This collection of essays on early modern Scotland offers 'new perspectives' on aspects of Scottish history from 1560 to 1800. Some essays challenge accepted interpretations; others explore subjects and sources that have previously not attracted the attention of historians; all represent new research on Scottish history from the Reformation to the Enlightenment. They indicate renewed interest in an age crucial to the development of modern Scotland.

Contents: Rex Stoicus – George Buchanan, James VI and the Scottish Polity, Scotland, Antichrist and the Invention of Great Britain. Scottish Gaeldom, 1638–1651: The Vernacular Response to the Covenanting Dynamic. The Military and Ministers as Agents of Presbyterian Imperialism in England and Ireland, 1640–1648. Sackcloth for the Sinner or Punishment for the Crime? Church and Secular Courts in Cromwellian Scotland. York in Edinburgh: James VII and the Patronage of Learning in Scotland, 1679–1688. The Polite Academy and the Presbyterians, 1720–1770. Moderates, Managers and Popular Politics in mid-18th century Edinburgh: The Drysdale 'Bustle' of the 1760s. Paradigms and Politics: Manners, Morals and the Rise of Henry Dundas, 1770–1784. Rethinking Das Adam Smith Problem. Childhood and Society in 18th Century Scotland. The Heavenly City of the 18th Century Moderate Divines.