FALL 2019 UK TRIP - Bibliography & other resources (this page was added in Feb. 2021)
return to 2019 UK trip index
return to mdimage site index
Below is a list of resources I used to learn about Scotland & England in the year before the trip, or, re-visited to get the history straight after the trip.
TWO MAIN GUIDE BOOKS
Rick Steves England, April 2018, by Avalon Travel Publishing. R. Steves travel books tend to look at cultural highlights and are really informative.
So is Fodor's Travel - England - 2015, published by Random House. FODORs is very thorough and generally has a pleasant writing style.
Each of these resources recommended destinations which the other did not, so they are a perfect combo. Once your itinerary is planned out, you can leave these at home, their job done.
HISTORICAL RESOURCES
Queen of Scots, the true life of Mary Stuart, 2004, by John Guy, Mariner Books publishers. This is a highly-rated book and was the basis for a recent saucy Hollywood movie about her. The story is worth knowing about & there's no shortage of drama in the original, un-Hollywooded version, per the book.
Robert Burns, a Biography, by Robert Crawford, 2009, Princeton University Press. Prof. Crawford still teaches Scottish Lit. at St. Andrews University. This is a valuable resource about Burns & the times he lived in, which happened to be the Scottish Enlightenment period.
How the Scots Invented the Modern World, by Arthur Herman, Crown Publishing, 2007. If you only want to read one book before going to Scotland read this one. It is entertaining and full of good info. I underlined a lot and read it twice in the months before the trip.
Borders Tales and Trails, by Kenneth and Norman Turnbull, 2018 by Light Messages Publishing. What a valuable resource, covering general Scottish history, and focusing on the main historical destinations to see in the Borders area, which are the "trails", but this book has nothing to do with walking trails in the Scottish Borders.
There's such an appealing rough-cut approach to the writing, and somehow this home-grown Turnbull Clan book provides us outsiders with insight into what Scottish Clan pride means, even today. More important to me, this was the best history source for info about Wm. Wallace & as a result I revised my 2013 Wallace Monument visit comments.
Naked Scotland, An American Insider Bares All, by S. Blyth Stirling - this is a really quirky book with zero info on the publisher. I found a paperback version on Amazon, for $10, and both my wife and I read it. The author discusses so many societal & cultural things to be aware of, that are never covered by travel guide books. She wrote it as a must-read Primer if you want to move there.
Other Sources - we purchased official brochures at many destinations, including: Culzean Castle, Dryburgh Abbey, Linlithgow Palace, The Palace of Holyrood, Beatrix Potter's Hill Top House, Abbotsford, Edinburgh Castle, Mount Stuart, and Vindolanda Roman Fort. All of these were very valuable, professionally done & full of beautiful photos & informative text, but, as info-sources, I am not listing the details.
return to 2019 UK trip index
return to mdimage site index
Addendum 1 - In 2020-21 I read two books about Hadrian's wall and updated the Drive to the Borders page. These are:
Hadrian's Wall, by Adrian Goldsworthy, 2018, from Basic Books/Hachette Book Group, NYC.
Hadrian's Wall, Archaeology and History at the Limit of Rome's Empire, by Nick Hodgson, 2017, The Crowood Press Ltd., Wiltshire, England.
Addendum 2 - Info about Castlerigg Stone Circle, shown on the 2nd day at Keswick page, was corrected in March, 2022, after reading the following two books:
Neolithic Britain, The Transformation of Social Worlds, by Keith Ray and Julian Thomas, 2018, Oxford University Press.
The Tale of the Axe, How the Neolithic Revolution Transformed Britain, by David Miles, 2016, Thames & Hudson Ltd., London.