Gordon Pentland cites two aims in this useful and interesting book: to examine Scotland's distinctive experience of reform in the period 1820–33, centering on the Reform Act (Scotland) of 1832, and to consider what a British approach to the period can add to our understanding of both the reform crisis and of national identities in this period. Both of these objectives are ably fulfilled, and Pentland's book is a valuable contribution to the historiography of early nineteenth-century reform, nineteenth-century Scottish political history, and British national identity.

Scottish reformers argued that reform was needed far more urgently in Scotland than in England. Many Scots saw reform as completing the Union, granting Scots fuller access to the British constitution, particularly through effectual representation in Parliament. Issues of particular concern to Scottish reformers included the need for more seats in the House of Commons, the manner in which burghs returned members to serve in Parliament, abuses inherent in the Scottish county franchise, and the oligarchic system of municipal government in Scotland. Pentland sees the 1820s as a crucial period in establishing and legitimizing both a slate of issues and a style of protest. Despite the fact that political reform was not high on the agenda for most of the 1820s, Pentland argues that this period saw numerous attempts at other reforms, both national (like the abolition of slavery) and very local. These many movements, which reveal a broad critique of Scottish society, were opportunities for Scots to develop political strategies, arguments, and leaders who would be influential in Parliamentary reform in the 1830s. Much of the ideological context for these efforts, and key elements of Scotland's distinctive political history in this period, developed out of the religious culture of Scottish Presbyterianism. One of the strengths of this book is Pentland's examination of the links between religious and political history, as he argues against what he calls a “largely artificial division between political and religious history” (197).

Pentland provides a valuable examination of the issues that led to widespread calls for reform in the early 1830s, of the drafting and eventual passage of the bill, and of the ideological strategies of the Parliamentary debates, all from a Scottish perspective. As the extended crisis over reform continued, tension between the aims of Scottish Whigs and of the cabinet grew more apparent, and some Scottish reformers worried about the apparent ministerial indifferent to a Scottish bill. However, Pentland attributes the deficiencies in the final legislation not to indifference, or to an effort to make Scotland more like England, but primarily to cabinet pressure to make all three bills as similar as possible. Despite significant legislative achievements by the reformed Parliament, concern about the way in which Scotland was to be governed revived in the year after the bill was passed. Scottish burgh reform was handled by a select committee, rather than by the full House of Commons, and Parliament failed to act regarding lay patronage in the Church of Scotland, which led to unease over the perceived neglect of Scottish issues in Parliament.

Pentland finds that one of the most striking features of the reform period was the constant interaction between events inside Parliament and the popular movement for reform on the outside. This movement, he asserts, was a “national, pan-British one, which justified itself and mobilized its constituency by appealing to the language of patriotism” (125). The sense of British identity reflected in the reform movement was a flexible one, actively shaped by Scots. In both England and Scotland, reformers envisioned the effort in the context of the history of the struggle for English liberty. Scots’ comfort with such a strategy reflects, in part, their belief that reform was an attempt to obtain more of those liberties for Scotland. But Scots did not just adopt English understandings of popular constitutionalism. Rather, they made the “language of patriotism” a British one by writing aspects of Scotland's history into the narrative, and English reformers, too, made use of Scottish examples.

Pentland's analysis of the development of a “patriotic consensus” (154) that allowed for a variety of approaches to reform is an insightful one. However, although he briefly addresses the issue of class, his discussion does not introduce gender as a category of analysis. This omission may be a result of his reliance on public performance (demonstrations, published addresses, etc.) as the source of his assessment of the language of reform. Yet, it is worth knowing if the language of patriotism that he examines was chiefly a male language. Did women take part in these demonstrations? Did they express their patriotism in other, more private ways? There is room for further research on such topics.

Despite some disappointment in the immediate aftermath of reform, the 1820–33 Parliamentary reform movement had a significant impact on Scotland. Pentland argues that not the least of its effects was its influence upon ecclesiastical politics. Reformers within the Church of Scotland, who began focusing on the effort to eliminate lay patronage, were energized by the Parliamentary reform movement and borrowed tactics from it, as did Voluntarism outside the established church. Thus, the Disruption (the 1843 split in the Church of Scotland) and the events leading up to it should be seen within the context of the reform movements of the previous two decades. Here, too, Pentland opens some avenues for continued research.

While some questions remain (for instance, how does the continued unease with the governing of Scotland that Pentland sees in 1833 translate into the “unionist-nationalism” of the later nineteenth century?), Radicalism, Reform and National Identity in Scotland is a notable study of Scotland's place in the constitutional developments of nineteenth-century Britain, at the levels of both high politics and popular understandings of national identity.