Scotland''s Pariah: The Life and Work of John Pinkerton, 1758-1826

Scotlands Pariah is the first book to examine the remarkable life of John Pinkerton: antiquarian, poet, forger, cartographer, historian, serial adulterer, bigamist, and religious skeptic. A pugnacious and persistent man of letters who knew and was admired by literary masters such as Edward Gibbon, Horace Walpole, and William Godwin, Pinkertons life was full of personal and professional misadventures.

Patrick OFlahertys biography presents an engrossing account of Pinkertons life and works from his early years in Scotland to his Parisian exile, covering his major editorial, antiquarian, and geographic works. Examining Pinkertons involvement in the London literary scene, his conflicted relationship with the rise of Celtic nationalism, and his response to early literary romanticism, Scotlands Pariah is a shrewd and compassionate evaluation of an astonishing literary life.