Following his acclaimed chronicle of the Scots in America, Jim Hewitson has now turned his attention to the second great area of Scottish migration, Australia and New Zealand. From the first grim penal colony in Botany Bay in 1788 to the glamorous story of Duntocher-born 1930s speedway ace Ron Johnston, Scots have played a role at every level in

An engaging and authoritative history of Scotland’s influence in the world and the world’s on Scotland, from the Thirty Years’ War to the present day Scotland is one of the oldest nations in the world, yet by some it is hardly counted as a nation at all. Neither a colony of England nor a fully equal partner in the British union, Scotland has often been seen as simply a component part of British history. But the story of Scotland is one of innovation, exploration, resistance—and global consequence. In this wide-ranging, deeply researched account, Murray Pittock examines the place of Scotland in the world. He explores Scotland and Empire, the rise of nationalism, and the pressures on the country from an increasingly monolithic understanding of “Britishness.” From the Thirty Years’ War to Jacobite risings and today’s ongoing independence debates, Scotland and its diaspora have undergone profound changes. This groundbreaking account reveals the diversity of Scotland’s history and shows how, after the country disappeared from the map as an independent state, it continued to build a global brand.

Inspired by the author’s ancestry, this epic novel explores love, tragedy, and resilience in the lives of a large family before, during, and after World War Two in Scotland. When a Royal Scots soldier is sent to Hong Kong to help bolster the British Army, the British are eventually defeated in a gruesome battle. After the fall of Hong Kong while he is imprisoned by the Japanese for four and a half years he designs a tapestry to honour each POW who died in his Battalion. Just when he feels he can no longer go on living, a serendipitous encounter with a friend's sister becomes his inspiration to survive each tormented day in the camps. Meanwhile, a young Scottish lass is struggling with the hardships of wartime and the atrocities she and her family must face every day. After the war, as she picks up the broken pieces of a world she no longer recognises, she learns of a life-changing connection she shares with the Royal Scots soldier. A testament to the strength of the human spirit amidst adversity, this book illustrates how people can rise to challenges and survive the most difficult of times, whether it’s a young woman faced with the grief of losing precious family members or a young soldier navigating the horrors of war.

Amiria Henare explores the role of material cultural research in anthropology and related disciplines from the late eighteenth century to the present.

Historians have suggested that Scottish influences are more pervasive in New Zealand than in any other country outside Scotland, yet curiously New Zealand's Scots migrants have previously attracted only limited attention. A thorough and interdisciplinary work, Unpacking the Kists is the first in-depth study of New Zealand's Scots migrants and their impact on an evolving settler society. The authors establish the dimensions of Scottish migration to New Zealand, the principal source areas, the migrants' demographic characteristics, and where they settled in the new land. Drawing from extended case-studies, they examine how migrants adapted to their new environment and the extent of longevity in diverse areas including the economy, religion, politics, education, and folkways. They also look at the private worlds of family, neighbourhood, community, customs of everyday life and leisure pursuits, and expressions of both high and low forms of transplanted culture. Adding to international scholarship on migrations and cultural adaptations, Unpacking the Kists demonstrates the historic contributions Scots made to New Zealand culture by retaining their ethnic connections and at the same time interacting with other ethnic groups.

In almost a century since the First World War ended, Scotland has been transformed in many rich ways. Its literature has been an essential part of that transformation. The third volume of the History, explores the vibrancy of modern Scottish literature in all its forms and languages. Giving full credit to writing in Gaelic and by the Scottish diaspora, it brings together the best contemporary critical insights from three continents. It provides an accessible and refreshing picture of both the varieties of Scottish literatures and the kaleidoscopic versions of Scotland that mark literary developments since 1918.

From 1978 to 1998, the United States Justice Department took on the mafia and corrupt unions using all available tools and even enhanced some old lawsa new agency and new laws. It was open season on organized crime and labor racketeers. A letter to the president of the United States effectively launched the Office of Labor Racketeering and Organized Crime with a bag of tools, which included the RICO statute, the Inspector General Act, organized crime bill, Presidential Commission on Organized Crime . . . and a hundred agents. After James Rydal Hoffa, president of Teamsters International, disappeared in 1975, there were no definitive answers as to what happened for years. Still today, there are unanswered questions to the mystery, like, where is the body? I was put into an unrelenting position to find out. Everybody has a story. This is my storya true story.