100 Books to Build a Better Scotland


raising the scottish flag


Ideas shape people, and people shape nations. What ideas therefore are best to shape us and our nation? The 100 Books to Build a Better Scotland reading list tries to answer that question with a selection of the best texts on Scottish history, environmentalism, feminism, inequality, economics, and independence.

Related pages

The 100 Greatest British Politics Books
The 100 Best European History Books
The 100 Best Scottish History Books

1. The Scottish Nation: A Modern History

By Tom Devine

Part of a trilogy on Scottish history, T.M. Devine's The Scottish Nation: A Modern History traces the epic story of a nation from the Union with England to today's debates on the possibilities of Scottish independence.Drawing on extensive research and exploring everything from the high politics of the ... More »

The Scottish Nation: A Modern History
The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger

2. The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger

By Richard G. Wilkinson; Kate Pickett | 60% Off

It is a well-established fact that in rich societies the poor have shorter lives and suffer more from almost every social problem. The Spirit Level, based on thirty years of research, takes this truth a step further. One common factor links the healthiest and happiest societies: the degree ... More »

3. Yes: The Radical Case for Scottish Independence

By James Foley; Pete Ramand

The United Kingdom faces a historic turning point in 2014. A 'Yes' vote in the referendum on Scottish independence would see the break-up of the 300-year-old union, adding a constitutional crisis to a deep economic crisis. An accessible polemic written for progressives both north and south of the ... More »

Yes: The Radical Case for Scottish Independence
Hell and High Water: Climate Change, Hope and the Human Condition

4. Hell and High Water: Climate Change, Hope and the Human Condition

By Alastair McIntosh | Used Price: 80% Off

Climate change is the greatest challenge that the world has ever faced. In this groundbreaking new book, Alastair McIntosh summarises the science of what is happening to the planet - both globally and using Scotland as a local case study. He moves on, controversially, to suggest that politics ... More »

5. Disunited Kingdom: How Westminster Won A Referendum But Lost Scotland

By Iain Macwhirter

What does the future hold for Scotland? On September 18th, 2014, Scotland voted to stay in the Union. In this provocative new book, Iain Macwhirter argues that the UK will never be the same again. Disunited Kingdom explores Scotland’s political and cultural landscape in the immediate build up ... More »

Disunited Kingdom: How Westminster Won A Referendum But Lost Scotland
Creating a Learning Society: A New Approach to Growth, Development, and Social Progress

6. Creating a Learning Society: A New Approach to Growth, Development, and Social Progress

By Joseph Stiglitz

It has long been recognized that an improved standard of living results from advances in technology, not from the accumulation of capital. It has also become clear that what truly separates developed from less-developed countries is not just a gap in resources or output but a gap in ... More »

7. Blossom: What Scotland Needs to Flourish

By Lesley Riddoch

Blossom: 1. A term given to flowers of stone fruit trees and some other plants that flower profusely in Spring. Blossoms provide pollen to bees, and initiate cross-pollination necessary for trees to reproduce by producing fruit. 2. A peak period or stage of development. Covering topics including housing, ... More »

Blossom: What Scotland Needs to Flourish
Ill Fares the Land

8. Ill Fares the Land

By Tony Judt | Rock-bottom Price: $0.01

A gift to the next generation of engaged citizens, from one of our most celebrated intellectuals. As the economic collapse of 2008 made clear, the social contract that defined postwar life in Europe and America-the guarantee of security, stability, and fairness-is no longer guaranteed; in fact, ... More »

9. The Nordic Model of Social Democracy

By Nik Brandal; Oivind Bratberg; Dag Einar Thorsen

Since the late 1920s, social democracy has been preeminent in the politics of Sweden, Denmark and Norway, through dominant parties and ideological hegemony of the center-left. The Nordic Model of Social Democracy relates the concept of the Nordic model to the guiding role of social democratic ideology in ... More »

The Nordic Model of Social Democracy
On Glasgow and Edinburgh

10. On Glasgow and Edinburgh

By Robert Crawford

Edinburgh and Glasgow enjoy a famously scratchy relationship. Resembling other intercity rivalries throughout the world, from Madrid and Barcelona, to Moscow and St. Petersburg, to Beijing and Shanghai, Scotland's sparring metropolises just happen to be much smaller and closer together-like twin stars orbiting a common axis. Yet their ... More »

11. How Corrupt is Britain?

By David Whyte

Banks accused of rate-fixing. Members of Parliament cooking the books. Major defense contractors investigated over suspect arms deals. Police accused of being paid off by tabloids. The headlines are unrelenting these days. Perhaps it’s high time we ask: just exactly how corrupt is Britain? David Whyte brings ... More »

How Corrupt is Britain?
Economics: The User's Guide

12. Economics: The User's Guide

By Ha-Joon Chang

In his bestselling 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism, Cambridge economist Ha-Joon Chang brilliantly debunked many of the predominant myths of neoclassical economics. Now, in an entertaining and accessible primer, he explains how the global economy actually works—in real-world terms. Writing with irreverent wit, a deep ... More »

13. Whoops!: Why everyone owes everyone and no one can pay

By John Lanchester | Under $1.00

We are, to use a technical economic term, screwed. The cowboy capitalists had a party with everyone's money and we're all paying for it. What went wrong? And will we learn our lesson - or just carry on as before, like celebrating surviving a heart attack with a ... More »

Whoops!: Why everyone owes everyone and no one can pay
Rebel Cities: From the Right to the City to the Urban Revolution

14. Rebel Cities: From the Right to the City to the Urban Revolution

By David Harvey

Long before Occupy, cities were the subject of much utopian thinking. They are the centers of capital accumulation as well as of revolutionary politics, where deeper currents of social and political change rise to the surface. Do the financiers and developers control access to urban resources or do ... More »

15. The Welfare State: A Very Short Introduction

By David Garland | Used Price: 60% Off

Welfare states vary across nations and change over time. And the balance between markets and government; free enterprise and social protection is perennially in question. But all developed societies have welfare states of one kind or another - they are a fundamental dimension of modern government. And even ... More »

The Welfare State: A Very Short Introduction
Great Scottish Speeches

16. Great Scottish Speeches

By David Torrance; John Maclean; Jimmy Reid

Some Great Scottish Speeches were the result of years of contemplation. Some flourished in heat of the moment. Whatever the background of the ideas expressed, the speeches not only provide a snapshot of their time, but express views that still resonate in Scotland today, whether you agree with ... More »

17. Media Control: The Spectacular Achievements of Propaganda

By Noam Chomsky | Used Price: 70% Off

Noam Chomsky’s backpocket classic on wartime propaganda and opinion control begins by asserting two models of democracy—one in which the public actively participates, and one in which the public is manipulated and controlled. According to Chomsky, "propaganda is to democracy as the bludgeon is to a totalitarian state," ... More »

Media Control: The Spectacular Achievements of Propaganda
Austerity: The History of a Dangerous Idea

18. Austerity: The History of a Dangerous Idea

By Mark Blyth | Used Price: 50% Off

Selected as a Financial Times Best Book of 2013Governments today in both Europe and the United States have succeeded in casting government spending as reckless wastefulness that has made the economy worse. In contrast, they have advanced a policy of draconian budget cuts--austerity--to solve the financial crisis. We ... More »

19. Women, Work and A Citizens Basic Income

By Ailsa McKay

Current debates concerning the future of social security provision in advanced capitalist states have raised the issue of a citizen’s basic income (CBI) as a possible reform package: a proposal based on the principles of individuality, universality and unconditionality which would ensure a minimum income guaranteed for all ... More »

Women, Work and A Citizens Basic Income
The Theory of Moral Sentiments

20. The Theory of Moral Sentiments

By Adam Smith | Used Price: 60% Off

The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Smith's first and in his own mind most important work, outlines his view of proper conduct and the institutions and sentiments that make men virtuous. Here he develops his doctrine of the impartial spectator, whose hypothetical disinterested judgment we must use to ... More »

21. Bad News for Refugees

By Emma Briant; Pauline Donald; Greg Philo

Bad News for Refugees analyses the political, economic and environmental contexts of migration and looks specifically at how refugees and asylum seekers have been stigmatised in political rhetoric and in media coverage.Through forensic research it shows how hysterical and inaccurate media accounts act to legitimise political action which ... More »

Bad News for Refugees
A Nation Changed?: The SNP and Scotland Ten Years On

22. A Nation Changed?: The SNP and Scotland Ten Years On

By Gerry Hassan; Simon Barrow

A Nation Changed? provides the first detailed and wide-ranging analysis of the SNP in office. It looks at how Scotland has changed and not changed during that time, and the challenges that lie ahead. The book examines the SNP's record, its role as a government and as a ... More »

23. A History of the Scottish People, 1560-1830

By T. C. Smout | Under $1.00

('By far the most stimulating, the most instructive and the most readable account of Scotch history that I have read! This splendid work carries us from Knox to Neilson, from the hot gospel of Calvin to the hot-blast of the smelting process -- and, incidentally, seeks to explain ... More »

A History of the Scottish People, 1560-1830
Treasure Islands: Uncovering the Damage of Offshore Banking and Tax Havens

24. Treasure Islands: Uncovering the Damage of Offshore Banking and Tax Havens

By Nicholas Shaxson | Used Price: 60% Off

A thrilling ride inside the world of tax havens and corporate mastermindsWhile the United States experiences recession and economic stagnation and European countries face bankruptcy, experts struggle to make sense of the crisis. Nicholas Shaxson, a former correspondent for the Financial Times and The Economist, argues that tax ... More »

25. Small Nations in a Big World: What Scotland Can Learn

By Michael Keating; Malcolm Harvey | 70% Off

Small northern European states have been a major point of reference in the Scottish independence debate. For nationalists, they have been an 'arc of prosperity' while in the aftermath of the financial crash, unionists lampooned the 'arc of insolvency'.Both characterisations are equally misleading. Small states can do well ... More »

Small Nations in a Big World: What Scotland Can Learn
The People's Referendum: Why Scotland Will Never Be the Same Again

26. The People's Referendum: Why Scotland Will Never Be the Same Again

By Peter Geoghegan | Used Price: 70% Off

19 September 2014. The ballots are in, and the votes are counted. Scotland has either chosen to remain part of the United Kingdom, or to form a new independent state.The result is black and white, but the conversations, people and places that animated Scotland's journey to the referendum ... More »

27. The ABCs of Political Economy: A Modern Approach

By Robin Hahnel | Used Price: 80% Off

The ABCs of Political Economy is an accessible introduction to modern political economy. While informed by the work of Marx, Keynes, Veblen, Kalecki and other great political economists, Robin Hahnel teaches the reader the essential tools necessary to understand economic issues today from a modern perspective, searching ... More »

The ABCs of Political Economy: A Modern Approach
Living in Scotland: Social and Economic Change since 1980

28. Living in Scotland: Social and Economic Change since 1980

By Lindsay Paterson; Frank Bechhofer; David McCrone

Shortlisted for the Saltire Society/NLS Scottish Research Book of the Year Award, 2005Living in Scotland gives an account of the key social changes in Scottish society, describing how it has been transformed over the last two to three decades. Drawing on a uniquely wide range of data from ... More »

29. How Rich Countries Got Rich and Why Poor Countries Stay Poor

By Erik S. Reinert

In this refreshingly revisionist history, Erik S. Reinert shows how rich countries developed through a combination of government intervention, protectionism, and strategic investment—rather than through free trade. Yet when our leaders lecture poor countries on the right path to riches they do so in almost perfect ignorance of ... More »

How Rich Countries Got Rich and Why Poor Countries Stay Poor
Scotland: a New History

30. Scotland: a New History

By Michael Lynch | Rock-bottom Price: $0.01

Columba, Bannockburn, Robert Bruce, the nobles, Home Rule, Kenneth mac Alpin, the Wars of Independence, the union of the crowns, Mary, Queen of Scots, the Convenanters, the Reformation, Flodden, the industrial revolution, James VI, Thomas Chalmers, the union of parliaments, John Knox, the Canmore dynasty, Glencoe, the Enlightenment, ... More »

31. The Political Economy of European Welfare Capitalism

By Daniel Wincott; Colin Hay | 50% Off

A state-of-the-art assessment of welfare provision, policy and reform at national and at EU level which spans the whole of Europe - East, West and Central. Uniquely broad-ranging in scope, and covering the latest research findings and theoretical debates, it provides a genuinely comparative overview text for students ... More »

The Political Economy of European Welfare Capitalism
And the Judges Said...: Essays

32. And the Judges Said...: Essays

By James Kelman

In this collection of essays James Kelman discusses a diverse range of isssues literary, artistic, political and philosophical - from the asbestos scandal and destruction of the steel industry in Scotland to Chomsky's role in 20th-century thinking, racism in Britain and an absorbing essay on Franz Kafka More »

33. Gender in Scottish History Since 1700

By Lynn Abrams; Eleanor Gordon; Deborah Simonton

Scottish history is undergoing a renaissance. Everyone agrees that an understanding of our nation's history is integral to our experience of its present and the shaping of the future.But the story of Scotland's past is being told with little reference to gendered identities. Not only are women largely ... More »

Gender in Scottish History Since 1700
Troublemakers: The Struggle for Environmental Justice in Scotland

34. Troublemakers: The Struggle for Environmental Justice in Scotland

By Kevin Dunion | Used Price: 80% Off

Troublemakers is a provocative argument from prominent environmentalist Kevin Dunion for a sustained challenge to environmental injustice in Scotland.Pollution, disturbance and fears of ill health affect the daily life of many Scots, particularly from the most disadvantaged or vulnerable groups in society. They are expected to put up ... More »

35. Independence: An Argument for Home Rule

By Alasdair Gray | Used Price: 80% Off

Gray argues that a truly independent Scotland will only ever exist when people in every home, school, croft, farm, workshop, factory, island, glen, town and city feel that they too are at the centre of the world. Independence asks whether widespread social welfare is more possible in small ... More »

Independence: An Argument for Home Rule
Small States in World Markets: Industrial Policy in Europe

36. Small States in World Markets: Industrial Policy in Europe

By Peter J. Katzenstein

By the early 1980s the average American had a lower standard of living than the average Norwegian or Dane. Standards of living in the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Switzerland, and Austria also rivaled those in the United States. How have seven small democracies achieved economic success and what can ... More »

37. NHS Plc: The Privatisation of Our Health Care

By Allyson M. Pollock | Used Price: 50% Off

Universal, comprehensive health care, equally available to all and disconnected from income and the ability to pay, was the goal of the founders of the National Health Service. This book, by one of the NHS’s most eloquent and passionate defenders, tells the story of how that ideal has ... More »

NHS Plc: The Privatisation of Our Health Care
The New Industrial State

38. The New Industrial State

By John Kenneth Galbraith | 90% Off

With searing wit and incisive commentary, John Kenneth Galbraith redefined America's perception of itself in The New Industrial State, one of his landmark works. The United States is no longer a free-enterprise society, Galbraith argues, but a structured state controlled by the largest companies. ... More »

39. Red Scotland!: The Rise and Fall of the Radical Left, C. 1872 to 1932

By William Kenefick | Used Price: 70% Off

An excellent resource for teaching and learning, this book explores the rise and decline of left radicalism in Scotland c.1872 to 1932. A journey through these turbulent times observes the response of Scottish artisans to legal restrictions on trade-union activities in the 1870s, trade union formation among the ... More »

Red Scotland!: The Rise and Fall of the Radical Left, C. 1872 to 1932
Before the Oil Ran Out: Britain, 1977-87

40. Before the Oil Ran Out: Britain, 1977-87

By Ian Jack | Under $1.00

This revised edition contains a collection of feature articles which delivers an absorbing account of Britain's changing face during the Thatcher years. Ian Jack paints a timely portrait of an increasingly divided nation. He has received Granada TV's Journalist of the Year Award. More »

41. Fear: The History of a Political Idea

By Corey Robin | Used Price: 80% Off

For many commentators, September 11 inaugurated a new era of fear. But as Corey Robin shows in his unsettling tour of the Western imagination--the first intellectual history of its kind--fear has shaped our politics and culture since time immemorial. From the Garden ... More »

Fear: The History of a Political Idea
The Predator State

42. The Predator State

By James K. Galbraith | Rock-bottom Price: $0.01

Now available in paperback, this timely book challenges the cult of the free market that has dominated all political and economic discussion since the Reagan revolution. Even many liberals have felt the need to genuflect before the altar of free markets, but in The Predator State, progressive ... More »

43. Why Nuclear Disarmament Matters

By Hans Blix | Rock-bottom Price: $0.01

In 2002 Dr. Hans Blix, then chief United Nations weapons inspector, led his team on a search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Before the United ... More »

Why Nuclear Disarmament Matters
The Origins of Scottish Nationhood

44. The Origins of Scottish Nationhood

By Neil Davidson

The traditional view of the Scottish nation holds that it first arose during the Wars of Independence from England in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Although Scotland was absorbed into Britain in 1707 with the Treaty of Union, Scottish identity is supposed to have remained alive in the ... More »

45. Environment, labour and capitalism at sea

By Penny McCall Howard

This book explores how fishers make the sea productive through their labour, using technologies ranging from wooden boats to digital GPS plotters to create familiar places in a seemingly hostile environment. It shows how their lives are affected by capitalist forces in the markets they sell to, forces ... More »

Environment, labour and capitalism at sea
Leftism Reinvented: Western Parties from Socialism to Neoliberalism

46. Leftism Reinvented: Western Parties from Socialism to Neoliberalism

By Stephanie L. Mudge

Left-leaning political parties play an important role as representatives of the poor and disempowered. They once did so by promising protections from the forces of capital and the market’s tendencies to produce inequality. But in the 1990s they gave up on protection, asking voters to adapt to a ... More »

47. Out of Bounds: Women in Scottish Society, 1800-1945

By Esther Breitenbach; Eleanor Gordon | 90% Off

Women are said to have been absent in conventional accounts of Scottish history, but "Out of Bounds" aims to show they were far from passive. Describing their vocal and active part in social, public and institutional life, it tries to refute the view of women as confined to ... More »

Out of Bounds: Women in Scottish Society, 1800-1945
Philosophers of Peace and War: Kant, Clausewitz, Marx, Engles and Tolstoy

48. Philosophers of Peace and War: Kant, Clausewitz, Marx, Engles and Tolstoy

By W. B. Gallie | Used Price: 70% Off

Intellectual eminence apart, what did Kant, Clausewitz, Marx and Engels, and Tolstoy have in common? Professor Gallic argues that they made contributions to 'international theory' - to the understanding of the character and causes of war and of the possibility of peace between nations - which were of ... More »

49. Multicultural Citizenship: A Liberal Theory of Minority Rights

By Will Kymlicka | Under $1.00

The increasingly multicultural fabric of modern societies has given rise to many new issues and conflicts, as ethnic and national minorities demand recognition and support for their cultural identity. This book presents a new conception of the rights and status of minority cultures. It argues that certain "collective ... More »

Multicultural Citizenship: A Liberal Theory of Minority Rights
Why Not Socialism?

50. Why Not Socialism?

By G. A. Cohen | Used Price: 60% Off

Is socialism desirable? Is it even possible? In this concise book, one of the world's leading political philosophers presents with clarity and wit a compelling moral case for socialism and argues that the obstacles in its way are exaggerated. There ... More »

51. SNP: The History of the Scottish National Party

By Peter Lynch

Although the Scottish National Party (SNP) has existed since 1934, no full-length history of the Scottish National Party was written until the first edition of this book in 2002. This second edition further traces the fortunes of the SNP since 2002, particularly since 2007 when it became the ... More »

SNP: The History of the Scottish National Party
Taking the Risk Out of Democracy: Corporate Propaganda versus Freedom and Liberty

52. Taking the Risk Out of Democracy: Corporate Propaganda versus Freedom and Liberty

By Alex Carey

In this lucid and compelling account, Alex Carey documents the 20th century history of corporate propaganda as practiced by U.S. businesses, and its export to and adoption by other western democracies, chiefly the United Kingdom and Australia. The collection examines how and why the business elite has successfully ... More »

53. The Transformation of Scotland: The Economy Since 1700

By Tom Devine; George C. Peden; Clive H. Lee

This is the first comprehensive history of the Scottish economy over the last three centuries to appear in a generation. Written by leading scholars in the field, it presents 'state of the art' research in an accessible style to all those interested in understanding the historical context of ... More »

The Transformation of Scotland: The Economy Since 1700
The Poor Had No Lawyers: Who Owns Scotland and How They Got it

54. The Poor Had No Lawyers: Who Owns Scotland and How They Got it

By Andy Wightman

An exploration into Scotland’s history to find out how and why landowners got their hands on the millions of acres of land that were once held in common, The Poor Had No Lawyers tells the story of how Scotland’s legal establishment and politicians managed to appropriate land through ... More »

55. Robert Bruce: And the Community of the Realm of Scotland

By G.W.S. Barrow

This classic edition is the definitive history of Robert Bruce's life and career, during Scotland's tumultuous coming of age in the Wars of Independence, and one of the twentieth century's bona-fide classics in historical writing. It tells the story of how Robert Bruce outwitted Edward I, defeated his ... More »

Robert Bruce: And the Community of the Realm of Scotland
An Essay on the History of Civil Society

56. An Essay on the History of Civil Society

By Adam Ferguson | Used Price: 90% Off

Adam Ferguson's Essay on the History of Civil Society (first published in 1767) is a classic of the Scottish--and European--Enlightenment. Drawing on such diverse sources as classical authors and contemporary travel literature, Ferguson combines a subtle analysis of modern commercial society with a critique of its abandonment of ... More »

57. Scotland: A Very Short Introduction

By Rab Houston | Used Price: 80% Off

Scotland's past is too often seen through a film of myths and misconceptions. In this Very Short Introduction, Rab Houston explores the key themes from more than 1,000 years of Scotland's very real and very fascinating history. Covering everything from the Jacobites to devolution to the modern economy, ... More »

Scotland: A Very Short Introduction
The Wallace Book

58. The Wallace Book

By Edward J. Cowan; Fiona Watson | 50% Off

Through his personality, ingenuity and ability, he initiated a resistance movement which ultimately secured the nation's freedom and independence. Yet, Wallace was reviled, opposed and eventually betrayed by the nobility in his own day to re-surface in the epic poetry of the fifteenth century as a champion and ... More »

59. The Economics of Belonging: A Radical Plan to Win Back the Left Behind and Achieve Prosperity for All

By Martin Sandbu

A radical new approach to economic policy that addresses the symptoms and causes of inequality in Western society today Fueled by populism and the frustrations of the disenfranchised, the past few years have witnessed the widespread rejection of the economic and political order that Western countries built up ... More »

The Economics of Belonging: A Radical Plan to Win Back the Left Behind and Achieve Prosperity for All
NHS SOS: How the NHS Was Betrayed - and How We Can Save It

60. NHS SOS: How the NHS Was Betrayed - and How We Can Save It

By Raymond Tallis; Jacky Davis

The Coalition Government passed into law an unprecedented assault on the NHS. Doctors, unions, the media, even politicians who claimed to be stalwart defenders failed to protect it. Now the effect of those devastating reforms are beginning to be felt by patients - but we can still save ... More »

61. The Scottish Insurrection of 1820

By Peter Berresford Ellis; Seumas Mac a' Ghobhainn

The first full account of the Scottish insurrection of 1820 - the final, doomed challenge to the Act of Union of 1707, a potentially explosive threat to the British Crown, and the last concerted attempt by Scottish working class radicals to establish an independent Scottish Parliament. The authors ... More »

The Scottish Insurrection of 1820
The Lure of Greatness: England's Brexit and America's Trump

62. The Lure of Greatness: England's Brexit and America's Trump

By Anthony Barnett | Used Price: 50% Off

In 2016 two surprising explosions of popular contempt for the existing order drove Britain into Brexit and paved the way for Trump’s presidency of the United States. On both sides of the Atlantic, proud regimes with global pretensions were levelled by justifiable revolts. But in the name of ... More »

63. The End of Nature

By Bill McKibben | Used Price: 80% Off

Reissued on the tenth anniversary of its publication, this classic work on our environmental crisis features a new introduction by the author, reviewing both the progress and ground lost in the fight to save the earth.This impassioned plea for radical and life-renewing change is today still considered a ... More »

The End of Nature
Collieries, Communities and the Miners' Strike in Scotland, 1984-85

64. Collieries, Communities and the Miners' Strike in Scotland, 1984-85

By Jim Phillips

This book analyses the 1984-85 miners' strike by focusing on its vital Scottish dimensions, especially the role of workplace politics and community mobilisation. The year-long strike began in Scotland, with workers defending the moral economy of the coalfields, and resisting pit closures and management attacks on trade unionism. ... More »

65. Hiroshima

By John Hersey | Used Price: 80% Off

"At, exactly fifteen minutes past eight in the morning on August 6, 1945, Japanese time, at the moment when the atomic bomb flashed above Hiroshima, Miss Toshiko Sasaki, a clerk in the personnel department of the East Asia Tin Works, had just sat down at her place in ... More »

Hiroshima
The Age of Extremes: 1914-1991

66. The Age of Extremes: 1914-1991

By Eric Hobsbawm | Used Price: 80% Off

Dividing the century into the Age of Catastrophe, 1914-1950, the Golden Age, 1950-1973, and the Landslide, 1973-1991, Hobsbawm marshals a vast array of data into a volume of unparalleled inclusiveness, vibrancy, and insight, a work that ranks with his classics The Age of Empire and The Age of ... More »

67. Republicanism: A Theory of Freedom and Government

By Philip Pettit

This is the first full-length presentation of a republican alternative to the liberal and communitarian theories that have dominated political philosophy in recent years. The latest addition to the acclaimed Oxford Political Theory series, Pettit's eloquent and compelling account opens with an examination of the traditional republican conception ... More »

Republicanism: A Theory of Freedom and Government
The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class

68. The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class

By Guy Standing | Used Price: 50% Off

Neo-liberal policies and institutional changes have produced a huge and growing number of people with sufficiently common experiences to be called an emerging class. In this book Guy Standing introduces what he calls the Precariat - a growing number of people across the world living and working precariously, ... More »

69. Ecological Economics

By Herman E. Daly; Joshua Farley

In its first edition, this book helped to define the emerging field of ecological economics. This new edition surveys the field today. It incorporates all of the latest research findings and grounds economic inquiry in a more robust understanding of human needs and behavior. Humans and ecological systems, ... More »

Ecological Economics
In Praise of Idleness

70. In Praise of Idleness

By Bertrand Russell | Used Price: 60% Off

Intolerance and bigotry lie at the heart of all human suffering. So claims Bertrand Russell at the outset of In Praise of Idleness, a collection of essays in which he espouses the virtues of cool reflection and free enquiry; a voice of calm in a world of maddening ... More »

71. Letters of Sidney, on Inequality of Property

By John Millar

John Millar of Glasgow (1735-1801) was a Scottish philosopher and historian. He studied at Glasgow, where he became one of the most important followers of the founder of economics science, Adam Smith. In 1761 Millar became professor of civil law at Glasgow, and soon his lectures gained him ... More »

Letters of Sidney, on Inequality of Property
Solidarity: Hidden Histories and Geographies of Internationalism

72. Solidarity: Hidden Histories and Geographies of Internationalism

By David Featherstone

In Solidarity, David Featherstone addresses a necessary and timely topic. Despite the frequency with which the word "solidarity" is invoked, it has in fact rarely been the subject of rigorous analysis. Instead, the forms that solidarities take are frequently taken as given. This book redresses this situation by ... More »

73. Unpeople: Britain's Secret Human Rights Abuses

By Mark Curtis | Used Price: 50% Off

Britain is complicit in the deaths of ten million people. These are Unpeople - those whose lives are seen as expendable in the pursuit of Britain's economic and political goals. In Unpeople, Mark Curtis shows that the Blair government is deepening its support for many states promoting terrorism ... More »

Unpeople: Britain's Secret Human Rights Abuses
Debating Scotland: Issues of Independence and Union in the 2014 Referendum

74. Debating Scotland: Issues of Independence and Union in the 2014 Referendum

By Michael Keating

On 18 September 2014, Scotland held a referendum on the question: Should Scotland be an independent country? This is a most unusual event in modern democracies and engaged the political class, civil society, and the general public to an unprecedented degree, leading to an 85 per cent turnout ... More »

75. The Mass Media and Power in Modern Britain

By John Eldridge; Jenny Kitzinger; Kevin Williams

The Mass Media and Power in Britain is a thorough, lievely introduction to the role, importance, and power of the mass media in contemporary British society. What is the mass media, and how does it help shape life in modern Britain? After introducing the student to discussions around ... More »

The Mass Media and Power in Modern Britain
Waste: Uncovering the Global Food Scandal

76. Waste: Uncovering the Global Food Scandal

By Tristram Stuart | Under $1.00

The true cost of what the global food industry throws away. With shortages, volatile prices and nearly one billion people hungry, the world has a food problem—or thinks it does. Farmers, manufacturers, supermarkets and consumers in North America and Europe discard up to half of their food—enough to ... More »

77. The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power

By Joel Bakan | Rock-bottom Price: $0.01

Over the last 150 years the corporation has risen from relative obscurity to become the world's dominant economic institution. Eminent Canadian law professor and legal theorist Joel Bakan contends that today's corporation is a pathological institution, a dangerous possessor of the great power it wields over people and ... More »

The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power
The Rule of Law

78. The Rule of Law

By Tom Bingham | Used Price: 60% Off

"The Rule of Law" is a phrase much used but little examined. The idea of the rule of law as the foundation of modern states and civilizations has recently become even more talismanic than that of democracy, but what does it actually consist of? In this brilliant short ... More »

79. Understanding Scotland: The Sociology of a Nation

By David McCrone

Understanding Scotland has been recognised since publication as the key text on the sociology of Scotland. This wholly revised edition provides the first sustained study of post-devolution Scottish society. It contains new material on:* the establishment of the Scottish parliament in 1999* social and political data from the ... More »

Understanding Scotland: The Sociology of a Nation
The Bairns o' Adam: Story of the STUC

80. The Bairns o' Adam: Story of the STUC

By Keith Aitken

Offering an account of the characters behind the movement and the great events - both industrial and political - which have shaped Scotland's past and present, this work traces the story of the STUC from its inception. More »

81. The Corporate Takeover of Ireland

By Kieran Allen | Used Price: 90% Off

A government by the people and for the people is an ideal of Irish politics. But it is fast disappearing as corporations take more control. The Corporate Takeover of Ireland examines the effects corporations have on Irish life and shows how democratic decision making has been subverted by ... More »

The Corporate Takeover of Ireland
The Skye Bridge Story: Multi-national Interests and People Power

82. The Skye Bridge Story: Multi-national Interests and People Power

By Andy Anderson

The story of the Skye Bridge tolls ran for more than ten years. It is a story that goes right to the heart of govenment policy - the Skye Bridge was the first Public Finance Initiative in the UK, where a public project is built by private capital ... More »

83. The Retreat of the State: The Diffusion of Power in the World Economy

By Susan Strange | Used Price: 90% Off

Who is really in charge of the world economy? Not only governments, argues Susan Strange in The Retreat of the State. Big businesses, drug barons, insurers, accountants and international bureaucrats all encroach on the so-called sovereignty of the state. Professor Strange examines the implications of this rivalry and ... More »

The Retreat of the State: The Diffusion of Power in the World Economy
The Sexual State: Sexuality and Scottish Governance 1950-80

84. The Sexual State: Sexuality and Scottish Governance 1950-80

By Roger Davidson; Gayle Davis

This important book fills a gap in the study of modern Scottish, and British, Society, providing as it does a vital perspective on Scotland's sexual history and its political and social context. It is unique in exploring the period from 1950 to 1980, covering the immediate post-war and ... More »

85. Guild and State: European Political Thought from the Twelfth Century to the Present

By Antony Black

Guild and State examines the values of social solidarity and fraternity that emerged from medieval guilds and city-communes, and the effect of traditional corporate organization of labor on socioeconomic attitudes and theories of the state. What ordinary guildsmen and townsmen thought about these issues can be ... More »

Guild and State: European Political Thought from the Twelfth Century to the Present
The European Union: A Very Short Introduction

86. The European Union: A Very Short Introduction

By John Pinder; Simon Usherwood

The European Union (EU) stands out as a fascinatingly unique political organization. On the one hand, it has shown the potential for developing deep and wide-ranging cooperation between member states, going far beyond that found anywhere else in the world. On the other, it is currently in the ... More »

87. No Gods and Precious Few Heroes: Scotland 1900-2015

By Christopher Harvie | Used Price: 50% Off

Epitomised by political, social and technological change this history appraises a fast-evolving century, from the outbreak of World War I up to the present and the politics of devolution and the age of the internet. The book begins with the devastating impact of World War I and Scotland's ... More »

No Gods and Precious Few Heroes: Scotland 1900-2015
Poll Tax Rebellion

88. Poll Tax Rebellion

By Danny Burns | Used Price: 80% Off

The gripping inside story of the biggest mass movement in British history, which at its peak involved over 17 million people. Using a combination of photos, text, and graphics, and drawing from the voices of activists and non-payers, it describes the everyday organization of local anti-poll tax groups ... More »

89. Reclaiming Work: Beyond the Wage-based Society

By Andre Gorz

Over the last twenty-five years, Western societies have beenreversing into the future. They are able neither to reproduce themselves in accordance with past norms, nor to exploit theunprecedented freedom offered by the savings in working time whichnew technology has generated. In this major new book, Andre Gorz argues ... More »

Reclaiming Work: Beyond the Wage-based Society
The Second Sex

90. The Second Sex

By Simone de Beauvoir | Used Price: 50% Off

Newly translated and unabridged in English for the first time, Simone de Beauvoir’s masterwork is a powerful analysis of the Western notion of “woman,â€Â and a groundbreaking exploration of inequality and otherness.  This long-awaited new edition reinstates significant portions of the original French text that were cut in ... More »

91. Industry and Ethos: Scotland, 1832-1914

By Sydney Checkland; Olive Checkland | 90% Off

This book celebrates the emergence of the Scots and Scotland from centuries of poverty and backwardness as the nineteenth century saw Scottish locomotives and ships working on land and sea throughout the world, and Scottish technology leading the way. It analyses the ways in which Scots retained their ... More »

Industry and Ethos: Scotland, 1832-1914
Seeing like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed

92. Seeing like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed

By James Scott

In this wide-ranging and original book, James C. Scott analyzes failed cases of large-scale authoritarian plans in a variety of fields. He argues that centrally managed social plans derail when they impose schematic visions that do violence to complex interdependencies that are not -- and cannot be -- ... More »

93. Crime, Justice and Society in Scotland

By Hazel Croall; Gerry Mooney; Mary Munro

Crime, Justice and Society in Scotland is an edited collection of chapters from leading experts that builds and expands upon the success of the 2010 publication Criminal Justice in Scotland to offer a comprehensive and critical overview of Scottish criminal justice and its relation to wider social inequalities ... More »

Crime, Justice and Society in Scotland
Scottish Politics

94. Scottish Politics

By Paul Cairney; Neil McGarvey

This textbook covers all the major features of Scottish politics and is informed by contemporary research and debates. It gives an account of Scottish government in a multi-level system and contains chapters on all the main political institutions. Coverage extends up until the initial performance of the Salmond ... More »

95. Democracy And Education

By John Dewey | Used Price: 50% Off

John Dewey's best-known and still-popular classic, Democracy and Education, is presented here as a new edition in Volume 9 of the Middle Works. Sidney Hook, who wrote the introduction to this volume, describes Democracy and Education: It illuminates directly or indirectly all the basic issues that are central ... More »

Democracy And Education
The Firth of Forth: An Environmental History

96. The Firth of Forth: An Environmental History

By T. C. Smout; Mairi Stewart | 50% Off

A rare portrait of one of Scotland’s major firths, this book shows how man has interacted with the environment throughout thousands of years. Combining a rich wildlife with a history of long and intense human activity around the estuary's shores and in its ... More »

97. Lairds, Land and Sustainability: Scottish Perspectives on Upland Management

By Jayne Glass; Martin Price; Charles Warren; Alister Scott

Scotland is at the heart of modern, sustainable upland management. Large estates cover vast areas of the uplands, with a long, complex and emotive history of ownership and use.In recent decades, the Scottish uplands have increasingly been the arena for passionate debates over large-scale land management issues. Crucially, ... More »

Lairds, Land and Sustainability: Scottish Perspectives on Upland Management
The Development of the West of Scotland 1750-1960

98. The Development of the West of Scotland 1750-1960

By Anthony Slaven

The economic and social problems of modern Scotland are at the centre of current debate about regional economic growth, social improvement and environmental rehabilitation. In this book, as relevant today as when it was first published in 1975, Anthony Slaven argues that the extent and causes of these ... More »

99. The Politics of Switzerland: Continuity and Change in a Consensus Democracy

By Hanspeter Kriesi; Alexander H. Trechsel

Despite Switzerland's small size, its political system is one of the most complex and fascinating among contemporary democracies. The rich, complex mixture of centuries-old institutions and the refined political arrangements that exist today constitute a veritable laboratory for social scientists and their students. Often presented as the paradigmatic ... More »

The Politics of Switzerland: Continuity and Change in a Consensus Democracy
The Democratic Intellect

100. The Democratic Intellect

By George Elder Davie

Scotland has always had a distinctive approach to higher education. From the inauguration of its first universities, the accent has been on first principles. This unified the approach to knowledge - even of mathematics and science - through a broad, philosophical interpretation. This generalist tradition, ... More »