Burton D. Fisher's extremely popular Mini Guides feature Principal Characters in the Opera, Brief Story Synopsis, Story Narrative with Music Highlight Examples, and an insightful and in depth Commentary and Analysis of the opera.

The essays in this volume revalue the work of the Romantic-era Scottish writer John Galt, connecting his methods and goals with Scottish Enlightenment "conjectural" historiography and with later social theorizing. Emphasizing the construction, representation and use of social knowledge, the essays find new meaning in Galt's perceptions of the Atlantic and Mediterranean worlds in which he traveled, his attitudes toward community building and progress, and his innovations in fiction, drama, journalism and biography.