How the Scots Invented the Modern World; The True Story of How Western Europe's Poorest Nation Created Our World & Everything in It

Herman, Arthur

ISBN 10: 0609809997 / ISBN 13: 9780609809990

Published by Three Rivers Press, New York, 2002

About this Item

viii, 472 pages. Occasional Footnotes. Sources and Guide for Further Reading. Index. Cover has minor wear and soiling. Arthur L. Herman (born 1956) is an American historian, currently serving as a senior fellow at Hudson Institute. Herman received his B.A. from the University of Minnesota and M.A. and Ph.D. in history from Johns Hopkins University. He spent a semester abroad at The University of Edinburgh in Scotland. His 1984 dissertation research dealt with the political thought of early-17th-century French Huguenots. Herman taught at Sewanee: The University of the South, George Mason University, Georgetown and The Catholic University of America. He was the founder and coordinator of the Western Heritage Program in the Smithsonian's Campus on the Mall lecture series. His book, How the Scots Invented the Modern World, was a New York Times bestseller. In 2008, he added to his body of work Gandhi and Churchill: The Epic Rivalry that Destroyed an Empire and Forged Our Age, a finalist for the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction. How the Scots Invented the Modern World: The True Story of How Western Europe's Poorest Nation Created Our World & Everything in It (or The Scottish Enlightenment: The Scots invention of the Modern World) is a non-fiction book written by American historian Arthur Herman. The book examines the origins of the Scottish Enlightenment and what impact it had on the modern world. Herman focuses principally on individuals, presenting their biographies in the context of their individual fields and also in terms of the theme of Scottish contributions to the world. The book is divided into two parts. The first part, Epiphany, consists of eight chapters and focuses on the roots, development, and impact of the Scottish Enlightenment on Scotland and Great Britain. The second part, Diaspora, focuses on the impacts of Scots on events, the world, and industries. Most Scots who did fight in the militias were the most capable because many were the same refugee families from the 1745 Jacobite rising. Herman claims that the Scottish School of Common Sense influenced much of the American declaration of independence and constitution. First Paperback Edition [stated]. Sixth printing [stated].

Seller Inventory # 74883

Bibliographic Details

• Title: How the Scots Invented the Modern World; The True Story of How Western Europe's Poorest Nation Created Our World & Everything in It
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press, New York
• Publication Date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0609809997
• ISBN 13: 9780609809990
• Binding: Trade paperback
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Very good
• Seller catalogs:
  • American Revolution

About this title

Synopsis

An exciting account of the origins of the modern world

Who formed the first literate society? Who invented our modern ideas of democracy and free market capitalism? The Scots. As historian and author Arthur Herman reveals, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries Scotland made crucial contributions to science, philosophy, literature, education, medicine, commerce, and politics--contributions that have formed and nurtured the modern West ever since.

Herman has charted a fascinating journey across the centuries of Scottish history. Here is the untold story of how John Knox and the Church of Scotland laid the foundation for our modern idea of democracy; how the Scottish Enlightenment helped to inspire both the American Revolution and the U.S. Constitution; and how thousands of Scottish immigrants left their homes to create the American frontier, the Australian outback, and the British Empire in India and Hong Kong.

How the Scots Invented the Modern World reveals how Scottish genius for creating the basic ideas and institutions of modern life stamped the lives of a series of remarkable historical figures, from James Watt and Adam Smith to Andrew Carnegie and Arthur Conan Doyle, and how Scottish heroes continue to inspire our contemporary culture, from William "Braveheart" Wallace to James Bond.

And no one who takes this incredible historical trek will ever view the Scots--or the modern West--in the same way again.

About the Author

Arthur Herman is the bestselling author of The Cave and the Light, Freedom's Forge, How the Scots Invented the Modern World, The Idea of Decline in Western History, To Rule the Waves, and Gandhi & Churchill, which was a 2009 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Dr. Herman taught the Western Heritage Program at the Smithsonian's Campus on the Mall, and he has been a professor of history at Georgetown University, The Catholic University of America, George Mason University, and The University of the South at Sewanee.