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Kenneth Roy - The Invisible Spirit (2nd Hand Hardback)
SKU B002945
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Synopsis
Subtitled : A life of post-war Scotland 1945-1975.
Kenneth Roy's panorama of post-war Scottish life begins with the VE night celebrations in the spring of 1945 and ends with the coming onstream of North Sea oil in the autumn of 1975.
It was the formative period in the making of modern Scotland, but it is a period little explored in depth and not fully understood until now. Using a wealth of contemporary accounts, the book tells a complex and often disturbing story of a country riven by poverty, struggling for a sense of its own identity, and ill-served by its masters.
The Invisible Spirit is unsparing in its examination of the failings of the Scottish establishment. It delivers a stinging indictment of political complacency and judicial incompetence and shows that, too often, the interests of Scotland and its people were betrayed. It exposes how, time and again, the truth was covered up in order to protect the powerful and how the press acquiescently accepted a far from reliable official version of events.
The book is also, however, the story of ordinary lives, the aspirations, the hardships and the achievements of the Scots themselves.
Richly varied in mood from the controversial to the amusing, The Invisible Spirit is both entertaining and compelling. It provides a unique perspective on Scotland at a turning point in its long history.
The Invisible Spirit, which dealt with the period 1945 to 1975, was described by Ian Hamilton QC as the most remarkable book about Scotland he had ever read.
Details
- Format : Thick 2nd Hand Hardback with Dust Jacket
- Condition : Very Good (Almost As New)
- Category : Non-Fiction - Scotland
- Published : 2013 (ICS Books - 1st Edition)
- ISBN : 9780954652784
- SKU : B002945
- PPC : SP1200gm
- RRP : £25 (Unclipped)
- Quantity Available : 1 only.
External Reviews
"A truly superb and factually accurate summary of the last 70 years in Scotland. A "must read" for anyone remotely interested in Scotland."
"Despite its size it is compulsively readable. Roy covers 30 years in the life of Scotland. He covers everything from murder trials to devolution proposals. Although the general theme of the book is fairly depressing, that apart from Jimmy Reid and Margo Macdonald, all the Scottish politicians of this era ,are a second rate, self interested bunch, Roy's style is so good and his sense of humour so dry that sections of the book are laugh out loud funny." - Google Reviews.
" . . . this isn't a nationalist narrative or even a particularly political one. Instead, it cures a deficit in Scotland's popular history. Roy's long career as a reporter makes him particularly enjoyable as a sharp and lively narrator of the crimes, controversies, campaigns and disasters . . ." - The Guardian.
The Author
Kenneth Roy (26 March 1945 - 5 November 2018) was a Scottish journalist, writer and broadcaster. Roy was a presenter on the BBC Scotland news programme Reporting Scotland throughout the 1970s and founded the Scottish Review newsletter.