Books published by Birlinn General

Provides an account of how the war changed Scotland irrevocably by exploring a wide range of themes, including the response to the call for volunteers, the performance of Scottish military formations in 1915 and 1916, and the militarization of the Scottish homeland, and the resistance to war in Glasgow and the west of Scotland.

Part of Birlinn's series of Scottish Historical Guides, Dr. Caldwell's book draws on a great deal of primary research and local knowledge to create a detailed account of the history of these relic strewn Hebridean Islands. Essential reading for local and tourist alike.

One of the great classics of Scottish history, The Drove Roads of Scotland interweaves folklore, social comment and economic history in a fascinating account of Scotland's droving trade and the routes by which cattle and sheep were brought from every corner of the land to markets in central Scotland.

In 1697 Martin Martin, a Gaelic-speaking scholar from Skye, travelled to St Kilda to study the island's flora and fauna and to learn about the now extinct great auk. Much of the information that he gathered during this expedition was relayed to him by the islanders.

"First published in 1994 by Canongate Press Ltd" -- title page verso.

Longlisted for the Highland Book Prize 2019The rocks of northern Scotland tell of turbulent events involving continental collisions that unleashed cataclysmic forces, creating a chain of mountains, the remnants of which we see today on both sides of the Atlantic. Geologists from Victorian times onwards have studied the area, and some of the most important geological phenomena have been established and described from the rocks that built these stunning landscapes.In this book, Alan McKirdy makes sense of the many and varied episodes that shaped the familiar landscape we see today. He highlights a number of fascinating geological features, including the Old Red Sandstones of Cromarty and the Black Isle, which carry the secrets of life during 'the Age of Fishes', and the thin sliver of fossil-bearing strata which hugs the coast from Golspie to beyond Helmsdale that dates back to Jurassic times and which records the time when dinosaurs roamed the Earth.

An overview of the need-to-know information for hiking along the Aberdeen to Ballater spanning Deeside Way. Provided in weatherproof plastic wallet.

George's memory is inseparable from Orkney, where he was born the youngest child of a poor family. Tuberculosis framed George's early life and kept him in a kind of limbo. He discovered alcohol which gave him insights into the workings of the mind. By the time of his death in 1996 he was recognised as one of the great writers of his country.

Thorfinn Ragnarson is a daydreamer of elaborate historical fantasies. In this beautiful and haunting novel Thorfinn becomes a Viking traveller, a freedom-fighter for Bonnie Prince Charlie and the colleague of a Falstaffian knight who participates in the Battle of Bannockburn.

Features a collection of two stories.

Bestowed at birth with two gifts, an ivory flute and a bag of silver and gold coins, a young girl wanders through time. She is destined to pursue the dragon of war and before he consumes the world in flames, subdue him not with violence but music. Moving across the battlefields from East to West, the girl bears witness to the suffering and brutality of war throughout history ...

Greenvoe, the community on the Orkney Island of Hellya, has existed unchanged for generations. George Mackay Brown has recreated a week in its life, mixing history with personality in a sparkling mixture of prose and poetry.

A fascinating new approach to capture the history of Scotland's capital city with full colour sketches from four different local artists.

The small island archipelago of St Kilda, which rises majestically from the stormy waters of the North Atlantic, has a magic and allure which is both enduring and inexplicable.

In Bring Me the Sports Jacket of Arthur Montford, Aidan Smith mines Scottish football history for quirk, strangeness and charm, on a journey that takes him from Albania to Albion Rovers, great players are celebrated and so are great characters.