An Era in Scottish Politics and Letters

Much of the history of the literary-political Edinburgh of the 1960s and 1970s is either already forgotten or unknown to younger generations of writers and readers.

John Herdman's memoirs restore to us some of that lost history. This new and revised edition will be welcomed by those who were there, and those who were not can now be astonished by events that involved backstabbing and territorial infighting amongst poets, nationalist firebrands and luminaries of Edinburgh pubs.

But here also are sharp insights into MacDiarmid, MacLean, MacCaig and many another writer.

In the second part of the book Herdman takes a more distanced but always keen look at the literary tensions and controversies of the period.

A highly perceptive critic.

John Burnside, Scotsman

John Herdman is a writer and critic. He is the author of numerous fiction and non-fiction books.