He either fears his fate too much
Or his deserts are small
That puts it not unto touch
To win or lose it all.

James Graham, First Marquis of Montrose (1612-1650) was Scotland’s great cavalier hero. His battle flag shows a lion about to leap between two rocks within the uncompromising motto Nil Medium.
This book tells Montrose’s story, based on all that survives of the poems which he wrote at moments of crisis. They are not the weasel words of a desk-bound politician. They are the passionate affirmations of a man of action. His puritan enemies feared his popularity and compelling honesty as much as his brilliant military victories.

To Win Or Lose It All puts Montrose’s words in their historical context, with steel engravings and contemporary reportage.