Kelsey Jackson Williams, Lecturer in Early Modern Literature, University of Stirling

Kelsey Jackson Williams is Lecturer in Early Modern Literature at the University of Stirling and his research focuses on the intellectual, cultural, and material histories of Scotland, England, and continental Northern Europe. He was educated at Balliol College, University of Oxford, and held posts at Jesus College, University of Oxford, and the University of St Andrews before taking up his present lectureship.

"An excellent study, enriched by the often-brilliant use of myriad sources" - R.J.W. Mills, The Seventeenth Century

"Erudite and attractively written, The First Scottish Enlightenment is a compelling reconstruction of historical culture in the first half of the eighteenth century. Connecting the familiar with the overlooked, alive to cosmopolitan links and local peculiarities, it deserves to be widely read." - Alasdair Raffe, Eighteenth-Century Scotland: The Newsletter of the Eighteenth-Century Scottish Studies Society

"The book as a whole brings an important intellectual movement out of the shadows of previous neglect. It also reminds us that the story of English antiquaries (and Antiquaries) was not without parallels in Scotland and on the European continent." - Neil Guthrie, The Antiquaries Journal

"Jackson Williams... carefully casts the 'city guard' and 'crowd of citizens' of an older Enlightenment drama in new roles. This new character set inspires comparisons beyond Scotland's north-east and it builds much-needed bridges between British and European political and intellectual histories." - Tom Tölle, British Catholic History

"In this remarkable and engaging book, Kelsey Jackson Williams convincingly makes the case for the existence of an early Enlightenment in Scotland, which spanned the 1680s to the 1740s and achieved a dramatic and lasting transformation in the practice and conception of Scottish history." - Felicity Loughlin, Scottish Church History

"a text that contributes wonderfully to our understanding of our past as we continue to struggle over how to imagine the future." - Paul Gilfillan, The Innes Review

"First Scottish Enlightenment has many virtues...Overall, this a tremendous contribution to the history of Scottish scholarship and Scottish intellectual history generally." - R.J.W. Mills, Queen Mary University of London, The Seventeenth Century