By Mark E. Saunders of “The Scottish Minuteman” https://www.facebook.com/profile.php/?id=61575625542197

Okay. Cards on the table. In 2014, I wasn’t some lifelong dyed-in-the-wool independence campaigner who had spent years on the streets criticising the Union.

I was just one of millions who had ‘forever’ accepted the political status quo. That is, until one political slogan challenged me to think differently.

“If you don’t know, vote no!”

I suppose I could have shrugged my shoulders and accepted that as reasonable advice. Instead, I didn’t just take it on board. I took it as a challenge.

If I don’t know, then I’ll find out.

And that curiosity became something much bigger.

I started campaigning. My goodness, I still remember that first morning. I knocked on three doors with Ronnie Cowan — former SNP MP — after which Ronnie said, “Got it?” and promptly moved on to another street with another novice.

Undaunted, I became involved with YES Inverclyde. I printed T-shirts. I sold coffee mugs. But I also started researching. I wanted other people to understand what I was learning. Eventually, that desire to share what I’d discovered became a Facebook page and, ultimately, a book.

There’s a lovely irony in that journey.

A British political slogan intended to encourage people to vote No if they didn’t know enough about independence became my motivation to find out more, and eventually to share what I’d learned with others.

But I think there’s something even more important here.

I didn’t begin with a book to sell. I began with a question I wanted answered.

I didn’t set out to become an author. I set out to understand.

Becoming an author was the consequence of that journey.

And perhaps that’s why my book means so much to me.

It’s the culmination of more than a decade of curiosity, political involvement, reading, questioning and developing new friendships, all while trying to make sense of my country’s place in the world.

The Union That Democracy Forgot came from my campaigning.

And before the next Scottish independence campaign begins in earnest, my one wish is that my book will help someone understand the arguments well enough to make up their own mind, rather than voting No simply because they don’t know.

Mark E Saunders

Ed - This is an essential buy. At least one for you and others for those you either love or feel need it.