Overview
‘A combination of all that is best in memoir, biography and history.’ – Caroline Moorehead 'In this remarkable book... Jauncey has performed the great service of reminding us of a wonderful figure from Scotland’s recent history.' – Alexander McCall Smith It would be impossible to invent Don Roberto today – a fantastic combination of Don Quixote and Sir Gawain, Indiana Jones and the Lone Ranger. He was so multi-faceted, so complex, that every chapter in his story reveals some new and contradictory aspect of his personality. He is best known as the co-founder, with Keir Hardie, of the Scottish Labour Party, and later as the founding president of the Scottish National Party. But in a long and extraordinary life he was many other things besides.
Full Product Details
Author: James Jauncey
Publisher: Scotland Street Press
Imprint: Scotland Street Press
Dimensions:
Width: 23.40cm
, Height: 3.20cm
, Length: 15.60cm
Weight: 0.636kg
ISBN: 9781910895764
ISBN 10: 1910895768
Pages: 352
Publication Date: 01 June 2023
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: In Print
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Reviews
A wonderful biography - Melanie Reid, The Sunday Times It’s a terrific book, beautifully pitched, and measured carefully and very effectively with [the author's] own autobiographical parallels or contiguities shadowing or being buoyed up by the RBCG story. That makes it a very fond, yet also objectifying, nuanced and balanced, rather than coldly disinterested or implicitly biased, account. - Alan Riach, Professor of Scottish Literature at The University of Glasgow [He] has woven the bare historical facts into something absorbing, merging his personal story with that of his famous relative… at last, ‘Don Roberto’ has come alive! - Lachlan Munro, author of R.B. Cunninghame Graham and Scotland
A wonderful biography - Melanie Reid, The Sunday Times A gripping tale of an adventurer, social reformer, politician and horseman living through turbulent times: Jamie Jauncey’s vivid and affectionate portrait of his great-great-uncle — whose interests so closely match his own — is a combination of all that is best in memoir, biography and history. - Caroline Moorehead, biographer and historian Few political figures in Scottish history have led a more colourful life. A new biography, by his great-great-nephew, James Jauncey, drawing on hitherto unpublished family papers, casts fascinating new light on a man driven by almost implausible energy, purpose and passion. - Magnus Linklater, The Times I know [Robert Cunninghame Graham] better and admire him more after reading this biography, yet still find him enigmatic. Jauncey has certainly done well by his great-great uncle […] He writes of his own experiences as a means of exploring the fascination that Don Roberto still exerts, and the puzzle he continues to offer. - Allan Massie, The Scotsman By God, it is an exceptional book, beautifully written, brilliantly researched, peppered with magnificent descriptive passages and acute judgments [...] highly enlightening. - Joe Farrell, Chair of the Cunninghame Graham Society It’s a terrific book, beautifully pitched, and measured carefully and very effectively with [the author's] own autobiographical parallels or contiguities shadowing or being buoyed up by the RBCG story. That makes it a very fond, yet also objectifying, nuanced and balanced, rather than coldly disinterested or implicitly biased, account. - Alan Riach, Professor of Scottish Literature at The University of Glasgow [He] has woven the bare historical facts into something absorbing, merging his personal story with that of his famous relative… at last, ‘Don Roberto’ has come alive! - Lachlan Munro, author of R.B. Cunninghame Graham and Scotland What really works is [the author's] own backstory. The fascinating, strangely illuminating, coincidences and echoes, the two strands matching each other snugly [...] The whole thing hangs together so well – a rip-roaring read as well as informative and thoughtful. - Chris Dolan, novelist, poet and playwright [A] fine portrait of one of the most fascinating Scots of his era - David Robinson, Books From Scotland
Author Information
James (Jamie) Jauncey is a Scottish author and great-great-nephew of Don Roberto. He has published five novels and has contributed to several non-fiction titles. He is a co-founder of Dark Angels, the Creative Writing for Business programme, and served for many years on the board of the Edinburgh International Book Festival. He is also a musician.
