How the Scots Made America - Hardcover

Fry, Michael

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312338767 ISBN 13: 9780312338763

Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books, 2005

Synopsis

Ever since they first set foot in the new world alongside the Viking explorers the Scots have left their mark. In this entertaining and informative book, historian Michael Fry shows how Americans of Scottish heritage helped shape this country, from its founding days to the present. They were courageous pioneers, history-changing revolutionaries, great Presidents, doughty fighters, inspiring writers, learned teachers, intrepid explorers, daring frontiersmen, and of course buccaneering businessmen, media moguls, and capitalists throughout American history.

The Scots' unflappable spirit and hardy disposition helped them take root among the earliest settlements and become some of the British colonies' foremost traders. During the Revolution, the teachings of the great Scottish philosophers and economists would help to shape the democracy that thrived in America as in no other part of the world. America may have separated from the British Empire, but the Scottish influence on the young continent never left.

Armed with an inimitable range of historical knowledge, Fry charts the exchange of ideas and values between the Scotland and America that led to many of the greatest achievements in business, science, and the arts. Finally, he takes readers into the twentieth century, in which the Scots serve as the ideal example of a people that have embraced globalization without losing their sense of history, culture and national identity.

Scottish Americans have been incomparable innovators in every branch of American society, and their fascinating story is brilliantly captured in this new book by one of Scotland's leading historians. How the Scots Made America is not only a must-read for all those with Scottish ancestry but for anyone interested in knowing the full story behind the roots of the American way of life.

About this title

From the Inside Flap

International praise for Michael Fry:

"His range is striking, his breadth of interest amazing."
- Times Literary Supplement

"In all his prolific writings he brings a historian's depth to journalism and a journalist's popularism to history... frequently magnificent."
- Financial Times

"He warms to big characters and colorful yarns."
- Scotland on Sunday

"Charmingly combines journalistic flair with scholarly weight."
- The Scotsman

"He deserves to knock sleekit metropolitan performers like Simon Schama off the map... Fry, at his best, writes George MacDonald Fraser's kind of pacy narrative, gripping and convincing."
- Punch

About the Author

Michael Fry, called "Scotland's most controversial writer" by The Herald, is the author of The Dundas Despotism and The Scottish Empire. He served as Economics Correspondent and Brussels Correspondent for The Scotsman, and for nearly twenty years has been a columnist and contributor to a variety of newspapers throughout Britain, Europe, and America. He has also stood as candidate for both the British and Scottish Parliaments. When not traveling, he lives in Edinburgh.

About this edition

• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0312338767
• ISBN 13: 9780312338763
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256