INDEPENDENCE OR UNION (PB)

Scotland and England have long exchanged inhabitants, monarchs, money and ideas, sometimes in a spirit of friendship, sometimes in one of murderous enmity. Tom Devine's seminal new book explores this unusual and ambiguous history from the seventeenth century to the present. It has largely been a beneficial relationship based on consent, not force - on mutual advantage, rather than antagonism - but it has always held the possibility of a political parting of the ways. With the United Kingdom under a level of scrutiny unmatched in 300 years, Independence or Union is the essential guide.