Scotland and the Scottish Diaspora
"It's part of me, Scotland. I'm still immersed in it even though I am not there." -- Irvine Welsh (1958 - ), Scots novelist, short story writer, playwright, author of Trainspotting among many other works).
All my life I have been interested in the history of Scotland and the profound consequences of the Scottish diaspora throughout the world. Scotland and the Scots are appealing in so many ways -- the beauty of the land- and seascapes, the food and drink, the extraordinarily resourceful and creative people, the dramatic history from antiquity to the present, the great literature and history and philosophy and religion. The subjects are themselves enough to inspire writing, but there is great satisfaction in the fact that the Scots have lived up to the subjects on their own writ.
Over many years I have researched the history of Cumberland Valley, and I have often talked about the Scots, the Scots-Irish, and the settlement of this part of the New World by these willing and not-so-willing exiles. In recognition of the history and significance of the Scots to our area, I fly the Saltire and carry these books and cds. I am always on the lookout for more.
P.S. Due to listing limitations, I have moved Ian Rankin and Denise Mina, two fine writers of the Scots Noir movement, over to our International Mystery page.
Edward Dwelly's Illustrated Gaelic-English Dictionary
Edward Dwelly's Illustrated Gaelic-English Dictionary
The first edition of this classic dictionary was published more than a hundred years ago in 1901. Still a marvelous source of words, it holds a special place in the Gaelic world.
Instead of a lithographic reproduction this edition is newly typeset. This has allowed us to increase the font size slightly and, as a result, the text is much clearer than ever before. Small things were adjusted: typos, errors in the alphabetic ordering and the orthography has been tweaked a wee bit regarding some inconsistencies. The illustrations were digitally cleaned and they too are now much clearer, especially the numbering on the more complex illustrations.
No new terms have been added, so it’s “Dwelly virtually the way he always was” and Akerbeltz is delighted to make this admirable book available again.