' Scotland First begins at the end with a night of drama in Bute House, Edinburgh, & Henry Mc Leish's resignation as Scotland's First Minister in 2001. It is a unique book about Scottish & UK politics written by a man who was at the heart of Britain's constitutional upheaval & the turbulent early years of the Scottish Parliament.

Mc Leish explains how growing up as a member of a Fife mining family laid the foundations for 30 years in elected politics. The boy footballer who represented his country was destined to serve as a councillor, MP & MSP before eventually becoming the political leader of his nation.

In this controversial autobiography, Mc Leish reveals inside information about the Blair government, relates the behind-the-scenes battles for Scottish devolution & details the clash of politics & personalities during this period. He tells the real truth about the White Paper that rewrote history & the behaviour of Scottish MPs at Westminster, & comes clean about the scandal surrounding the spiralling cost of the Holyrood Parliament building.

Scotland First goes behind the headlines of the mistakes, successes & rivalries of the first years of Scottish government to unearth the whole story. In this candid, no-holds-barred account, Mc Leish also gives his radical & controversial blueprint for politics in Scotl&, the UK & the future for twenty-first-century politics.'





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Renowned photographer Douglas Corrance has been taking photographs of Scotland for more than a quarter of a century. This magnificently produced book presents a visual journey around his native l&, covering everything from the rugged peaks of the Highlands to the diverse nature of our cities & towns. As Corrance spent over a decade as photographer to the Scottish Tourist Board it is not surprising to find in these pages a multitude of shots of the archetypal Scotl&, but he skilfully manages to bring something new & fresh to every image, stamping each with his own unique perspective. The result is a collection of remarkable, striking photographs which will give the reader
- whether visitor or native Scot
- a better understanding & clearer view of the myriad facets of Scotland's beauty.

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Scots & the Sea is a unique & compelling account of a small, sparsely populated country's relationship with the most powerful force on earth. It is a celebration of the courage & endurance of fishermen & their families, the selfless bravery of lifeboat volunteers & the individual brilliance of leaders like Admiral Cochrane, who helped establish free nations across the globe. The illicit activities of scoundrels like Captain Kidd also provide a taste of the darker side of the story. Scotland's proud maritime tradition is traced through this volume, which examines the development of trade, the founding of a Scottish merchant navy & the pressures towards Union with Engl&. It explores ports, harbours & shipyards, & outlines the vital role Scotland has played in shipbuilding & marine engineering
- from the galleys & longships of early history to clippers, steamships, ocean liners, hovercraft & oil rigs. Also recounted are the exploits & achievements of Scots in all these fields, including those of James Watt, William Symington, Henry Bell & Robert Stevenson. Finally it takes a look into the future, where Scottish research into wave & tidal power could become vital in providing a source of sustainable energy. Over the years, many Scots have made their living & their fortune from the sea, others have lost their lives to it.
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Ignoring the mythology which surrounds Scotland & her favourite tipple, this is a book in which Scots tell the truth about their national drink. It is written by people who are passionate about their subject, who know what they write about & who love what they know. It is about whisky & about Scotland
- the real Scotland behind the invented one of advertisrs & the gift shops. Over the last 30 years Scots hace reasserted their cultural independence, redicovering their national drink
- a renaissance not only to be celebrated by Scots but also by the rest of the world, which has not been slow to appreciate single malt whiskies.

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Scott Fitzgerald follows the life of one of America's most enduring authors, from his early years in St Paul & at Princeton to New York in the twenties, the French Riviera, Baltimore, & finally Hollywood. Andrew Turnbull tells the story behind F. Scott Fitzgerald's This Side of Paradise, revised & finally published when he was twenty-four, making him instantly famous, & his tender love affair with Zelda Sayre, from their glittering early life to the years Zelda spent in & out of sanatoriums. A literary generation, too, comes alive, including Ernest Hemingway, Edmund Wilson & Edith Wharton. Fitzgerald lived on Turnbull's family estate in Baltimore in the early 1930s & there befriended young Andrew, then aged eleven. Turnbull's personal relationship with Fitzgerald & the hundreds of interviews with those who knew him elegantly capture the dramatic, tragic story of F. Scott & the glow & pathos of his flamboyant life. ...

Duncan Macmillan's suptuous story of art in Scotland from the fifteenth century was the first comprehensive on the subject for 40 years when it was first published in 1990. Rapturously recived by the critics, it rapidly became regarded as the definitive book on the subject. Now updated to take account of developments in the art world over the last ten years, this new edition, Scottish Art 1460-2000, looks set to emulate its predecessor's success. ' An ambitious study that connects Scottish painting to the Eurpean tradition over five centuris, while examining with intelligence, wit & inmagination the Scottishness of Scottish art. The way in which indigenous origionality infiltrates tradition is the theme of this affectionate, commited survey. This book puts Scottish art into a proper perspective & must be seen as the definitive study'- Marina Vaizey, sumday Times Author The undisputed expert in his field, Prifessor Duncan Macmillan is reader in fine art & curator of the Talbot Rice Gallery at the University of Edinburgh. He has written a number of books & is the art critic for The Scotsman. ...