Maverick Guide to Scotland

by June Skinner Sawyers

Informative and accessible, Maverick Guide to Scotland offers a trove of descriptions, knowledge, and insider's information that would otherwise take years of travel and experience to obtain. Every village, city, and site is depicted as seen through the eyes of an experienced traveler, as are many of the wild and beautiful stretches that lie between.

Alongside practical knowledge and advice are the intangible histories with which every stone of Scotland seems filled. This Maverick guide enhances a journey through modern Scotland by revealing bits of its past, which is ripe with figures of poets and kings. It details the timeless features of the country that have driven people to its shores-the ruined castles and highland cliffs-but is tuned to the timely attractions as well. Today, the thriving art and theaters of Glasgow and Edinburgh and the recent renewal of interest in Celtic language, music, and culture are just as noteworthy.

Organized by geographic region, each chapter includes a section on the transportation, culture, nightlife, tours, accommodations, and attractions of the vicinity, along with a list of addresses and numbers. In addition to the major sites, the Maverick guides have always had an eye for the unusual and overlooked, the hidden and unassuming corners that only a seasoned traveler would find.

Whether visitors are interested in golfing the famous courses of St. Andrews, walking the battlefields of Sir William Wallace at Stirling, or visiting Glamis Castle, the haunting setting for Shakespeare's Macbeth, Maverick Guide to Scotland is a useful tool for enhancing their travels.

608 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1999

About the author

Born in Glasgow, Scotland, June Skinner Sawyers is the author or editor of more than twenty books, many with a Celtic theme, including Celtic Music; Dreams of Elsewhere: The Selected Travel Writings of Robert Louis Stevenson; Praying with Celtic Saints, Prophets, Martyrs, and Poets; The Road North: 300 Years of Classic Scottish Travel Writing; and The Scots of Chicago: Quiet Immigrants and Their New Society.

Her essays, Weeping Willows and Long Black Veils: The Country Roots of Rosanne Cash, from Scotland to Tennessee appeared in Walking the Line: Country Music Lyricists and American Culture and Celtic Music in America in The Encyclopedia of Music and American Culture, respectively. In addition, her work has appeared in Scottish Tradition, The Chicago Tribune, The San Francisco Chronicle, Sing Out!, Dirty Linen, Booklist and The Common Review. In 2013, she was the recipient of the Flora Macdonald Award from St. Andrews University in Laurinburg, North Carolina, which is given to a woman of Scots birth or descent who has made an outstanding contribution to the human community.