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Drawing together the evidence of archaeology, palaeoecology, climate history and the historical record, this first environmental history of Scotland explores the interaction of human populations with the land, waters, forests and wildlife. This volume spans 450 years that saw profound transformation in Scotland's environment. It begins in the fifteenth century, when the'Golden Age'of the early 1200s was but a fading folk memory in a land gripped by the gathering grimness of a'little ice age'. Colder, wetter, stormier weather became the new normal, interspersed with brief episodes of warmer but still moist conditions, all of which brought huge challenges to a society on the knife-edge of subsistence. Viewing the religious and political upheavals of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries against the cycles of disease and dearth that were ever-present into the later 1700s, the book explores the slow adoption and application of the ideas of'Improvement'and the radical disruption of Scotland's environment that ensued. Reformation, revolution and rebellion were the background noise to efforts to subsist and succeed through a hostile age, in which Scotland's environment was an adversary to be tamed, mastered and made'polite'. As the last, bitter decades of the'little ice age'were ground out in foreign wars, forced clearances and potato famines, Scotland prepared itself to embrace the Industrial Age.

Drawing together the evidence of archaeology, palaeoecology, climate history and the historical record, this first environmental history of Scotland explores the interaction of human populations with the land, waters, forests and wildlife.This volume spans 450 years that saw profound transformation in Scotland's environment. It begins in the fifteenth century, when the ‘Golden Age'of the early 1200s was but a fading folk memory in a land gripped by the gathering grimness of a ‘little ice age'. Colder, wetter, stormier weather became the new normal, interspersed with brief episodes of warmer but still moist conditions, all of which brought huge challenges to a society on the knife-edge of subsistence. Viewing the religious and political upheavals of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries against the cycles of disease and dearth that were ever-present into the later 1700s, the book explores the slow adoption and application of the ideas of ‘Improvement'and the radical disruption of Scotland's environment that ensued. Reformation, revolution and rebellion were the background noise to efforts to subsist and succeed through a hostile age, in which Scotland's environment was an adversary to be tamed, mastered and made ‘polite'. As the last, bitter decades of the ‘little ice age'were ground out in foreign wars, forced clearances and potato famines, Scotland prepared itself to embrace the Industrial Age.

The undisputed best-selling American writer of his time, Erle Stanley Gardner wrote over a 130 detective and mystery novels, the most famous of which feature the criminal defense lawyer Perry Mason. Gardner created several other popular characters, including Doug Selby, a virtuous crusading district attorney, the middle-aged, greedy private detective Bertha Cool and the knowledgeable legalist Donald Lam. Gardner's works are noted for their complex plots and realistic depictions of legal proceedings, based on the author's personal experiences working as a lawyer. For the first time in publishing history, this eBook presents Gardner's complete novels, with numerous illustrations, rare texts, concise introductions and the usual Delphi bonus material. (Version 1) Please note: the posthumous Cool and Lam novel ‘The Knife Slipped'was first published in 2016 and so cannot appear in this edition, due to copyright restrictions. • Beautifully illustrated with images relating to Gardner's life and works• Concise introductions to each series• All 132 novels, with individual contents tables• The complete Perry Mason novels and short stories• Images of how the books were first published, giving your eReader a taste of the original texts• Excellent formatting of the texts• Includes Gardner's non-fiction masterpiece, ‘The Court of Last Resort', which won an Edgar Award• A selection of short stories• Alva Johnston's biography on Gardner — first time in digital print• Ordering of texts into chronological order and genres CONTENTS: Perry Mason NovelsThe Case of the Velvet Claws (1933)The Case of the Sulky Girl (1933)The Case of the Lucky Legs (1934)The Case of the Howling Dog (1934)The Case of the Curious Bride (1934)The Case of the Counterfeit Eye (1935)The Case of the Caretaker's Cat (1935)The Case of the Sleepwalker's Niece (1936)The Case of the Stuttering Bishop (1936)The Case of the Dangerous Dowager (1937)The Case of the Lame Canary (1937)The Case of the Substitute Face (1938)The Case of the Shoplifter's Shoe (1938)The Case of the Perjured Parrot (1939)The Case of the Rolling Bones (1939)The Case of the Baited Hook (1940)The Case of the Silent Partner (1940)The Case of the Haunted Husband (1941)The Case of the Empty Tin (1941)The Case of the Drowning Duck (1942)The Case of the Careless Kitten (1942)The Case of the Buried Clock (1943)The Case of the Drowsy Mosquito (1943)The Case of the Crooked Candle (1944)The Case of the Black-Eyed Blonde (1944)The Case of the Golddigger's Purse (1945)and many more -- too many to list! The BiographyThe Case of Erle Stanley Gardner (1947) by Alva Johnston

The most authoritative and intimate portrait written of Horatio NelsonIn this epic biography of British history's most celebrated naval commander, acclaimed historian John Sugden separates fact from myth to offer a powerful portrait of the military hero of Trafalgar.As was true of the Sugden's riveting account of Horatio Nelson's early years (Nelson: A Dream of Glory, 2005), this comprehensive life of Lord Nelson is built from largely overlooked primary documents, letters, and diaries that reach across two centuries to invite us to share Nelson's multifaceted life in the Napoleonic Wars.The Sword of Albion offers the sweep and intimacy of first-rate historical fiction—revealing the interior lives, for example, of Lord Nelson's wife, Fanny and family and the caring and more passionate Emma, Lady Hamilton, who nursed the war-weary hero back to health in Naples and London after his brilliant victory over the Spanish fleet at Cape St. Vincent in 1797 and the stunning defeat at Tenerife that cost Nelson his right arm.Today's reader comes to understand that every obstacle in Nelson's path was attacked head-on with an Achilles-like ferocity and resolve. Yet his life was no steady upward trajectory; it was instead plagued by injuries and debt for the commoner admiral in a royal navy and English society dominated by lineage and property. As Sugden points out,'His life was a mission with the essence of a tour de force, hurrying toward a bloody climax that would change the fate of empires.'

The Rise of the Pelhams (1957) looks at the important period between the fall of Walpole and the appointment of Henry Pelham as First Lord of the Treasury, and the ensuing Pelhamite administration – its establishment, peak and fall and its aftermath. Particular attention is paid to the rank and file of the House of Commons, regular MPs being often overlooked in historical analyses – but being men who could make or break a ministry.

In August 1947, an émigré Austrian opera impresario launched the Edinburgh International Festival of Music and Drama to heal the scars of the Second World War through a celebration of the arts. At the same time, a socialist theatre group from Glasgow and other amateur companies protested their exclusion from the festival by performing anyway, inventing the concept of'fringe'theatre. Now the annual celebration known collectively as the Edinburgh Festival is the largest arts festival in the world, incorporating events dedicated to theatre, film, art, literature, comedy, dance, jazz and even military pageantry. It has launched careers – from Peter Cook and Dudley Moore in Beyond the Fringe to Phoebe Waller-Bridge with Fleabag – mirrored the political and social mood of its times, shaped the city of Edinburgh around it and welcomed a huge all-star cast, including Orson Welles, Grace Kelly, Yehudi Menuhin and Mark E Smith's The Fall and many many more. This is its story.

This collection of forty-nine letters, edited in full here for the first time, are addressed to Sir John Bellenden of Auchnoull (1520?-1576) or members of his circle and offer a precious window onto the turbulent and often obscure history of Orkney and Shetland in the sixteenth century as the Northern Isles were subject to increasing intervention from the Scottish mainland. Anderson and Ballantyne provide an extensive contextual introduction and annotate the letters themselves as well as providing a glossary of the more obscure Middle Scots words used. This edition will join previous works by these two authors, including Anderson's monographs on the Stewart earls of Orkney and Ballantyne's Shetland Documents, as an indispensable resource for the early modern history of the Northern Isles.

Offers a fresh perspective on the role of the court in late medieval Scotland, framing it within the wider field of court studies, highlighting its centrality to the effective government for which James IV is renowned.James IV is regarded by many historians as the most charismatic and politically successful of Scotland's rulers, with his royal court, and the institution of the royal household which underpinned it, at the heart of his reign. This book, the first comprehensive examination of the subject, takes the structures and personnel of the household - from councillors to stable-hands - as the foundation for its study of the court and its role. Beginning by looking at the distinction between household and court and the structures imposed by the household on the court, Hepburn utilises this framework to explore the lives of the people moving within it, both in terms of their duties as royal servants and their broader social and political worlds. The book argues that these people were both audience and performer in the court, receiving and producing messages about the king, royal government and the status of groups and individuals. Association with the household also became a feature of life for people away from the court, through the household-related terms in which they were described and through the lands they held. Overall, it highlights the central role of the court in the effective conduct of royal government for which James IV is renowned.