This major project comprises fourteen thematically arranged volumes. The aim of the Compendium is to examine the interlocking strands of history and traditional culture that go into the making of a national identity, in an up-to-date synthesis of the current state of knowledge. By bringing together information from a variety of sources, the Compendium not only provides a digest of topics, but also points towards areas for new investigation. The Compendium concentrates upon the present and the historical period and does not generally deal with prehistory, although for certain themes, such as the development of agriculture and buildings, early evidence is taken into account. Where appropriate, reference is made to foreign parallels and to the influence on Scotland of the cultures of neighbouring peoples. Scottish influence on the world at large is also taken into account, whether in relation to urban or rural, maritime or land-based topics. Material and non-material aspects of history and tradition are considered equally, at all levels of society, indeed oftentimes focusing on the interaction between people of differing social strata

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.

This volume explores the experience of everyday life in Scotland over two centuries characterised by political, religious and intellectual change and ferment. It shows how the extraordinary impinged on the ordinary and reveals people's anxieties, joys, comforts, passions, hopes and fears. It also aims to provide a measure of how the impact of change varied from place to place.The authors draw on a wide range of primary and secondary sources, including the material survivals of daily life in town and country, and on the history of government, religion, ideas, painting, literature, and architecture. As B. S. Gregory has put it, everyday history is 'an endeavour that seeks to identify and integrate everything - all relevant material, social, political, and cultural data - that permits the fullest possible reconstruction of ordinary life experiences in all their varied complexity, as they are formed and transformed.'

Looks at all aspects of the pivotal intellectual relationship between two key figures of the Enlightenment

In recent times there has been a substantial flow of Scottish books on architectural themes. 'Scotland's Buildings' goes further than these. The concept of buildings is taken to include structures built for any functional purpose. The perspective of the volume is thus very wide, which gives it a unique quality.