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 the change. For always, in following this lucid narrative, we see an original mind at work, questioning and explaining, as well as illustrating. Hugh Trevor-Roper, Sunday Times
