BOOKS

James is the author of eight books, including the critically acclaimed Fallen Glory: The Lives and Deaths of the World's Greatest Lost Buildings;Who Built Scotland: A History of the Nation in 25 Buildings; and Scotland from the Sky the book which accompanies the new BBC1 Scotland documentary series.

His latest book, The Edge of the Plain: How Borders Make and Break Our World, was published by Canongate in the UK in August 2022, and by W.W. Norton in the US in January 2023.

the Edge of the plain: how borders make and break out world

‘Pulls history, travelogue and reportage into an ambitious investigation.... The borders that mark our world are either ineffective, inhumane or both. The Edge of the Plain asks us to envision alternatives’
THE NEW YORK TIMES

‘An innovative and eclectic study of borders past, present, and future.... Throughout, [Crawford] draws fascinating and original parallels between historical events.... This is a vital and eloquent reminder that borders control ‘our landscapes, our memories, our identities'
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY (STARRED REVIEW)

‘A richly essayistic account of how borders make and break our world, from Hadrian's Wall to China's Great Firewall'
THE GUARDIAN

‘Searching, generous, and stirringly written.... [Crawford inscribes] a palimpsest of associations across time with his impressive command of different disciplines (history, geology, cybernetics, ecology, biology), moving skillfully from surveying the scene of a border to the meanings it holds for those on either side of it. Crawford belongs with other storyteller-explorers—strolling player-writers like Iain Sinclair, Rebecca Solnit, and Robert Macfarlane—who are stretching naturalist observation into incisive cultural inquiry.... Riveting.’
NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS

‘[A] lyrical tour of borders in the past and the present.... Crawford is at his best when surrendering to his propensity for reverie, an irrepressible, almost romantic sense of wonder that drives the reader from chapter to chapter.’
WASHINGTON POST

‘Why do lines on a map hold such power over humanity? Will we ever do away with them? These are some of the questions pondered - and answered - by James Crawford. Fascinating’
CNN AMANPOUR

‘A text reminiscent of those of Barry Lopez or Robert Macfarlane.... A thoughtful consideration of the imaginary lines that hold meaning for so many.'
KIRKUS REVIEWS

‘Beguiling.... Crawford has a knack for finding original perspectives and observations.... If all borders are stories, we could start by telling better ones. Borders, after all, may be the places where we are divided. But they’re also the places where we touch.’
SLATE

‘Confidently splices historical overview, travel writing and interviews. The book's alchemical ingredients are Crawford's sparkling prose and his photographer's eye for detail.'
BUSINESS POST

‘The Edge of the Plain examines, in an erudite and engaging fashion, a select number of borders around the world, both geographical and notional . . . A fine book'
THE IRISH TIMES

‘Humans are at this book’s heart . . . Borders are indeed a dirty affair, but as Crawford’s excellent book demonstrates, they are also fascinating'
GEOGRAPHICAL

"Crawford uncovers the cost of these divisions in terms of human suffering, economic inequality, and environmental degradation.... A timely, valuable discussion of a pivotal issue."
LIBRARY JOURNAL (STARRED REVIEW)

‘With The Edge of the Plain Crawford has created a beautifully-observed and carefully-researched collection of reportage on a diverse series of borders - of historic Palestine, in the Mediterranean, USA/Mexico, as well as other less-considered borders - those revealed by our rapidly changing climate, and the microscopic frontiers of the human body. Sometimes the view from the edge is the most illuminating one'
Gavin Francis

‘Crawford's essays, through vivid accounts of historical episodes and contemporary problems, illuminate how the world acquired its current shape . . . Eye-opening’
LITERARY REVIEW

‘A lush, vivid, and powerful exploration of an idea as old as humanity, yet one which is implicated in today's most intractable global challenges. In moving and evocative prose, we learn that borders morph, shift, and flex; they live, breathe and sometimes choke. Crawford's border stories are richly populated, showing how borders are themselves the human performance of stories, often violent. From the frozen Arctic lands of Scandinavia to Africa's Sahel, Crawford travels far and wide in his pursuit of the meaning of borders. The Edge of the Plain is an urgent call for comprehension of a practice that is destined to demarcate all our futures’
David Rooney

Today, there are more borders in the world than ever before in human history.

In this book James Crawford argues that our enduring obsession with borders has brought us to a crisis point: that we are entering the endgame of a process that began thousands of years ago, when we first started dividing up the earth.

Beginning with the earliest known marker which denoted the end of one land and the beginning of the next, Crawford follows the story of borders into our fragile and uncertain future - towards the virtual frontiers of the internet, and the shifting geography of a world beset by climate change. In the process, he travels to many borders old and new: from a melting border high in the glacial landscapes of the Austrian-Italian Alps to the only place on land where Europe and Africa meet; from the artist Banksy's 'Walled Off Hotel' in the conflict-torn West Bank to the Sonoran Desert and the fault lines of the US/Mexico border.

Combining history, travel and reportage, The Edge of the Plain explores how borders have grown and evolved to take control of our landscapes, our memories, our identities and our destinies. As nationalism, climate change, globalisation, technology and mass migration all collide with ever-hardening borders, something has to give. And Crawford asks, is it time to let go of the lines that divide us?

fallen glory: the lives and deaths of the world's greatest lost buildings

'Witty and memorable ... moving as well as myth-busting'
Mary Beard, TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT

'No one can accuse Fallen Glory of lacking ambition....It's a narrative that spans seven millennia, five continents and even reaches into cyberspace. At over 600 pages with endnotes, it's a commitment. I savored each page. At no time was I tempted to rush through or skip ahead. The writing is that good, and each one of the author's subjects is fascinating and idiosyncratic....This is a book of and for the world'
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

'The most interesting book I have come across this year ... magnificent'
Alexander McCall Smith, NEW STATESMAN

'An extraordinary look at the world's lost buildings . . . At more than 500 pages, it spans millenniums and continents, and from mud-brick walls to an online virtual "city." . . . Crawford is an erudite guide through the halls of human ambition.'
THE BOSTON GLOBE AND MAIL

'Delightful ... The chapter on the Twin Towers is one of the best such pieces I have read'
SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY

'Crawford conveys superbly these absorbing tales of hubris, power, violence and decay'
SUNDAY TIMES

'Crawford is a striking storyteller ... resoundingly fine writing'
THE TIMES

'Magnificent ... Many of these buildings can be seen as microcosms of the decline and fall of whole civilisations'
DAILY TELEGRAPH(***** 5-star review)

'The work of a talented storyteller who takes the reader on a grand expedition.'
THE NEW YORK JOURNAL OF BOOKS

'[An] elegant, charged book... A well-written prize for students of history, archaeology, and urban planning.---Kirkus Reviews (starred review)'
KIRKUS REVIEWS

'Crawford's astute, entertaining, and affecting gallery of ruins will appeal to readers drawn to the intersection of history and architecture.'
BOOKLIST

'Crawford has a striking ability to summon the reality of these long-vanished places … he writes exquisitely, combining economy and clarity with beautiful flights of phrase ... Fallen Glory is a marvellous book.'
LITERARY REVIEW

'A cabinet of curiosities, a book of wonders with unexpected excursions and jubilant and haunting marginalia . . . Ideas spin off ideas and facts off facts like a marvellous clattering snooker-table'
THE SPECTATOR

'Read a chapter a night and set up camp in Genghis Khan's tented cities and pace the Forum of Ancient Rome at leisure. This is a beautiful book, and an admirable monument to the most spectacular buildings man's ingenuity and ambition have ever raised'
MAIL ON SUNDAY

'This well-researched and evocative work turns history into biography with the fascinating tales of the lives and deaths of 20 structures from around the world. Crawford reveals a witty and intelligent literary voice'
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

'Utterly compelling ... a fascinating read'
THE LADY

'Crawford’s book tells the stories of 21 great and influential sites — their conception, construction and destruction — from the Tower of Babel to the Bastille to the World Trade Center. In doing so, he tours much of world history, and attempts to look into the future as well'
THE NEW YORK TIMES

'Subtle, ambitious, well-researched . . . It is the people who built, lived in, destroyed, rediscovered, excavated and rebuilt the buildings he has chosen which stimulate . . . Crawford manages the difficult feat of engaging each of his chosen buildings with an equal degree of passion and engagement'
HISTORY TODAY

'This is a book about buildings that is also about civilisation itself, engendering a feeling of contact with its absolute roots, its springboards of power, its limits, costs and fruits – a truly mind-expanding experience to read'
ARCHITECTURAL RECORD

'An enthralling piece of detective work'
THE BOOKSELLER

'A fascinating journey to citadels, temples, towers, and stadiums that once stood all over the ancient world . . . It debunks numerous myths, and in some case replaces them with even more unbelievable history'
TED-ED BOOK RECS

SHORTLISTED FOR THE SALTIRE NON-FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR

A SUNDAY TIMES 'MUST READ' 

A SCOTSMAN, NEW STATESMAN AND INDEPENDENT BOOK OF THE YEAR

Buildings are more like us than we realise. They can be born into wealth or poverty, enjoying every privilege or struggling to make ends meet. They have parents -- gods, kings and emperors, governments, visionaries and madmen -- as well as friends and enemies. They have duties and responsibilities. They can endure crises of faith and purpose. They can succeed or fail. They can live. And, sooner or later, they die.

In Fallen Glory, James Crawford uncovers the biographies of some of the world's most fascinating lost and ruined buildings, from the dawn of civilisation to the cyber era. The lives of these iconic structures are packed with drama and intrigue. Soap operas on the grandest scale, they feature war and religion, politics and art, love and betrayal, catastrophe and hope. Frequently their afterlives have been no less dramatic -- their memories used and abused down the millennia for purposes both sacred and profane. They provide the stage for a startling array of characters, including Gilgamesh, the Cretan Minotaur, Agamemnon, Nefertiti, Genghis Khan, Henry VIII, Catherine the Great, Adolf Hitler, and even Bruce Springsteen.

Ranging from the deserts of Iraq, the banks of the Nile and the cloud forests of Peru, to the great cities of Jerusalem, Istanbul, Paris, Rome, London and New York, Fallen Glory is a unique guide to a world of vanished architecture. And, by picking through the fragments of our past, it asks what history's scattered ruins can tell us about our own future.

scotland from the sky

Prepare yourself for a journey into the skies above Scotland. 

Accompanying the BBC documentary series Scotland from the Sky, this lavishly illustrated book draws on the vast collection of aerial photography held in the archives of Historic Environment Scotland. Historian and series presenter James Crawford opens an extraordinary window into our past to tell the remarkable story of a nation from above - taking readers back in time to show how our great cities have dramatically altered with the ebb and flow of history, while whole communities have vanished in the name of progress. The book shows how aerial imagery can reveal treasures from the ancient past, uncovering secrets buried right beneath our feet. And it demonstrates how the view from above has been at the heart of the postwar transformation of both our countryside and our urban landscapes. This is a fascinating - and little known - story of war, innovation, adventure, cities, landscapes and people. This is the story of Scotland, from the sky.

'Crawford is a genuine, risk-taking adventurer'
DAILY EXPRESS

'Remarkable ... explores Scotland’s cities, coasts and countryside from the air and uses a century of aerial photography to show how rural and urban landscapes have changed'
HERALD

'Crawford uncovers the nation’s secrets from the sky'
DAILY RECORD

'A stunning combination of aviation adventure and historical detective work'
PRESS AND JOURNAL

'Opens up many secrets and surprises ... exhilarating'
COURIER

scotland's landscapes

'Scotland's Landscapes is full to bursting with truly breathtaking scenes from the country's every corner - the various items from the National Collection of Aerial Photography assembled here show that Scotland may have been built and roughly shaped by geomorphological processes, but the crucial touches were bestowed by human history.'
THE SCOTSMAN

'A must have for those who would like to know Scotland better.'
SCOTTISH FIELD

It is easy to understand the fascination of aerial photographs. Firstly, not everybody can take them. Secondly, not everybody gets to fly over the Highlands and Islands on a cloudless day and see them from above. And thirdly, they can be absolutely heartstopping. There is a photograph from the sky of Vatersay in Scotland's Landscapes. I would almost sooner look at this photo than be there.'
Roger Hutchinson, author of Calum's Road

As the glaciers of the last Ice Age receded, humans ventured into the far north, exploring a wild, fertile territory. Nomadic hunter-gatherers at first, they made the decision to stay for good - to farm and to build. The landscapes they lived on were remarkable in their diversity. Vast forests of pine and birch ran through one of the world's oldest mountain ranges - once as high as the Himalayas but over millennia scoured and compressed by sheets of ice a mile thick. On hundreds of islands around a saw-edged coastline, communities flourished, linked to each other and the wider world by the sea, the transport superhighway of ancient times. It was a place of challenges and opportunity. A place we know today as Scotland.

Over the past 10,000 years, every inch of Scotland - whether remote hilltop, fertile floodplain, or storm-lashed coastline - has been shaped, changed and moulded by its people. No part of the land is without its human story. From Orkney's immaculately preserved Neolithic villages to Highland glens stripped of nineteenth century settlements; from a Skye peninsula converted to an ingenious Viking shipyard to a sheer Hebridean clifftop used as the site of a spectacular lighthouse, Scotland's history is written into its landscapes in vivid detail. Scotland's Landscapes' tells the enduring story of this interaction between man and his environment. Stunning new imagery from the National Collection of Aerial Photography comes together to build up a picture of a dramatic terrain forged by thousands of years of incredible change. These are Scotland's landscapes as you have never seen or understood them before.

victorian scotland

'A remarkable illustration of the Victorian era.'
THE SCOTSMAN

'Make no mistake, these photographs, reproduced to a wonderful standard, are indeed works of art ... The authors have chosen both their images and their words well ... The commentary adds a further dimension, even for those who feel themselves already familiar with Victorian values and with Scotland as a whole.'
THE VICTORIAN MAGAZINE

The Victorians were the harbingers of the modern age, their society driven by curiosity, a zeal for invention, and an enormous appetite for economic and imperial consumption. The boiler room of the era was stoked furiously, and its frequent combustions produced advances in everything from science and philosophy to industry and architecture. By the end of the nineteenth century, Scotland was a nation transformed. Glasgow had exploded into the second city of the Empire, the majestic Forth Bridge was celebrated as a wonder of the modern world, and railways had opened the remote Highlands to new industries of leisure and tourism.

But for every grand museum or gothic-revival country house, tenements and slums rose in their thousands overcrowded living for the vast army of workers that sustained the great Victorian machine. Ambition and wealth saw social divisions become ever more acute, producing a society obsessed with class hierarchy. Now, for the first time, Historic Environment Scotland (HES) is showcasing images from its National Collection in a remarkable illustration of this landmark era. From the pioneering work of photographers like John Forbes White and Henry Bedford Lemere, to never before seen excerpts from private family albums, Victorian Scotland is a window into the lives of the generation who changed the world.

ABOVE SCOTLAND

'Breathtaking aerial images.'
THE BOOKSELLER

'A wonderful illustration of Scotland's past, present and future.'
THE SCOTTISH FIELD

'See Scotland as you have never seen it.'
THE SCOTSMAN

The landscape of Scotland is full of dramatic contrasts. The high, rugged peaks of the Cairngorms look down on the rounded hills of the southern uplands. Wild moorlands run into fertile flood-plains. The coastline ranges from soft sandy beaches and crystal-clear waters to jagged cliffs battered by the fierce waves of the Atlantic. Aerial photography provides unique and striking perspectives on how the people of Scotland have lived, worked, fought over, worshipped, developed and changed this land, leaving no part untouched or unaltered by human activity.

Historic Environment Scotland (HES) holds the national collection of aerial photography with millions of images dating from the 1920s to the present day. These photographs - many of which have never been seen before by the public - tell the remarkable story of a changing nation, from stone circles, Roman remains and ruined castles, to the growth of villages, towns and cities, the rise and fall of heavy industry, the country at war and the proud engineering and architecture of the modern landscape. For the first time in one volume, you can see the finest images from this collection in a stunning illustration of Scotland's past, present and future.

who built scotland

'The quality of the writing is uniformly high . . . This is a very good book; edifying and, at times, revelatory'
THE HERALD

'Very enjoyable and rich in information. You would have to be quite exceptionally knowledgeable not to learn much from it, and it certainly paints a fine picture of our strange and varied country and its history'
Allan Massie, THE SCOTSMAN

'Fascinating . . . While the buildings are the focus of this book, the stories of the people who built them and use them are what really stay in the mind. It's easy to think of buildings as inanimate but this book demonstrates the life behind them'
SCOTTISH FIELD (***** 5-star review)

'By turns inspiring and fascinating; a book that gives perspective to Scotland's many and varied architectural traditions; and a book that gives context to the Scotland we see around us today . . . Some contributions cover themes or groups of buildings rather than individual structures. The effect is to broaden further the scope of the book and adds to its already considerable lasting value'
UNDISCOVERED SCOTLAND

Experience a new history of Scotland told through its places. Writers James Crawford, Kathleen Jamie, Alexander McCall Smith, Alistair Moffat and James Robertson pick twenty-five buildings to tell the story of the nation.Travelling across the country, from abandoned islands and lonely glens to the heart of our modern cities, these five authors seek out the diverse narrative of the Scottish people.

Follow Kathleen Jamie as she searches for the traces of our first family hearths in the Cairngorms and makes a midsummer journey to Shetland to meet the unlikely new inhabitants of an Iron Age broch. Tour the wondrous and macabre Surgeons' Hall with Alexander McCall Smith, or walk with him over sacred ground to Iona's ancient Abbey. Join Alistair Moffat as he discovers a lost whisky village in the wilds of Strathconon, and climbs up through the vertiginous layers of history in Edinburgh Castle. Accompany James Robertson as he goes from the standing stones of Callanish to the humble cottage of Hugh MacDiarmid - via the engineering colossus of the Forth Rail Bridge. And journey with James Crawford from a packed crowd in Hampden Park, to an off-the-grid eco-bothy on the Isle of Eigg.

Who Built Scotland is a landmark exploration of Scotland's social, political and cultural histories. Moving from Neolithic families, exiled hermits and ambitious royal dynasties to highland sheiling girls, peasant poets, Enlightenment philosophers and iconoclastic artists, it places our people, our ideas and our passions at the heart of our architecture and archaeology. This is the remarkable story how we have shaped our buildings and how our buildings, in turn, have shaped us.

aerofilms: A History of britain from above

'Clinging to tiny biplanes flying dangerously low, the pioneering band of former First World War pilots turned photographers were pushing new technology to the limit with dramatic results.'
THE DAILY MAIL

'These pictures, of Britain from above, are a knockout.'
THE METRO

'The selected images - from St Paul's Cathedral, its Baroque majesty captured as never before, to the South Bank in 1950, still a building site - are everything you'd expect: exciting, nostalgic and informative . . . but I'd recommend reading the book too, for it really makes for a great story.'
OPTIMA MAGAZINE

Aerofilms Ltd was born on 9 May 1919. An unprecedented business venture, it hoped to marry the still fledgling technology of powered flight to the discipline of photography. Its founders were Claude Grahame-White, an internationally-famous English aviation pioneer, and Francis Lewis Wills, a trained architect who had flown as an observer for the Royal Naval Air Service during the First World War. Together they embarked on a distinctively British tale of derring-do. From developing photographic glass plates in a hotel bathroom at the London Flying Club in Hendon, to producing many thousands of aerial images every year, they took a tool which had first been used for military intelligence, and repackaged it for the mass market.

As a result, Aerofilms lived through and recorded one of the most tumultuous periods in British history. After surviving the worldwide economic crash of the Great Depression in the 1930s, and serving their country at the request of Winston Churchill during the Second World War, they were still on hand to help shape the Britain of the future, capturing the major reconstruction projects of the 1940s and 50s. Aerofilms: A History of Britain From Above draws on thousands of images, including many that are rare or previously unseen, to present a vivid picture of the nation in the first half of the twentieth century. Following the company's enigmatic founders, daredevil pilots, skilled photographers and innovative advertisers, it explores how they manufactured and sold a potent sense of place and identity to the British people. The story of Aerofilms - the men and women behind the company and the photographs that they produced - is a story of innovation, entrepreneurial spirit, war, marketing and the making of `Brand Britain'.

ABOVE SCOTLAND - CITIES

'This beautiful collection of aerial photographs takes the viewer through the full range of urban landscapes to be found in Scotland. From the industrial sprawl to the classical Georgian architecture of some of our city centres, the diversity of Scottish cities is laid out in all its panoramic glory. A fantastic photography book that will enhance any bookshelf or coffee table.'
THE PRESS & JOURNAL

Fascinating historical photography of our cities . . . not to be missed.'
THE SCOTSMAN

The past two centuries have marked the age of the city in Scotland. Powered by industrial growth and driven by social change, much of the nation has been transformed from the rural to the urban. But the stories of our cities began long before this. From ancient origins to the construction of some of the world's most fascinating architecture, through hardships of war, plague, fire and economic depression to innovative programmes of urban renewal, our cities bear the scars and boast the treasures of hundreds of years of incredible progress and change.

Across the central belt, vast, brash Glasgow meets classically austere Edinburgh. Dundee, a city built by an old Empire, now thrives on new technology. In the granite shadows of Aberdeen, a vibrant trading community has been changed forever by the arrival of the oil barons. And then there are Scotland's newest cities: Stirling, once a centre of Royal power, and Inverness, the urban gateway to a wild Highland landscape.

This lavishly illustrated volume looks at the character and development of each of Scotland's six cities, drawing on stunning aerial photography from the 1920s to the present day to tell their compelling stories from a unique and illuminating perspective. And for the first time ever, in a special dedicated section, readers can view images of Scotland's cities in 3D, seeing stunning details rise up out of the page, from the imposing rocky heights of the castles of Edinburgh and Stirling, to the ordered grid-iron canyons of central Glasgow.