’Possibly the most interesting book I have ever read on what it means to be Scottish’- TopicalBooks (Spring ,1992)
'I am pleased to see a Scottish critic of my own generation who writes so well and has such vision...purposeful, ambitious, panoptic’ - Robert Crawford, Scottish Literary Journal. .
‘Attractive…well written and stimulating book’- Ian Bradley, History Today, September, 50-1.
‘One of the most important books on modern Scotland to appear in recent years’- Stewart Brown, Albion. .
‘An interesting and in many ways a courageous book’- Brean Hammond, British Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies 15:2,235.
'An insightful view...successfully bridges the gap between the discipline of history and literary/cultural studies, a feat requiring unusual academic skills’ - David Duncan.
‘A valuable lesson on the ways in which all national identities are in some sense invented’- Leith Davis, Eighteenth Century Scotland, 25 (1993).
‘Interesting,intelligent and knowledgeable’ - Seventeenth-Century News
'The most provocative work of this year...as intriguing as it is important’ - Jill Rubinstein, Year’s Work inn Scottish Literature (1991/2).
