it's people....detailed, but enjoyable. I was amazed at what the Scots endured, but more so with what they accomplished. I was surprised at the people who were Scottish: John Paul Jones, Alexander Hamilton, Sir Walter Scott, Alexander Graham Bell, Andrew Carnegie, Dr. David Livingston, James Watt, Robert Louis Stevenson, Andrew Jackson, James Polk, Jim Bowie, Daniel Boone, Sam Houston, Samuel Morse, just to name a few.

I wanted to read this book because I am...more

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May 30, 2012 Bikewriter rated it 4 of 5 stars

"How the Scots ..." is one of the most interesting non-fiction books I've read in a long time. "Huh? How," you ask, "can history be interesting?!" Not every author can make it interesting, for certain. But here's how to come up with such a winner, Arthur Herman-style:

1. Gather all the players, important events, places and timelines and put them on the canvas.
2. Arrange and join those pieces on the larger background of historical context to create a vital story -- that is, show how all that poten...more

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Jun 12, 2008 EJ Johnson rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: history readers

I found this book on the library shelf when I checked out How the Irish saved Civilization. I enjoyed this book mostly but I did skip over some of the sections on philosophy which was unfortunate because he refers to them repeatedly in the rest of the book. Herman shows the Scottish ideas in things good and bad and how those ideas helped develop philosophies of democracy, slavery, socialism, Marxism, and freedom. He gives credit to Scots for most important discoveries and many of our words. My f...more

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Aug 11, 2008 Kelly rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: history, non-fiction, biography-autobiography

This is written in the same vein as Cahill's How the Irish Saved Civilization. I learned about Scottish history but really the entire world. From inventions to famous people, this book explores how Scotland and its citizens contributed to the modern (by what they did in the 1700 and 1800s) . It took me a while to get into the writing style, but this is a worthwhile read. I liked the history in the book (I had taken 4 Brit Lit courses for my undergrad and grad English degree and had learned about...more

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Apr 24, 2013 David Bird rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book starts well, describing an interesting cultural moment that was Scottish, and declines as it moves to the assumption that in later history, individuals are worthy of interest because they were Scottish, or of Scottish descent. For example, he notes an early governor of Australia developing Sydney with the aid of a convict-architect. The governor, Scottish, is named; the architect is English and anonymous.

He begins well with noting how a rigid notion of morality led to execution of a yo...more

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Feb 25, 2011 Bennet rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: history-politics-war

This is the finely told story of how the Scottish enlightenment emerged from "the most drunken nation on earth" and established the guiding principles of democratic government.

What I like most about the book is the overview of perspectives that resulted in "the American experiment." Readers looking for Christian founding fathers will find them, but a composite father dubbed "Common Sense Man" gets credit for the experiment's success,and he is mostly Scottish.

Among the many Scots who participate...more This is the finely told story of how the Scottish enlightenment emerged from "the most drunken nation on earth" and established the guiding principles of democratic government.

What I like most about the book is the overview of perspectives that resulted in "the American experiment." Readers looking for Christian founding fathers will find them, but a composite father dubbed "Common Sense Man" gets credit for the experiment's success,and he is mostly Scottish.

Among the many Scots who participated in America's founding, Thomas Reid (b. 1710) is the guiding "founding moderate," who advocated the "self-evident truths" of common sense and exemplified "Common Sense Man."

The author writes:

"In America his (Reid's) impact was huge. Thomas Jefferson knew his writings, and put Reid's best-known work on his recommended book list. It was very probably from Reid that he borrowed the idea of self-evident truths for the Declaration of Independence. He also put Reid at the center of his planned curriculum for the University of Virginia."

Thomas Paine used Reid's catch phrase, common sense, as the title of his treatise and pamphlet on the necessity of American independence, which was "the single most popular pamphlet of the American Revolution."

Notions of law and justice that resulted in "the balance of powers" and the Supreme Court were largely informed by Reid, who insisted: "The better ordinary people understood the law, the better for the law, and the better for democracy." The only way "such a complicated architecture of counterbalancing powers and countervailing interests could avoid permanent gridlock" was by agreement upon the self-evident truth of common sense by which sound judgment and compromise could proceed.

The author concludes: "The great insight of the Scottish Enlightenment was to insist that human beings need to free themselves from myths and see the world as it really is . . . As the first modern nation and culture, the Scots have by and large made the world a better place. They taught the world that true liberty requires a sense of personal obligation as well as individual rights . . . The Scottish mind grasped how, in (David) Hume's words, liberty is the perfection of civil society."

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May 31, 2008 Lisa Pletz rated it 5 of 5 stars

If you want to understand why America developed the way it did, this book will help you to get it. I found it very readable, although I must admit a certain bias - I'm interested in all things politic, and I come from a Scots-Irish background, so in very many ways, I understand the author "intuitively." At any rate, this is a great book that will help you to see why we are the way we are, and may give some insight into using that backstory to change how we are doing things now.

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Apr 30, 2009 Jae rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book is no page-turner, but if you like historical non-fiction (which I don't, really) this could be your book. I'm marking this book as "read" even though, I must confess, I didn't read the entire book. I started at the beginning (where else?) and read the first 80 or 90 pages, covering the Scots contributions to modern thought and philosophy. Then I tired of it, but didn't want to completely give up. So, I looked that the TOC and saw a chapter about Scots in science and industry, so, bein...more

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Jan 03, 2013 Richard rated it 5 of 5 stars

As far as I'm concerned every citizen of the free world should read this book, especially Canadians and Americans. Scotland is one of those tiny might nation's whose people are pretty much responsible for everything that works in the western world. This book is a splendid read from the Great Scottish men to the nobodies and their role in history. [Ok I'm biased being Scottish] But these books are great at bringing out the real Scottish, and avoiding the stereotypes and false histories that have...more

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Oct 13, 2009 Alexandria rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: biography, non-fiction, scotland

How the Scots Invented the Modern World: The True Story of How Western Europe’s Poorest Nation Created Our World & Everything in It was a very informative and interesting book. It covers the late 1600s to the mid 1800s in-depth, and covers the late 1800s to the present in the conclusion. The book was easy to read, but was slow reading for me due to all the new information in it. I had no previous knowledge of ninety percent of the information it contained, and what I thought I did know was e...more How the Scots Invented the Modern World: The True Story of How Western Europe’s Poorest Nation Created Our World & Everything in It was a very informative and interesting book. It covers the late 1600s to the mid 1800s in-depth, and covers the late 1800s to the present in the conclusion. The book was easy to read, but was slow reading for me due to all the new information in it. I had no previous knowledge of ninety percent of the information it contained, and what I thought I did know was explained differently in the book.
The title itself is a little far-fetched, and the author seems to retract a little in his thoughts of what was the typical Scottish way: “…he perfected something created by someone else, and gave it a higher and wider application that its original inventor had imagined.” The author contends that much of what the Scots did in this book was take some thing or some idea and expound upon it, not necessarily invent it.
The book was well organized by topic or idea, but going from chapter to chapter makes it harder to keep the timeline correct. It starts in the early 1700s, moves to the beginning of the 1800s, and then back again when it begins a new subject, making it hard for the reader to keep track of it all. A simple timeline would have been useful to me. I would have kept one myself if I had realized the need sooner in my reading. I also think an insert of maps and lineages and photos would have helped.
The subjects spoken of throughout the book were well explained and easy to understand for those with no prior knowledge. The subjects on things tangible (such as the historic novel, Morse code, the telephone, etc.) were easier for me to understand than those on philosophy.
Many subjects were new to me. The Scottish Enlightenment and its uniqueness, with its many members genuine clergymen and science and religion working hand in hand was completely different when compared to the French Enlightenment. The literacy rate of the common people in Scotland was much higher than the rest of Europe at the time. It is wonderful to think how much they did with their lending libraries and the schools in every village and the universities that were open to everyone that helped shape our present times.
The visit of George IV that turned Scottish history into Highland history and ignored the rest struck me. My family ancestors (and my husband’s) came from either the Lowlands or the Borders and not the Highlands, which makes most of what I know not at all accurate to our personal history. Also, what we know about the wearing of the kilt was fashioned at the time of George IV’s visit in 1822, with the shortened kilt, and the tartans. Only the Black Watch had been in continual use until it became legal and popular to wear the tartan again. The revelation that clans didn’t have a specific tartan belonging to them and had previously worn whatever suited them prior to the King's visit was interesting and freeing to me in choosing which one to wear while trying to find the one that belonged to my ancestors.
Overall, this book was enlightening to me and made me even prouder of my Scottish heritage. It expanded my thoughts of how their influence shaped us, past the Scottish burr and the tartan. For “…being Scottish is more than just a matter of nationality or place of origin or clan or even culture. It is also a state of mind, a way of viewing the world and our place in it.”(less)

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Apr 09, 2012 Theresa Leone Davidson rated it 5 of 5 stars

The Scots did more for modern education, especially the idea that all people, regardless of race, gender or social or economic class, deserve one, and should have access to higher education. What they accomplished for the world in terms of education, as a teacher, is what I appreciated most about the book. I also learned more about key figures in history, all from Scotland, like Alexander Fleming, Alexander Graham Bell, James Watt, James Lind, Erasmus Darwin and his grandson, Charles Darwin, Tho...more

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Jan 04, 2009 Megan rated it 4 of 5 stars

I learned so much from reading this book! It makes me very proud of my Scottish heritage. This book highlights a country that encouraged a free exchange of ideas that was centuries ahead of its time (schools available to all economic classes, first public libraries). Out of this intellectual society came the building blocks of modern science, philosophy, economics, architecture, education, and much more. Scotsmen took a leading role in the British Empire and the founding of America (one-third of...more I learned so much from reading this book! It makes me very proud of my Scottish heritage. This book highlights a country that encouraged a free exchange of ideas that was centuries ahead of its time (schools available to all economic classes, first public libraries). Out of this intellectual society came the building blocks of modern science, philosophy, economics, architecture, education, and much more. Scotsmen took a leading role in the British Empire and the founding of America (one-third of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were Scottish). Unfortunately, as the Scottish immigrated to other lands, Scotland lost its intellectual edge.

Here are a couple of interesting things I learned:

*18th century economist and Scotsman Adam Smith said government should provide a strong system of national defense, a system of justice, and help with essential public works. Otherwise, government shouldn't interfere - particularly in economics (how timely given the recent BAILOUT). "History offered innumerable examples of governments and rulers, often with the best intentions, trying to change or adjust their nation's economic life, with disastrous results. Roman emperors had attempted to regulate the economy of the Late Empire, and had destroyed it instead. Spain had tried to maintain a monopoly on the flow of bullion from the New World only to bankrupt itself." p. 217-218

*"The Scots who came to the United States in the nineteenth century reveal once again why the Scottish diaspora was so different from other mass immigrations in history...the vast majority of Scottish immigrants could read and write English. Most knew some trade other than farming...Of all American immigrant groups, probably only the Jews had more or comparable skills. But unlike the Jews, or the Irish for that matter, Protestant Scottish immigrants were not held back by religious discrimination. And unlike the English, they did not expect special or preferential treatment. They lived by Sir Walter Scott's famous maxim, 'I am a Scot and therefore I had to fight my way into the world.' They anticipated hard work as a matter of course." p. 387

It was a fascinating book, although the author assumes a higher level of knowledge of history than I personally have so at times I struggled to keep up with him. Rated G. (less)

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Mar 20, 2013 Keith Abramowski rated it 5 of 5 stars

Loved this book. Fascinating look at how the Scot, the Scottish Reformation, and the Scottish Enlightment pushed the world into the Industrial Age. For such a small nation, on the backwater of Europe, with no real advantages, the Scots had an enormous impact on how we live even today. From inventions like James Watts and an efficient steam engine, the railroad, to the flowering of economics and civil engineering and city planning, the Scots impact on the world is far greater than it should have...more

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Nov 08, 2012 Ray Ziemer rated it 4 of 5 stars

Fascinating history - It's amazing to find the tremendous influence Scots have had on the creation of the world as we know it -- way out of proportion to the size and population of Scotland. This book is very readable, and really educated me on a number of subjects. I have been fairly ignorant of Scotch culture generally, like most modern American non-Scottish aware only of the stereotypes: bagpipes and Braveheart, lochs and kilts and the stingy Scrooge McDuck.

The book surprised me with things I...more Fascinating history - It's amazing to find the tremendous influence Scots have had on the creation of the world as we know it -- way out of proportion to the size and population of Scotland. This book is very readable, and really educated me on a number of subjects. I have been fairly ignorant of Scotch culture generally, like most modern American non-Scottish aware only of the stereotypes: bagpipes and Braveheart, lochs and kilts and the stingy Scrooge McDuck.

The book surprised me with things I never knew about literary figures -- about James Boswell, Robert Burns, Daniel Defoe, and of course Walter Scott. But more importantly, Arthur Herman explains the accomplishments of David Hume and Adam Smith, and a host of other philosophers I had never heard of such as Francis Hutcheson and Lord Kames, who were at the heart of the Scottish Enlightenment that spread modern ideas around the western world. Scottish people and the their ideas of education, economics, and government traveled to America and transformed the United States. (Princeton University was molded to Scottish higher education ideals.) A third of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were native-born Scots or of Scottish descent. The new country nurtured characters such as Alexander Knox, George Rogers Clark, and later Andrew Jackson.

Scots were key to the development of Canada (oh, yeah MacKenzie!) and Australia (Captain Cook). Scots were instrumental at every stage of the development of the British Empire, from Africa (Dr. Livingstone, I presume) to India (James Napier) and China (Hong Kong!) It just goes on and on, with Scottish influence on science, medicine, technology and every other aspect of the modern world (James Watt, Andrew Carnegie,and more names most of us wouldn't be familiar with). Quite an amazing book!

I have been meaning to find out more about Scotland for a while now. My cousin Bruce Ziemer got me interested years ago with his descriptions of Edinburgh and the International Festival there, which is I guess the biggest festival of the arts anywhere in the world. Dorothy Dunnett intrigued me by setting some of her Niccolo series of historical novels in medieval Scotland. I've already read the first of her Lymond Novels set in Scotland. The thing that got me to take Arthur Herman's book off the shelf and read it now was the enjoyable play in verse (The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart) staged by the National Theatre of Scotland at Shakespeare Theatre. (Oh, yeah, and the free Scotch whiskey!)(less)

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Feb 04, 2012 Ron rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: history

Consider the title of this book:How the Scots Invented the Modern World: The True Story of How Western Europe's Poorest Nation Created Our World & Everything in It. (The word "true" is something of a give away.)

The reader can't take it seriously, and apparently neither did its author. As Herman admits (page 278), "an important secret in publishing, that information is made more memorable when it is tinged with biased." How the Scots was marinated in bias. For all that, it's an entertaining r...more

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Jun 28, 2010 George Dobbs rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Anyone interested in history

This is a fine survey of Western history from the Scot point of view, starting in the late 1600's right up through the present. It filled in a number of gaps for me such as the battle of Culloden and the Opium wars, and what defines the Presbyterians (then, and now). Occasionally, the author seemed to stretch the connection to Scotland, but overall enjoyable and educational. Many of my anscestors have been described as Scotch-Irish. He points out that these are also known as Ulster Scots, the Sc...more

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May 18, 2013 JP rated it 4 of 5 stars

Convincing argument about the Scot's connection to classical law, architecture, practical philosophy, and education. Edinburgh become an important center of ideas due to Enlightenment academics and religious persons mixing in a new environment with merchants and tradesmen. A very practical philosophy resulted. Poverty was an important factor, having produced a frugal, hardy, and resourceful people. Herman also covers the importance of citizen militia and nationalist pride, and dispels myths, inc...more

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Feb 12, 2013 Rishiyur Nikhil rated it 4 of 5 stars

Fascinating book. Starting in the late 1700s, when Scotland was essentially a Presbyterian Taliban in the spirit of John Knox (a 17-year old student is executed for "blasphemy"), shows the remarkable transformation in the thinking of the leading intellectuals in Scotland over the next 50-100 years that led to the modern worldview of equality for all men, relegation of religion to private opinion, free enterprise and its balance with morality, etc. Talks about the philosophers Hutcheson, Hume, Ad...more

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Aug 31, 2012 Leslie rated it 4 of 5 stars

I found this gem in a bargain book bin at Barnes and Noble. I love history and being partially of Scottish descent, I knew I would enjoy and learn from this book. It is a fascinating look into the history of Scotland, the clan system and the Scottish Enlightenment of the 17th through 19th century that produced many of the world's great innovators. One small problem - the title of the book is inaccurate. The Scots certainly did not invent the modern world on their own. Many different ethnicities...more

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Jan 14, 2012 Kristi Thielen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Hell, yes, the Scots Invented the Modern World. It's more a question of what they didn't do. From literature (Robert Burns and Sir Walter Scott)to philosophy ( David Hume) banking and finance (Adam Smith) inventions (James Watt) industry (Andrew Carnegie) and science (James Hutton)and everything in between, pick a topic and before you delve deeply in it, you'll find a Scot.

Liberal arts types should appreciate that the Glascow concept of higher education stresses the gaining of knowledge across...more

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Jan 08, 2013 Darren Campbell-nielsen rated it 4 of 5 stars

A very interesting read, lots of information over a large period of time without being overwhelming. I think that Arther Herman's true calling might be military historical fiction, because no section came more to life than the descriptions of battles, especially the battle of Culloden in 1745. He drew great little anecdotes from oral histories and was able to find some physical descriptions of some of the principal historical figures, which I think is rare. Just a sentence describing one of the...more

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Feb 14, 2012 Paul Ewing rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: best-books-on-history

Even though I've only finished the first 100 pages, this book has transformed my thinking about the origins of the modern world.

Key quotes: "Scotland would generate the basic institutions, ideas, attitudes, and habits of mind that characterize the modern age." p. 11.

"'The people have the right to confer the royal authority upon whomever they wish.'" --George Buchanan, "The Law of Government Among the Scots," 1579

Robert Burns, "'A man's a man for a' that."

"...the Act of Union [with England] lau...more

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Mar 19, 2013 Lisa (Harmonybites) rated it 2 of 5 stars

Recommended to Lisa (Harmonybites) by: The Ultimate Reading List

Shelves: 2013-around-the-world, history, science, ultimate-reading-list, non-fiction

I gave this a try because it was recommended on The Ultimate Reading List, under the history section, and the list has helped me discover some new favorites. But the very title did make me wary this would be a case of overreach, like that of two other history books on their list, Cahill’s How the Irish Saved Civilization and Weatherford’s Genghis Khan & the Making of the Modern World. I thought Cahill’s book deserved an F; nothing within its pages came anywhere near substantiating its claims...more I gave this a try because it was recommended on The Ultimate Reading List, under the history section, and the list has helped me discover some new favorites. But the very title did make me wary this would be a case of overreach, like that of two other history books on their list, Cahill’s How the Irish Saved Civilization and Weatherford’s Genghis Khan & the Making of the Modern World. I thought Cahill’s book deserved an F; nothing within its pages came anywhere near substantiating its claims and by half-way through the book I decided it was junk history. Weatherford’s book came across as an apologia, nay propaganda, even if I did think it had some interesting material--but I kept feeling the other side was being hidden from me.

Herman’s book does suffer from overreach, even distortion. At times he really does stretch things in efforts to claim credit for Scots. For instance, he claims that Gibbon’s masterpiece, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire owes a great deal to Scottish models of history and that Gibbons was “intellectually a Scott.” He gives Scots a lot of credit for the American Revolution on such flimsy grounds as Thomas Jefferson and James Madison being educated in schools on the Scottish model. Scholars, Herman claimed, joke that the Scot David Hume is the “real” author of James Madison’s Federalist 10. On the other hand, in his largely uncritical portrait of Sir Walter Scott, he fails to mention Mark Twain’s famous claim that Scott’s "romanticization of battle" created a Southern culture that led to the American Civil War. He gives credit to Bell and Langley for the “first airplane” and as evidence notes that the Smithsonian Institute hung up their plane rather than Wright’s. Herman fails to mention, a detail I read in a recent book, that was due to a feud between the Wrights and the Smithsonian--not a superior claim of Bell and Langley’s craft for first airplane.

That’s why I felt I had to rank this so low. I’m not even a historian or buff of Scottish history, so if this is what I caught, there had to be more I didn’t. And yet it’s a shame. I knew little of the Scottish Enlightenment, and Herman does shine detailing that intellectual history. He does deal with the most famous thinkers such as David Hume and Adam Smith--but he also treats seminal thinkers I’d never heard of such as Francis Hutcheson and Lord Kames. He made me want to read them, and made me feel that when I do I’ll better understand them and their impact because of reading this book. I also appreciated Herman’s efforts to debunk a lot of the myths that have accumulated about Highlanders, the clan, and Bonnie Prince Charlie. As Herman says in the Preface, in “1700 Scotland was Europe’s poorest independent country” yet by the end of that century it had the highest literary rate and Voltaire would say it “is to Scotland that we look for our idea of civilization.” Herman explains what happened in between, and it often makes for an entertaining read. This isn’t one of the books that reads like a novel, but it’s not bone dry either, but I left the book feeling I couldn’t trust the history.
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Jan 17, 2013 Rowena rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: History-lovers

Shelves: scottish-lit, history

Fascinating book about the impact Scotland has had on the world.

Most Scottish people are familiar with the poem, Wha's Like Us, which lists many Scottish inventions and innovations. Link here : http://www.aboutaberdeen.com/whaslike...

Reading this book made me appreciate even more how much the Scots have impacted the world with the little they had and with the tragedies they experienced. I learned a few interesting facts:

- One thing that the Scottish, Irish and English could agree on was their h...more

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Mar 02, 2012 Cheryl Gatling added it

Think of Scotland, and what comes to mind? Kilts and bagpipes, shortbread, haggis, and Braveheart. But the true legacy of Scotland was something else entirely. The Scots were pioneers of education, establishing parish schools and open universities. Thinkers and writers flourished. Passionate discussion of new ideas became a national pastime. Scottish philosophers influenced the intellectual directions of other nations. Scottish medical schools stressed observation over theory, and Scottish docto...more Think of Scotland, and what comes to mind? Kilts and bagpipes, shortbread, haggis, and Braveheart. But the true legacy of Scotland was something else entirely. The Scots were pioneers of education, establishing parish schools and open universities. Thinkers and writers flourished. Passionate discussion of new ideas became a national pastime. Scottish philosophers influenced the intellectual directions of other nations. Scottish medical schools stressed observation over theory, and Scottish doctors became the best in the world. Scottish business and industry grew, with new developments in science and technology growing along with it. Scots became leaders in the governments of England, India, Canada, and Australia. The author argues that all these accomplishments grew out of a characteristically Scottish state of mind: egalitarian, practical, embracing progress and not bound by tradition. And these qualities date back to the Protestant Reformation of John Knox, which, although repressive of unacceptable behaviors, taught people great and small that they were all equal before God, that they could cast off the old (Catholic) ways of the past, that they need not obey kings and queens, that reading and writing were for everyone, and congregations could govern themselves. Even after the Scottish church grew more tolerant and loosened its hold on the people, these forward-thinking, independent ways persisted. Maybe the Scots did not invent the modern world, but they rushed headlong into it, improving as they went. Because so many Scots spread out into the world, their achievements are celebrated as great achievements period, not as particularly Scottish. Adam Smith is the great economist, not the Scottish economist. Alexander Fleming is the discoverer of penicillin, not the Scottish discoverer of penicillin. But Herman calls our attention to the disproportionate number of Scots who did great things. And he argues that their greatest achievement of all is inventing a new way of thinking, a modern way, and teaching the rest of the world to think like modern human beings, too.(less)

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Sep 19, 2011 Ann rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Who knew the Scots invented the modern world?! Well, they did, and you will believe it after you read this book. It is very good history as well as being entertaining and you will wonder why you didn't know much of it in the first place. Ever wonder why Appalachians talk with that accent - it is their Scottish heritage. Your head will be crammed with such facts, which I guess is better than your stomach being stuffed with haggis. I think they left that behind when they came to America - smart pe...more

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Jan 23, 2011 Lynne Tull rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

I am amazed by the things we enjoy or take for granted in our everyday life that can be traced to the direct influence of the Scots. The thread running through this book: Scots did not necessarily originate the idea. However, because of their ability to read and write, work ethic and single-mindedness to prevail in their goals, they took the ideas and developed them into practical applications that have been passed to us in the 21st Century.

I really want to outline the whole book. I want to get...more I am amazed by the things we enjoy or take for granted in our everyday life that can be traced to the direct influence of the Scots. The thread running through this book: Scots did not necessarily originate the idea. However, because of their ability to read and write, work ethic and single-mindedness to prevail in their goals, they took the ideas and developed them into practical applications that have been passed to us in the 21st Century.

I really want to outline the whole book. I want to get a feel for the events that have led us to the World as we know it in 2011. However, I could not wait to recommend this book to you. It takes a while to read. It's well worth the time..time spent to digest it. It may take a second and even third reading to do so.

Some of the historical Scot figures involved are: Thomas Aidenhead, Frances Hutcheson, Lord Kames, George Buchanan, James I, Henry Home, John Millar, Robert and James Adams, Adam Smith, David Hume, Adam Ferguson, Colin MacLaurin, James McHenry, Francis Scott Key, John Paul Jones, Sir Walter Scott, James Watt, John McAdam, Robert Louis Stevenson, David Livingston, Samuel Morse, Alexander Graham Bell, Andrew Carnegie, Ian Fleming/James Bond.

Concepts/Ideas/Products/Philosophies: school system: K-Adv.Degree, liberal arts colleges, literate society, civilized society, political system, human nature, Enclopaedia Britannica, libraries, capitalism, urban planning, civilian militia, Scotch whiskey, Princeton, West Point, Ft. McHenry, Star Spangled Banner, common sense, work ethic, e, historical novel, tartan/insignia/modern day image of the Scots, steam engine, doctors, dentists, delivery of babies, cure for scurvy, macadamized road, Morse code, telephone, Supreme Court, time zones, battleships, railroad/steam engine, cable cars, OSHA, Listerine, gas street lighting, self-help.

Some of the names are obscure to you as is the disbelief in the impact they have had on our modern culture. I challenge you to read and believe.

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Aug 17, 2008 Patricia rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2008

I'll start by saying that it was pretty interesting. He looked at several ideas in the education system that eventually led to those great philosophical ideas we study in school and, one person that I knew very well from school, Adam Smith. And then it also described the Scottish culture influenced the US, Canada, and other areas of the British Empire as the Scots left Scotland in waves.

There were a few little known facts, at least to me, that I found fascinating. And this may be because I've al...more I'll start by saying that it was pretty interesting. He looked at several ideas in the education system that eventually led to those great philosophical ideas we study in school and, one person that I knew very well from school, Adam Smith. And then it also described the Scottish culture influenced the US, Canada, and other areas of the British Empire as the Scots left Scotland in waves.

There were a few little known facts, at least to me, that I found fascinating. And this may be because I've always had a fascination with words and sometimes I think I really should have gone to school to become a linguist. For example, the old political party, the Whigs, was derived from a Scots word, whigg. And it's interesting to note that Tory apparently comes from an Irish word. Bu Herman writes "Whigg is Scots for a kind of sour milk or whey....Whiggamore [sour milk men] soon shortened to Whig; in John Locke's day, it referred to anyone bound and determined to have a Protestant succession, whether in Scotland or England."

The Scottish also went South and influenced endearing parts of "Southern" culture in the US. Herman mentions some words that were also generated from the Scottish and parts of Southern culture, which is strange because I wouldn't at first think of it as particularly Scottish.

It's the little facts that I really like. In my Euro class back in high school, my teacher loved the little facts and one of her biggest things were quotes. We had to memorize a quote from a certain time period or in the case of school, from a chapter. But it was fun and they stick with you. I know I've already brought up the Whig party to a few people.

The book is also a fairly quick read. Yes, it's a history book and history can be...complicated. Complicated in that certain people or families keep popping up and you may have to go back and refresh where they came from initially or why they're on one side of history as opposed to the other (even if they may have been on the other). But that's what makes it interesting. I think that there could have been more dates in the book as there were a few times when I had to flip back several pages to figure out what time period, since the entire book wasn't chronological. It was for the most part, but when you have a chapter or two on a cultural aspect, time lines are going to flow back and forth quite readily.(less)

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