Being interested in Highlander: The Series naturally leads to an interest in the real Highlander Scots, especially since the series producers went to great lengths to work some authentic history into the series background. And if I'm interested in something, that can only mean one thing: I'm going to look for books about it. These are some of the books I've found about Scottish history:
GLENCOE
Prebble, John
c.1966, Penguin
ISBN: 0-14-002897-8
The sordid story of the MacDonalds of Glencoe and the 'Highland Massacre' of 1692. The Highland Massacre is a strange, complex story that in its own way demonstrates a fundamental part of the Scottish mentality. The Massacre isn't remembered because it was particularly bloody (it wasn't) or because it was undeserved by the victims (it wasn't that either). It's remembered basically because the attackers broke the unwritten rules of the Highland clans. The soldiers who attacked Glencoe were housed there for two weeks before the attack, by the very people they were ordered to kill. So the killing was a violation of the Highlands' ancient rules of hospitality.
ROBERT BRUCE AND THE COMMUNITY OF THE REALM OF SCOTLAND
Barrow, G. W. S.
c.1965, Univ. of California Press
ISBN:
A biography of Robert the Bruce: noble, rebel, military leader, and eventual King of Scotland. In the process it describes much of Scottish history before and during the Bruce's life.
THE SCOTTISH HIGHLANDERS AND THEIR REGIMENTS
Brander, Michael
c.1971, Barnes & Noble
ISBN: 0-76070-399-X
A history of the Highlander Regiments and the men who served in them. There have been a variety of Highlander regiments in the last two hundred fifty years; for a long time, the army was almost the only employment young Highlander men could find. The original Highlander regiments accumulated a very long and distinguished battle record, from France to America to the Far East. This book unfortunately seems to cover only the first hundred or so years of the Highlander regiments; events after 1860 are hardly mentioned at all.
THE SCOTTISH HIGHLANDERS
MacKinnon, Charles
c.1984, Barnes & Noble
ISBN: 0-88029-950-9
A history of the Scottish Highlanders and their clan structure. MacKinnon tells the real history of the Highlander culture, which is both far better and far worse than the common image of them.
SCOTTISH LORE AND FOLKLORE: A SELECTION OF POETRY, RHYMES, TALES, AND PROSE
Douglas, Ronald MacDonald
c.1982, Crown Publishers
ISBN: 0-517-03759-9
A collection of poetry, legends, fact and fiction about Scotland.
THE SCOTTISH REGIMENTS
Henderson, Diana M.
c. 1996, HarperCollins
ISBN 0-00-471025-8
Descriptions and histories of the Scottish regiments of the British Army. The current British Army includes nine Scottish units, each of which has a long and complex history. All nine are described in this book.