The Steel Bonnets: The Story of the Anglo-Scottish Border Reivers

From the 13th century to the middle of the 16th, outlaws and “border lords” reigned supreme on the contentious frontier between England and Scotland. Feud and terror, raid and reprisal, were the ordinary stuff of life, and power was held by the notorious border reivers: raiders and freebooters, plunderers and rustlers who robbed, murdered, and wreaked havoc. George MacDonald Fraser, author of the bestselling Flashman novels, takes us back through three centuries of conflict, showing how the frontier society was born and grew; how the region fitted into the diplomacy of the bordering nations; and how, with surprising suddenness, the world of the reivers disappeared. Fraser has crafted a fascinating work of serious history and scholarship that’s as irresistibly compelling as any novel.