The attempt by the Company of Scotland to establish a colony at Darien in Central America is one of the best known episodes in late seventeenth century Scottish history. The catastrophic failure of the scheme, one of Scotland's worst losses, was followed a few years later by the Treaty of Union in 1707 which dissolved the Company and ended the existence of the Scottish Parliament. Douglas Watt charts the Darien Scheme from its inception to its demise against the financial background of the period, looking at previously unexamined evidence and considering both the political and financial implications of this key moment in history. The Price of Scotland provides a fresh examination and timely re-assessment of Scotland's strange journey from Darien to the Wealth of Nations, from Nation State to Stateless Nation.

Exceptionally well written, it reads like a novel. As I say - if you're not Scottish and live here - read it. If you're Scottish read it anyway. It's a very, very good book. MATTHEW PERREN, I-ON MAGAZINE

It is this mess [the state of Scotland at the time of Union] to which Douglas Watt has brought an economist's eye and poet's sensibility in the Price of Scotland... to show definitively... that over-ambition and mismanagement, rather than English mendacity, doomed Scotland's imperial ambitions. THE OBSERVER

The Price of Scotland treats Darien as a financial mania. THE FINANCIAL TIMES

Mr Watt is to be congratulated on a compelling and insightful contribution to our understanding of Darien. THE SCOTSMAN

A fresh assessment of the disastrous attempt to establish a trading colony in the tropical and hostile conditions of Central America. THE HERALD

Watt shows with devastating effectiveness the level of sheer financial mismanagement and poor and stupid strategic decisions on the part of the Company directors. SCOTTISH REVIEW OF BOOKS