Gosh, how to distill half a century's worth of reading into a few books? As a writer one of the indispensable research tools on my desk is a good historical time line. So, if you are interested in any facet of Scottish history you should have a copy of Chronology of Scottish History by David Ross; Geddes & Grosset, 2002. For a general overview I'd recommend The Lion in the North by John Prebble, [my copy] Coward, McCann & Geoghagan (New York), 1971, and A Concise History of Scotland by Sir Fitzroy Maclean; [my copy] Thames and Hudson, Ltd. (London), 1970. Both of these books should still be in print, but probably with different publishers. Check with Amazon for the latest details. You might also want to get a copy of the latest catalog from James Thin, Booksellers, in Edinburgh-- but I have to warn you books on Scottish history, once you really get into it, are almost as addictive as heroin, and a far more expensive habit! Pre-1960 encyclopedias are another good source of specific information as you can (usually) look up a specific person or event, which saves tedious hours trolling through stacks of references.

If you are looking for specific resources then you'd probably be ahead asking our resident history professor, CAJUNSCOT, for his recommendations as he is light years ahead of me in this area.

Hope that helps,

Scott