How the Scots invented the modern world - Arthur Herman

An exciting account of the origins of the
modern world

Who
formed the first literate society? Who invented our modern ideas of
democracy and free market capitalism? The Scots. As historian and author
Arthur Herman reveals, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries
Scotland made crucial contributions to science, philosophy, literature,
education, medicine, commerce, and politics-contributions that have
formed and nurtured the modern West ever since.

Herman has charted a fascinating journey across the centuries
of Scottish history. Here is the untold story of how John Knox and the Church
of Scotland laid the foundation for our modern idea of democracy; how the Scottish
Enlightenment helped to inspire both the American Revolution and the U.S. Constitution;
and how thousands of Scottish immigrants left their homes to create the American
frontier, the Australian outback, and the British Empire in India and Hong Kong.

How the Scots Invented the Modern World reveals how Scottish genius for creating
the basic ideas and institutions of modern life stamped the lives of a series of
remarkable historical figures, from James Watt and Adam Smith to Andrew Carnegie
and Arthur Conan Doyle, and how Scottish heroes continue to inspire our contemporary
culture, from William "Braveheart" Wallace to James Bond.

And no one who takes this incredible historical trek will ever view the Scots-or the modern West-in the same way again.