The Steel Bonnets: The Story of the Anglo-Scottish Border Reivers (original 1971; edition 2008)

by George MacDonald Fraser (Author), Thomas Meagher (Afterword)

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Title

The Steel Bonnets: The Story of the Anglo-Scottish Border Reivers

Author

George MacDonald Fraser (Author)

Tags

nonfiction, history, Scotland, England, 1300s, 1400s, 1500s, r2024, ebook

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As to the veracity of this book, I cannot say. It is the first book I have read on the subject. I can say that the author made an effort to not romanticize the subject, nor to judge the past by the present, but to portray events and subjects in the light of their day. He did allow his personal thoughts to come through at times, which made the reading more interesting.

The author included quotes from many source materials and did not rewrite them, but I found that if one read them aloud with a good brogue (or what I imagine as a good brogue), they were mostly understandable. There are maps and a good glossary at the end of the book. Sometimes I got lost as to which names belonged to England or Scotland. If I had been reading a paper copy, it would have been simple to flip to the pages with the maps and orient myself. I am glad to have read this; it enlightened me to a part of history I had not been aware of before.

Other authors

Afterword – Meagher, Thomas

Publication date

2008

Publication

Skyhorse (2008), 434 pages

ISBN

1628730137 / 9781628730135

Number of copies

Dimensions

LC Classification

DA880.B72 F7