Reviews

Scottish lawyer Brian Inkster of Inksters Solicitors enjoys a fascinating account of the Highland Clearances but is angered at the parallels with the conduct of the Crofting Commission of today. In Set Adrift Upon the World: The Sutherland Clearances James Hunter masterly weaves together a fascinati

Professor Hector MacQueen of the University of Edinburgh writes for our sister publication, Scottish Legal News, about a new biography of the influential philosopher David Hume which he finds absorbing and worthy of the great man. Long ago I was introduced to the philosophy of David Hume (1711-76) b

The gavel, a device never used in the English courts, features on the cover of Confessions of a Barrister – and is a harbinger of things to come. The book is an anonymised account of the trials and travails of criminal barrister, “Russell Winnock”, who called in 1999. But, the title notwithsta

It may surprise some readers that the last Communard of this title is not Jimmy Somerville, the shrill voice of the 1980s, but Adrien Lejeune who as a young free-thinker reluctantly took the side of the Commune revolutionaries when the people of Paris rose up against the reactionary French governmen

  What Paintings Say is a wonderful study of 100 masterpieces, lavishly illustrated and packed with history presented in an accessible and readable way.

Tom Bower is a barrister turned investigative journalist, a species that is all but extinct in modern Britain. He has produced a string of debunking biographies of the rich and famous and has successfully defended libel actions from the likes of Richard Branson, Robert Maxwell and Richard Desmond. M

GIllian Mawdsley is impressed by Cal Flynn's first novel – inspired by the discovery that one of her ancestors was Angus McMillan, the leader of the notorious Highland Brigade that massacred aborigines in 19th century Australia while Connor Beaton delves into the darker side of the Internet to exp