I feel like I need to apologize for the American education system. My memory of British History in elementary and middle school is a paragraph about medieval times, a chapter on the Magna Carta, and then just how the English were involved in American colonies and the Revolutionary war. I learned more in museums, independent reading and, I’m sorry to say, tv and movies. I learned a bit more about English history in my literature classes in college, but… not really much. This is not to say that all people in the U.S. are completely ignorant about British and specifically Scottish history, but they had to go out of school to get this education- College history classes, reading and research.
I found out about “Bonnie Prince Charlie” from the novel “Eight Cousins” by Louisa May Alcott. I’ve also learned a bit from time travel shows and books.
Ok, apology out of the way, how to rectify this ignorance. I first attempted “How the Scots Invented the Modern World” by Arthur Herman. I thought it was going to be about inventors of machines and scientific discovery, but it was about concepts. It was not an entry point for history. I abandoned that effort and am reading “Scottish History for Dummies” by William Knox. After a rambling introduction it launched into prehistory. I’ve reached 1134 and King David of Alba. I’ve been fascinated learning about the swirl of different peoples rambling, settling, mixing and warring across this land. Not just the Romans, there were Vikings, Picts, Gaelic, Anglo-Normans, Saxons… I’m still struggling but I think I can get through this one. So many place names, so many people. I need timelines and maps. I will keep looking for resources to make this fun and fascinating, not like I am sitting in 6th grade Social Studies with a list of dates to memorize (and then forget) for a test. Let me know if you have recommendations.
