In A People’s History of Scotland, the first socialist history of Scotland in over fifty years, Chris Bambery seizes the opportunity offered by September’s referendum to delve into the nation’s real and oft-forgotten past.

His book is a corrective to the usual history of kings and queens, victorious battles and bloody defeats. Rather, it tells the story that matters today—the story of freedom fighters, suffragettes, the workers of Red Clydesdale who battled for their rights, and the contemporary movement for independence. It looks at the struggles for nationhood as well as for a socialist future, while also charting the lives of Scots who changed the world: from the real Macbeth to the father of modern capitalism, Adam Smith, as well as campaigner Mary Brooksbank. This is a passionate cry for independence and also for a nation that has deep socialist roots.

Chris Bambery is a writer, broadcaster, TV producer and founding member of the International Socialist Group in Scotland. For many years he was the Secretary of the British Socialist Workers Party. He is the author of Scotland: Class and Nation (1999), A Rebel’s Guide to Gramsci (2006) and The Second World War: A Marxist History (2013).

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