Who gave us the world's most popular novelist and the everlasting iron chancellor? And then threw in a banking suit prepared to do a deal with an American evangelist who believes the world will end in 2007? Not to speak of the gel-filled bra, and Ms Margaret MacDonald making £150 million (maybe) from the world's oldest profession with the world's newest technology?

Welcome to the weird and wacky world of the Scottish economy. But not, in Chris Harvie's view, altogether a bundle of laughs, in a country with the worst health in west Europe, the lowest recycling and one of the biggest black economies. . .

The contrast between the situation in Scotland and the (generally) sober world of European regionalism has led to Mending Scotland, an introduction to regional economics and its place in society and politics . . . and more.

... also realise how many dimensions an economy has, and in how many ways ordinary people, working together, can change it, and their community, for the better.

About the Author

Chris Harvie is Professor of British and Irish Studies at TŸbingen University in Germany, and has honorary chairs at Aberystwyth and Strathclyde. Of his last book, Scotland: a short history, Arnold Kemp wrote in the Observer: 'unfailingly entertaining, with quite a remarkable breadth and range, mixing literature and art into the usual staples of history'.

His last Argyll title was Deep Fried Hillman Imp - sorting Scotland's transport. He was an active campaigner for a Scottish parliament and is a reputed critic of the politicians who have come to occupy that new institution.

About Chris Harvie's Travelling Scot . . .

"articulate and irrepressible . . . uniquely imaginative and stimulating . . . one of Scotland's leading modern historians . . . there is more to be learned from the jokes and salutary asides in this book than from most sober narratives"  
Tom Nairn

ISBN:1 902831 74 8