Taking in events as diverse as the Scottish assertion of independence at the end of the thirteenth century, the Union of the Crowns, and devolution, the contributors trace Scottish history from pre-1100 to the twentieth century, and show that Scotland was a remarkably successful, thriving, and important kingdom of international renown. - ;Scotland has long had a romantic appeal which has tended to be focused on a few over-dramatized personalities or events, notably Mary Queen of Scots, Bonnie Prince Charlie, the Highland Clearances-the failures and the sad - though more positively, William Wal