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Stone Voices: The Search for Scotland
The rediscovery of Scotland's past and a wake-up call about its future, from a leading scholar-journalist
Scotland has a new Parliament and it has North Sea oil, but is it yet an independent, self-sustaining democracy? Is it a true nation? In Stone Voices, Neal Ascherson launches what he calls an imaginative invasion of his native land, searching for the relationships, themes, and fantasies that make up "Scotland."
Beginning with a breathtaking portrait of the country's landscape, and of the way humanity has indelibly marked even its rockiest contours, Ascherson takes us on a journey through Scotland's past, interweaving his historical accounts with a rollicking report on a back-country bus expedition he joined during the 1997 referendum campaign that led to Scotland's first modern Parliament. He asked voters then what kind of country they hoped for, what they feared, and what they expected—questions that animate his book as well.
In his search for a nation, Acherson explores many themes: the slow, hybrid formation of the Scottish people over centuries of successive immigrations; the way their most renowned intellectuals and writers came to hate the national church; the peculiar nature of their diaspora; the coexistence of their search for an "authentic" Scotland with the myths others create; and the Scots' proud sense of true independence. Stone Voices enlightens us about Scotland, about Europe, and about the conditions for freedom that we must all seek today.
Scotland has a new Parliament and it has North Sea oil, but is it yet an independent, self-sustaining democracy? Is it a true nation? In Stone Voices, Neal Ascherson launches what he calls an imaginative invasion of his native land, searching for the relationships, themes, and fantasies that make up "Scotland."
Beginning with a breathtaking portrait of the country's landscape, and of the way humanity has indelibly marked even its rockiest contours, Ascherson takes us on a journey through Scotland's past, interweaving his historical accounts with a rollicking report on a back-country bus expedition he joined during the 1997 referendum campaign that led to Scotland's first modern Parliament. He asked voters then what kind of country they hoped for, what they feared, and what they expected—questions that animate his book as well.
In his search for a nation, Acherson explores many themes: the slow, hybrid formation of the Scottish people over centuries of successive immigrations; the way their most renowned intellectuals and writers came to hate the national church; the peculiar nature of their diaspora; the coexistence of their search for an "authentic" Scotland with the myths others create; and the Scots' proud sense of true independence. Stone Voices enlightens us about Scotland, about Europe, and about the conditions for freedom that we must all seek today.
326 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
19 people are currently reading
204 people want to read
About the author
Neal Ascherson
65 books41 followersCharles Neal Ascherson (b. 1932) is a Scottish journalist and writer.
He was born in Edinburgh and educated at Eton and King's College, Cambridge, where he read history and graduated with a triple starred first. He was described by the historian Eric Hobsbawm as "perhaps the most brilliant student I ever had. I didn't really teach him much, I just let him get on with it."
Ascherson's books include The King Incorporated: Leopold II (1963), The Polish August (1982), The Struggles for Poland (1987), Games with Shadows (1989), Black Sea (1996), Stone Voices (2002), and The Death of the Fronsac (2017).
He was the cental and eastern Europe correspondent for The Observer for many years. He also covered southern and central Africa for The Observer and The Scotsman from 1969 - 1989 and was the politics correspondent for The Scotsman from 1975 - 1979.
In the aftemath of Scotland's first devolution referendum in 1979, Ascherson was one of the editors of The Bulletin of Scottish Politics (1980-81). From 1998 until 2008, he was editor of Public Archaeology, a journal from the Institute of Archaeology at UCL, as well as a columnist for The Observer and Independent on Sunday 1985 - 2008.
He lives in London and Argyll.
He was born in Edinburgh and educated at Eton and King's College, Cambridge, where he read history and graduated with a triple starred first. He was described by the historian Eric Hobsbawm as "perhaps the most brilliant student I ever had. I didn't really teach him much, I just let him get on with it."
Ascherson's books include The King Incorporated: Leopold II (1963), The Polish August (1982), The Struggles for Poland (1987), Games with Shadows (1989), Black Sea (1996), Stone Voices (2002), and The Death of the Fronsac (2017).
He was the cental and eastern Europe correspondent for The Observer for many years. He also covered southern and central Africa for The Observer and The Scotsman from 1969 - 1989 and was the politics correspondent for The Scotsman from 1975 - 1979.
In the aftemath of Scotland's first devolution referendum in 1979, Ascherson was one of the editors of The Bulletin of Scottish Politics (1980-81). From 1998 until 2008, he was editor of Public Archaeology, a journal from the Institute of Archaeology at UCL, as well as a columnist for The Observer and Independent on Sunday 1985 - 2008.
He lives in London and Argyll.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
March 3, 2015
This is a fine, well written account of how and why Scotland has changed politically over the last 60 years and the author's involvement in it. He writes also of themes in Scotland's past - the clearances, language, immigration, commerce and how aspects have been mythologised. He is from mid Argyllshire and describes both the beauty and history of this part of the Scotland from which the Scottish kingdom emerged. I found the book invaluable for my own thinking on where Scotland is now and critically where it might go after the referendum. it certainly rewards the reader on whatever theme you seek.
March 30, 2019
Not quite a history, or a memoir, or a political account of the devolution movement, but something that partakes of all three. Some nice observations topped by Ascherson's extremely readable prose (which I have awarded an extra star on its own merits).
A couple of things that popped out at me in relation to my own country (which was colonised in part by Scots) - some of the things we like to ascribe to our own national character are, if I believe Ascherson's generalisations (and who doesn't like a good generalisation?) not in fact English but Scottish. In particular what's known here as "tall poppy", and the tendency to not publish one's feelings and opinions abroad - even when abroad is sometimes one's own family. These tendencies, such as they are and such as we as a nation believe in them, are lessening, I think, and were always clearly part of the colonising culture, not of the colonised.
I also note his assumption, right at the end, that in most legislatures, parliamentary (rather than parliamentarians') staff are "no more than servitors". Arguably not true. Working in a parliament or other form of legislature, you know you're protecting and guiding it despite the pesky members and executives who come and go like mayflies. And there are always strong opinions about the future, whether conservative or radical. That said, I much prefer the Scottish version to Westminster - not least because they took some of our innovations and built on them - primarily the select committee system.
A couple of things that popped out at me in relation to my own country (which was colonised in part by Scots) - some of the things we like to ascribe to our own national character are, if I believe Ascherson's generalisations (and who doesn't like a good generalisation?) not in fact English but Scottish. In particular what's known here as "tall poppy", and the tendency to not publish one's feelings and opinions abroad - even when abroad is sometimes one's own family. These tendencies, such as they are and such as we as a nation believe in them, are lessening, I think, and were always clearly part of the colonising culture, not of the colonised.
I also note his assumption, right at the end, that in most legislatures, parliamentary (rather than parliamentarians') staff are "no more than servitors". Arguably not true. Working in a parliament or other form of legislature, you know you're protecting and guiding it despite the pesky members and executives who come and go like mayflies. And there are always strong opinions about the future, whether conservative or radical. That said, I much prefer the Scottish version to Westminster - not least because they took some of our innovations and built on them - primarily the select committee system.
June 3, 2018
Less of an organized history and more patriotic journalism on a number of historical topics, all generally collected and viewed through Ascherson's passion for discussing nationalism. Very readable and with largely interesting passages, but its special pleading on behalf of Scottish egalitarianism and communitarian spirit does not come across as organic from the sweep of history, as much as I'd like to believe it.
August 22, 2014
I was about one quarter of the way through the book when I read some of the reviews. At that point, I was a bit surprised, because the book I was reading didn't seem to match the comments. I was reading what seemed to me to be a historian's well-balanced account of Scotland's past, making it clear that many interpretations of Scotland's identity were two-dimensional and facile. However, as I progressed, I began to see what others had seen in the book. The "rollicking account" of a backcountry bus expedition that he joined during the 1997 referendum campaign" did not seem to me to be "rollicking", but contrived. What appeared to be reasonably balanced discussion tended to end abruptly with the "this is why we need independence" trump card - something with which we've all become familiar over the period of the current campaign. Ascherson tended to focus on both the geography and the history that would support his arguments- little was heard, for instance, about Orkney or Shetland, probably closer culturally to the Farao Islands and Scandinavia; the Borders and SW Scotland too, did not figure much. I thought his sweeping treatment of the lowlands - basically not much different from the highlands, but he didn't have time to compare the two or say why - was unconvincing and inaccurate. Sometimes he seemed to be headed in a genuinely interesting direction, such as arguing that the "decline of the arts and of vernacular literature" from the 17th century onwards might owe as much or more to the "abrupt end of patronage" when James VI/I took the court to England, as it did to the Reformation, but there was little opportunity to develop these ideas. I enjoyed the parts of the book where he took a more relaxed and anecdotal view, drawing on his own history and experiences, such as the description of the travelling man "Old Tobermory" of the west coast, and the genuinely funny description of the 1950s public hearing into the arrival of rocket-testing on the Uists. His description of the Scottish travellers to Poland, the Scottish community there, and particularly William Lithgow, would encourage anyone to find out more about this fascinating period of history. A curate's egg of a book for me, then.
December 30, 2013
Subtitled The search for Scotland, this is a voyage into the historical Scottish psyche. The stones of the title refer to the geology of Scotland, the ancient standing stones erected by ancient Scots and most of all to the Stone of Destiny, used for centuries in the coronation of the monarchs of Scotland then the monarchs of England. In 1996 the Stone was returned to Scotland in a symbolic gesture.
Stone Voices outlines the history of Scottish cultural identity from ancient times to 2002 when the book was written. Rather too much is written about the Bus Tour for Devolution which the author participated in during the 1997 Referendum campaign. Otherwise this is a fascinating and insightful exploration of Scotland, her geology, archeology, myths, legends, history, cultural attitudes and relationship with the world. Ascherson covers both internal relationships such as the divide between Highland and Lowland Scotland and external relationships including the extensive and successful Scottish settlements in Poland during the early seventeenth century.
Recommended reading as we draw ever closer to a new referendum on the future of Scotland.
Stone Voices outlines the history of Scottish cultural identity from ancient times to 2002 when the book was written. Rather too much is written about the Bus Tour for Devolution which the author participated in during the 1997 Referendum campaign. Otherwise this is a fascinating and insightful exploration of Scotland, her geology, archeology, myths, legends, history, cultural attitudes and relationship with the world. Ascherson covers both internal relationships such as the divide between Highland and Lowland Scotland and external relationships including the extensive and successful Scottish settlements in Poland during the early seventeenth century.
Recommended reading as we draw ever closer to a new referendum on the future of Scotland.
August 21, 2010
4.5 really: a very intelligent and readable "history" of Scottish identity, which works partly as memoir too, focusing much of the "search" in Ascherson's own native region of mid-Argyll, which was the center of the Irish-Celtic kingdom of Dalriada where Scotland probably originated (at least as the land of the "Scots") and in Ascherson's participation in the "devolution" movements of the 70s and 90s -- i.e., the devolving of political and economic power from London to Edinburgh, where since 1999 the Scottish parliament sits. I especially like his view of "cultural landscape" as the relations between a people and the place they inhabit, its geology and ecology, the history of its stones (whether "natural" or archeological)....
September 11, 2012
Anyone expecting a return to a book as good as Ascherson's "Black Sea" will be in for a disappointment. Rather than a combination history/travelogue, Ascherson indulges in the role of an ideologue. For one thing, he is convinced that the Scots are "naturally" communitarian and egalitarian, and he presents these arguments ad nauseum and in spite of plenty of historical evidence to the contrary. Every history section sets out to prove the eternal class struggle in Scotland. It certainly gets tiresome after a while, as does his constant contempt for the UK's economic and social revival under PM Margaret Thatcher. He is also a relentless advocate of Scottish independence. Well, the man is entitled to his opinions, but it certainly makes for a grim read.
June 20, 2009
Part memoir, part (potted) history, part meditation on "Scottishness" and Scottish nationalism, Ascherson's well-written "imaginative invasion of his native land" is an excellent introduction to the social, political and historical themes that have shaped contemporary Scotland.
Ascherson is clearly a passionate patriot who is equally passionate about de-mythologizing Scotland's past. He takes on, in a refreshing "air-clearing" manner thorny topics such as the question of language, land rights, Scottish colonialism, the Highland Clearances, racism, religious bigotry, independence and relations with England.
Ascherson is clearly a passionate patriot who is equally passionate about de-mythologizing Scotland's past. He takes on, in a refreshing "air-clearing" manner thorny topics such as the question of language, land rights, Scottish colonialism, the Highland Clearances, racism, religious bigotry, independence and relations with England.
February 20, 2015
A difficult but page-turning, eye-opening look at Scotland. I wish I'd read this book earlier, perhaps before the independence referendum, or preferably before I studied abroad in Edinburgh in 2007. Ascherson is a gifted essayist, turning out complicated arguments and histories and anecdotes to weave into the mysterious monument that is the Scottish nation. Each chapter in the book can stand alone, discussing Neolithic monuments, devolution, Covenanters or the Highland Clearances, but they fit together and support each other. Stone Voices is not a memoir or a history or a political piece, but a meditation on the nebulous thing that is Scotland.
May 18, 2015
This was interesting, poetic, very readable and still remarkably relevant given the eventful decade in Scottish politics since its publication.
That said, I wish the author had directly confronted the fact that Scottish emigrants were often, themselves, participating in (or at the very least benefiting from) the dispossession of other communities. Ascherson mostly brushes past this fact, and at one point refers to Canadian settlers clearing "virgin timber" as though Canada were an entirely uninhabited land when Europeans arrived.
As the reexamination of convenient myths is one of the book's major themes, this otherwise minor fault feels rather awkward.
That said, I wish the author had directly confronted the fact that Scottish emigrants were often, themselves, participating in (or at the very least benefiting from) the dispossession of other communities. Ascherson mostly brushes past this fact, and at one point refers to Canadian settlers clearing "virgin timber" as though Canada were an entirely uninhabited land when Europeans arrived.
As the reexamination of convenient myths is one of the book's major themes, this otherwise minor fault feels rather awkward.
January 19, 2015
This was a sort of combination of history and anthropology. The author spends time on the history of Scotland, but also on what makes things "Scottish." I thought it was an enjoyable account of the history of the country. Looking over the reviews, opinions seem to vary, but that happens.
Recommended to those interested in history and Scotland in particular.
Recommended to those interested in history and Scotland in particular.
June 30, 2015
Sorry - I just could not keep enough interest in this discussion of contemporary Scotland. It was well enough written, but the material was a bit beyond me. A Scots-ophile or at least a person with more knowledge of this lovely land would no doubt find it most enjoyable.
July 29, 2011
A highly readable and insightful look into the parts of Scottish history other books do not reach!
March 12, 2012
Couldn't get into it.
December 21, 2013
A great narrative on the Scottish psyche, detailing the 1979 campaign for Scottish home rule this book is of great interest to those involved in the current campaign for Scottish independence.
September 9, 2016
Good quality history weaved with contemporary reflections on ideas of Scottish independence.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews