How the Scots Invented the Modern World

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In the late 1980s and early 1990s, 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. [3] [4] To be honest, I'm a reader of historical fiction not history per se. But I am such a huge fan of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series that I bought this book to broaden my understanding of the events in her novels.

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In The Scotsman, Graham Leicester writes that the "overblown rhetoric invites a sceptical reaction. But I suggest we just accept this extraordinary compliment graciously." [16] It was likely influenced by Thomas Cahill's How the Irish Saved Civilization [2] [17] and the result of a marketing strategy. [1] [8] Several reviewers found that Herman was successful in proving that Scots did have a disproportionate impact on modernity. [8] [17] [18] Herman continued this type of theme with his next book, To Rule the Waves: How the British Navy Shaped the Modern World, published in 2004. [19] Arthur L. Herman (born 1956) is an American popular historian. He currently serves as a senior fellow at Hudson Institute. [1] Biography [ edit ]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. Firstly, there was a large injection of rationalism into religious thinking by key prominant players. Equality of all before god, working to god's glory, and recognising god in the observable facts of nature were principles carried into the heart of Scottish society. Reading this book made me appreciate even more how much the Scots have impacted the world with the little they had and with the tragedies they experienced. I learned a few interesting facts:

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To Rule the Waves: How the British Navy Shaped the Modern World, HarperCollins, 2004 ISBN 978-0060534240. How the Scots Invented the Modern World: The True Story of How Western Europe's Poorest Nation Created Our World and Everything in It, Three Rivers Press 2002 ISBN 978-0609809990. It was both exciting and fulfilling to read the history that led up to the Battle of Culloden and beyond, to meet the historical figures and read the family names from her books in the context of the history she drew on. Scots likewise made great contributions to science and technology. Today we measure power in terms of “watts”, a tribute to James Watt, whose improvements to steam engines made them finally practical for widespread use. We drive on “macadam” roads, initially developed by John McAdam.

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According to Herman, the United States of America probably wouldn't exist without the Scots, and Ulster Scots ("Scotch Irish"). The Constitution, structure of the federal government, and more, he seems to claim, were primarily the creations of either Scottish immigrants or descendants. At times, he seems to go overboard with this idea. However, when I realized at the time, Europeans living in the 13 colonies were all either British, Scottish, German with a few Irish (mostly Ulster Scots so he would consider them Scots of a sort), it isn't surprising that Scots played a big role. The French were in Canada and Louisiana, the Spanish and Portuguese were further south, and after the Vikings, Scandinavians stayed put for a few centuries, as did the Italians (Romans of old) and Greeks. a b Kemp, Arnold (January 20, 2002). "From the school of hard Knox to masters of the world". The Observer. London. p.E5 . Retrieved September 1, 2009. Arthur L. Herman. The Saumur assembly 1611: Huguenot political belief and action in the age of Marie de Medici [ permanent dead link]. Johns Hopkins University, Dissertation by Arthur L. Herman, 1984. advocated liberty in the sphere of commerce and the global economy. Hume developed philosophical concepts that directly influenced James Madison and thus the U.S. Constitution. Herman elucidates at length the ideas of the Scottish Enlightenment and their worldwide impact. In 19th-century Britain, the Scottish Enlightenment, as popularized by Dugald Stewart, became the basis of classical liberalism. At the University of Glasgow, James Watt perfected the crucial technology of the Industrial Revolution: the steam engine. The "democratic" Scottish system of education found a home in the developing U.S. This is a worthwhile book for the general reader, although much of the material has been covered better elsewhere, most recently in T.M. Devine's magisterial The Scottish Nation: A History, 1700–2000 I love Scotland. Along with England it is the only overseas country I've toured. Perhaps my love was born when reading Robert Louis Stevenson, George Macdonald, Sir Walter Scott, John Buchan, and O. Douglas. Or listening to Alistair Begg and David Tennant. That said, I have never been able to gin up motivation to learn much —beyond the names David Hume and Adam Smith—regarding the Scottish Enlightenment.

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I am a Scotsman,” Sir Walter Scott famously wrote, “therefore I had to fight my way into the world.” So did any number of his compatriots over a period of just a few centuries, leaving their native country and traveling to every continent, carving out livelihoods and bringing ideas of freedom, self-reliance, moral discipline, and technological mastery with them, among other key assumptions of what historian Arthur Herman calls the “Scottish mentality.” And finally, render it down to a digestible set of things to be learned and applied from the story. Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.Which is to say: the cover of the book magnetized me... and then the first eight chapters, focused on the Enlightenment, demagnetized me. But I have to walk my daily steps, so I slogged through the audio and learned me some philosophy and economics, along with who Francis Hutcheson and Lord Kames were. Once the second part, Diaspora, took off, I was an eager reader. Secondly, radical and sweeping reforms in Scottish education brought literacy right across the class spectrum. Even lowly crofters and their families were educated and often well-read. University education was similarly founded on rational enquiry which made room for radical thinkers like Adam Smith and David Hume such that a Scottish education became the benchmark of excellence around the world.