Over the course of the 18th Century "Scotland would generate the basic institutions, ideas, attitudes, and habits of mind that characterize the modern age," writes Arthur Herman in the prologue to this bestseller.
As Herman writes in the updated preface to this latest edition of How the Scots Invented the Modern World, "People of Scottish descent are usually proud about their history achievements." Herman goes on mention the many famous names of Scottish inventors, writers, political thinkers, writers. The point of Herman's hugely popular and deeply reasoned book is not to spell out the scores of noteworthy individuals that were shaped by Scotland, but to suggest that those people -- and the Scottish spirit itself -- have transformed and given rise to the world we all live in today, a world largely defined by modern democracy, capitalism, and technology. Learn about how the Scottish Reformation and the Scottish Enlightenment shaped ideas of individualism and of the proper balance between civil and religious law -- separation of church and state.
By Arthur Herman. 472 page paperback.
