Jacob Aitken’s Reviews > From Gileskirk to Greyfriars: Knox, Buchanan, and the Heroes of Scotland's Reformation > Status Update

Scott paints an interesting picture of James I: he really did a lot to reign in the nobles and improve justice in the land. Interestingly, this is the same argument I've made for viewing the Russian tsars (although, admittedly, the tsars were wildly loved by their people).

Scott has a chapter detailing the rise of civilizations. On p.99 he notes that families often bond together, creating larger communities. This, as honest readers know, is the principle behind nationalism. Be careful: if you really believe that NATO will bomb your churches and hospitals and Protestant pastors will preach sermons against you.

Sir Walter Scott's works can be seen as a continual clash between the Romantic vs. the Bureaucratic. The Romantic hero--the nationalist--is he who maintains the old ways and heroic tradition over against progress, modernity, and the economic. In other words, it is the clash between Heroism vs. Neo-Con Republicanism. This section details the end of Queen Mary, who was a poor queen but represented the heroic in deat

In this volume his writing style is much smoother than in Rob Roy. Sentences are written in the active voice and he avoids writing in dialectic. Unfortunately, some chapters often feel like one is reading the genealogies in 1 Chronicles. Scott is capable of writing exciting Romance. One is not entirely sure why he would choose to imitate the Chronicler sometimes instead.

Surprisingly fair view of Mary Queen of Scots. Like James II (VII) later on, she seems to be a basically decent ruler and human being, but was just head of the wrong nation (or wrong part of it, the Highlands remaining Catholic and all) at the wrong time.