James Robertson

The Testament of Gideon Mack is James Robertson's acclaimed novel exploring faith and belief. For Gideon Mack, faithless minister, unfaithful husband and troubled soul, the existence of God, let alone the Devil, is no more credible than that of ghosts or fairies. Until the day he falls into a gorge and is rescued by someone who might just be Satan himself. Mack's testament - a compelling blend of memoir, legend, history, and, quite probably, madness - recounts one man's emotional crisis, disappearance, resurrection and death. It also transports you into an utterly mesmerising exploration of the very nature of belief.'Fascinating, extraordinary, strange, rich' Sunday Telegraph'Overwhelmingly compassionate and thought-provoking. Demands another read' Irvine Welsh, Guardian'Hugely enjoyable, very funny, deeply refreshing . . . its touch of devilry makes it even more of a joy' Herald'Fabulous . . . a work of the highest literary quality' Scotland on Sunday'Astonishingly accomplished, utterly compelling from start to finish . . . could well be the best novel published anywhere this year' Big Issue'James Robertson is a brilliant novelist. It's a long time since I read a novel in which the contemporary notions of faith and belief were so frankly tested' Ali SmithJames Robertson is the author of the novels The Fanatic, Joseph Knight, The Testament of Gideon Mack, And the Land Lay Still and The Professor of Truth. The Testament of Gideon Mack was longlisted for the 2006 Man Booker Prize, picked by Richard and Judy's Book Club, and shortlisted for the Saltire Book of the Year award, and And the Land Lay Still was the winner of the Saltire Book of the Year Award 2010.

Selim Aga was eight years old when he was abducted from the Nuba Mountains of Sudan and sold into slavery and auctioned 2000 miles away in Egypt to the highest bidder. Born around 1827 Selim was killed in a war in Liberia in 1875. How then did this slave come to be lecturing to fashionable audiences in London and publishing in the "Geographical Magazine"? James McCarthy has pieced together the life of this remarkable man using Selim's own narrative and those of others such as Sir Richard Burton.

Spanish Town is an old town. As Jamaica’s capital for nearly 350 years and subsequently as a major urban centre, its streets and squares witnessed key political and social transitions. But although the once proud city has lost all its ancient glory, Spanish Town has a rich and textured legacy. James Robertson guides the reader through the landmarks, identifying sites and scenes long lost and showing what is still there to be appreciated. His account of Spanish Town’s long history is firmly rooted in the streets and lances of the town, its nooks and niches, sounds and smells. The urban landscape he presents is a peopled landscape, inhabited by rich and poor, enslaved and free, notables and eccentrics, Africans and Europeans. He shows convincingly that the colonial capital provided both a cultural and political counterpoise to the colony’s merchants and plantations and that its diverse in habitants had created a `creole town’ as early as 1750 when they were still preparing to build Spanish Town’s splendid Georgian square in the midst of its multiplying yards. The work is based on extensive research in scattered archives and is illustrated by a variety of rare and wonderful images.

Exiled to Jamaica in 1746, Sir John Wedderburn made a fortune, returning to Scotland with Joseph Knight, a black slave. Now, in 1802, Sir John is settling his estate, and wants to find his former slave. Can old wounds that once touched the heart of Scottish law ever heal?

This book is a comprehensive introduction to the Scottish Parliament, both past and present, written in accessible, straightforward modern Scots. Part One describes the modern institution, re-established in 1999 after nearly a 300-year absence: its functions, powers, activities, buildings and personnel, and its relevance to the everyday lives of Scots. A brief history of the politics of post-Union Scotland, the establishment of the Scottish Office and the growing demand for devolved government in the 20th century, is also given. Part Two describes the historical Parliament, from its medieval origins to its fully-fledged development as an arm of government under the Stewarts, through to the Act of Union in 1707. The main events of this period, together with descriptions of incidents and individuals associated with the Parliament, and extracts from some of the many interesting pieces of legislation it passed, are given.

An impressive debut from an exciting new Scottish voice – a stunning novel about history, identity and redemption. A no. 2 best-seller in Scotland. It is Spring 1997 and Hugh Hardie needs a ghost for his Tours of Old Edinburgh. Andrew Carlin is the perfect candidate. So, with cape, stick and a plastic rat, Carlin is paid to pretend to be the spirit of Colonel Weir and to scare the tourists. But who is Colonel Weir, executed for witchcraft in 1670. In his research, Carlin is drawn into the past, in particular to James Mitchel, the fanatic and co-congregationist of Weir’s, who was tried in 1676 for the attempted assassination of the Archbishop of St Andrews, James Sharp. Through the story of two moments in history, ‘The Fanatic’ is an extraordinary history of Scotland. It is also the story of betrayals, witch hunts, Puritan exiles, stolen meetings, lost memories, smuggled journeys and talking mirrors which will confirm James Robertson as a distinctive and original Scottish writer.

This anthology brings together 28 stories by living writers, from traditional folktales to stories dealing with domestic violence and poverty. The book's introduction defines Scots in the widest possible terms, and argues that this anthology is a sign of the vigour of the language.

Macleod is drawn into a conspiracy of Immortals on a quest to win back the independence that Scotland lost at Culloden. For her own reasons, Immortal Annie Devlin has already answered the call of the clans. But if Duncan follows, he risks being drawn into a web of obsession, madness and murder.

Communism has collapsed and socialism is discredited. Is this the end of history? No, James Robertson argues, precisely the opposite. 20th century capitalism and socialism propped each other up. Both belonged to the modern industrialized period of human history, when the powerful interest groups of business and state dominated people, and Euro-American culture and power dominated the world. An emerging post-modern worldview foreshadows possibilities for a new path of progress, more deeply concerned for people and nature. Based on articles and lectures, this collection explores what this new path of progress could mean for politics, work, welfare, health, energy, the life of families and neighborhoods, the world role of today's rich countries, and other aspects of the human predicament today. Important reading for concerned citizens and policymakers alike.

Communism has collapsed and socialism is discredited. Is this the end of history? No, James Robertson argues, precisely the opposite. 20th century capitalism and socialism propped each other up. Both belonged to the modern industrialized period of human history, when the powerful interest groups of business and state dominated people, and Euro-American culture and power dominated the world. An emerging post-modern worldview foreshadows possibilities for a new path of progress, more deeply concerned for people and nature. Based on articles and lectures, this collection explores what this new path of progress could mean for politics, work, welfare, health, energy, the life of families and neighborhoods, the world role of today's rich countries, and other aspects of the human predicament today. Important reading for concerned citizens and policymakers alike.

This is a collection of ghost stories based on a mixture of local history and folklore. The stories are from past and present. Some, such as "The Hauntings of Glamis Castle" or "The Tale of Major Weir" are well known, while others are less familiar, such as "The Deil of Littledean".

Michael Curtiz (1888-1962) was without doubt one of the most important directors in film history, yet he has never been granted his deserved recognition and no full-scale work on him has previously been published. The Casablanca Man surveys Curtiz' unequalled mastery over a variety of genres which included biography, comedy, horror, melodrama, musicals, swashbucklers and westerns, and looks at his relationship with the Hollywood studio moguls on the basis of unprecedented archive research at Warner Brothers. Concentrating on Curtiz' best-known films - Casablanca, Angels With Dirty Faces, Mildred Pearce and Captain Blood among them - Robertson explores Curtiz' practical creative struggles and his friendships and rivalries with other film celebrities including Errol Flynn, Bette Davis and James Cagney, and his discovery of future stars. Casablanca Man is the first comprehensive critical exploration of Curtiz' entire career and, linking his European work and his subsequent American work into a coherent whole, Robertson firmly re-establishes Curtiz' true standing in the history of cinema.

In this account of their research, the authors describe the anxiety, loneliness and despair of young children in hospital, foster homes and institutions in Britain in the 1950s and 1960s. This is a history of a couple in the field of child health, who pioneered research into the effects of separation from the mother when a child went into hospital.