by Jon Tait.
Hardback (6.5×9.5 inches). 221 pages. 2026.
Subtitle: A History of Those ‘Pacified’ by King James
Here’s a vast collection of names to make your head spin. I get the idea of making family connections among all the clans and criminal gangs, but so many pop out of the pages without much context that I lose track. The only way I can begin to explain: Think of reading the box scores of sports games without any description of the games. You get information, but the context of the stats lacks appreciation of the play.
The worst example: almost an entire page is filled with names — 79 of them, although I may have miscounted by one (p86). This seemed to come from a list of freebooters.
The book contains 28 black and white photos and two black and white illustrations.
To be fair, sometimes the book follows a gang for a page or two, usually with individuals named as joining, being caught, and being executed. Rinse and repeat. Kudos for combining archives’ worth of names, but the overall effect is better suited for genealogy (including the author’s last name within the text) than actually understanding border raids.
— Reviewed by Russ Lockwood
