Reading Scotland: The Stuarts and Kidnapped

 Two more Scottish-based books under my belt. 

The Royal Stuarts: A History of the Family that Shaped Britain, by Allan Massie - a solid three-star survey of the Stuart/Stewart dynasty in Scotland and England. Although published n 2011, it had a somewhat dated feel to it. I learned a great deal, coming from knowing very little about those that preceded Mary Queen of Scots.

Survey books like this are challenging in that each section was short enough to be digestible and not overwhelming with detail, but then I found myself wanting more info about each monarch and what was happening at the time. For example, the infamous Gunpowder Plot early in the reign of James VI/I (the VI refers to his Scottish title, and the I to his English one) is given one line. I know there is a wealth of info on this event out there, but I do believe it warrants more than a mere mention. 

Also, I would have appreciated illustrations--the cover shows a passel of Stuarts but there was no info inside about who was who. I did like the family tree and referred to it often to keep straight the many people named James, Charles, Mary, or Anne.

I also reread the wonderful adventure story, Kidnapped, by Robert Louis Stevenson. Kidnapped is actually the first book in Stevenson's David Balfour series--the second is Catriona, which I have never read and probably should.

Even though this was either my second or third reading of this book, I hadn't read it in at least 40 years and so it truly made a lot more sense this time around. I vividly remembered the first part, where 16- year-old David Balfour, newly orphaned, hears that he has family and sets out to find them. He discovers he has a miserly old uncle who, when his attempt to murder David fails, arranges for a sea captain to kidnap him and take him to the American South and sell him into slavery.

On board the ship, David is befriended by Alan Breck Stewart, a Jacobite agent (time period is shortly after the failed 1745 rising) and together they fight off the wicked sea captain and his rogues, survive shipwreck, flee through the Highlands with the British army searching for them, nearly starve, and survive all manner of dangers as they make their way towards Edinburgh and the lawyer who will restore David to his rightful place as heir of the House of Shaws! Here is a map of David's journey.

Now that I have a better understanding of the politics of the time, as well as the religious conflicts, I actually enjoyed the story so much more than when I had read it without that context. 

There have been a number of film versions (1917, 1938, 1948, 1960, 1971, 1986, and 2005), none of which I've seen. I'm learning towards the 1960 Disney version, starring James McArthur as David and David Finch as Alan Breck, with a cameo by Peter O'Toole (apparently his first film role). I had a massive of crush on James McArther when I saw him in Swiss Family Robinson, so it would be fun to see him as David.

Scottish History Podcast

I've been enjoying The Scottish History Podcast. Owen Innes is a former tour guide turned podcaster. He is currently doing a series on the Scottish monarchs named James--I just listened to his latest on James IV. For me, Owen's info is at the right level--enough detail for me to get the idea of what is going on, but not so detailed that I get lost in the weeds.