Publisher's Synopsis
Why, despite the unifying pressures of social and economic change within Britain, did Scotland remain a distinctive society in the 19th century? In this study of the period between 1800 and 1914, the author assesses the importance of political and administrative responses as well as social and economic forces in shaping modern Scotland.;Themes include the distinctiveness of that society's artisans, merchants, lairds, professional classes and new migrants in producing a distinctive national political tradition. Particular attention is paid to its efforts to retain a recognizable identity within the evolving United Kingdom.