In the 23rd century, the Public Eye, a television-like device that lets everyone see what everyone else is doing, has turned warfare into a spectator sport. One of particular interest involves the Scottish border regions' fight with the English. Wat Dryhope, leader of the Ettrick clan, pretends to surrender his clan's standard during a climactic battle, only to resume attack and win a draw. The trick gives him heroic standing and revolutionizes the rules of battle, setting off a global change in human combat. Though he seeks a more peaceful existence for his people, Dryhope's performance in warfare makes him the "history maker" of the novel's title.


From Publishers Weekly
It is hard at first to get one's bearings in this novel, while flipping between text and endnotes and wondering what Earth this is where immortality exists, limbs regenerate and "keyboards" work all sorts of seeming magic. But this latest iconoclastic creation by Gray soon engages and succeeds on all of its many levels. Lacking much else to do, men kill for televised sport in the worldwide matriarchal utopia of the 23rd century. Scotland's unlikely new hero, the gangling, intellectual warrior Wat Dryhope, has some reservations about the bloodshed-but misgivings are easily forgotten when you're the reigning media darling and consequently a much-desired bedpartner. This novel purports to be Wat's memoir of seven crucial days during which utopia nearly self-destructs, annotated extensively by his erudite mother, Kittock the henwife. Gray, author of the Whitbread Award-winning Poor Things, is known for his skewed and original views of our world. Oddities, such as the author's own line drawings dropped into the text mid-sentence, abound in this work. The futuristic dialect is appealingly colorful (" 'Ye Gowk Archie!... Ye Doited gomeril! Ye Stupit Nyaff! Ye Blirt!' "). The wit is sharp, the social commentary on target and, most important, the quirky, arch-voiced storytelling is unfailingly entertaining. Insightful and unusual, this is a fine read on the order of the best social satire. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.


London Times
I would sit around a campfire and listen to Gray's tales any night.


The New York Times Book Review, Nicholas Birns
... streamlined ... reader-friendly ... emotionally engaging ...


From Kirkus Reviews
From the always original Gray (Ten Tales Tall and True, 1994, etc.), allegorical musings on war masquerading as a rambunctious novel set in 23rd-century Scotland, which, here, more resembles the Highlands in the time of Bonnie Prince Charlie. Despite the science-fictional gizmos and chat of intergalactic travel, life round St. Mary's Loch in the year 2220 is more reminiscent of the time when kilted clans armed with claymores butchered each other for a bit of heath. Among other things, they're still fighting, though for different objectives; their talk is sprinkled with archaisms; and their appetites, sexual and otherwise, are lustily premodern. War has become a spectator sport, complete with rules made in Geneva and commented on by the so- called Public Eye that--like the Goodyear blimp at a football game- -relays the contest to a watching world. Those who choose to colonize space are granted immortality, while mortals like hero warrior Wat Dryhope live lives of ``tragic sweetness'' haunted by the past. When Wat is appointed chief of the Ettrick clan after a bitter battle that few survive, he worries that war is becoming both too costly and too attractive. Though he enjoys the comfort of women (the sexual arrangements are fluid and generous) and the stability they give society--women maintain the power plants that create the food--he has, until he meets the diabolical Delilah Puddock, ``wanted danger, not safety.'' But after an encounter with Delilah, who, wanting to restore the ``competitive exploration of human resources,'' infects Wat with a virus that almost destroys the world's food supply, he gives up fighting and takes to farming. An accompanying set of Notes and Glossary adds a touch of scholarly verisimilitude. A journey to the future, with an edge blunted by whimsy but nonetheless sly and startling as Gray turns history on its head. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


From Book News, Inc.
A science fiction yarn, set in Scotland's Ettrick Forest in the 23rd century, from a fat, old asthmatic novelist from Glasgow. Includes b&w illustrations. Paper edition (unseen), $14.00. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Set in Scotland's Ettrick Forest of the twenty-third century, A History Maker tells a rollicking tale of border warfare, military and erotic. Superbly muscled Wat Dryhope, son of the Ettrick chief, is unhappy about his clan's violent and permissive lifestyle. Only when challenged by the fearfully seductive Delilah Puddock and her plot to restore the competitive exploitation of human resources does he learn to embrace the women and traditional values he truly loves.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

It is hard at first to get one's bearings in this novel, while flipping between text and endnotes and wondering what Earth this is where immortality exists, limbs regenerate and "keyboards" work all sorts of seeming magic. But this latest iconoclastic creation by Gray soon engages and succeeds on all of its many levels. Lacking much else to do, men kill for televised sport in the worldwide matriarchal utopia of the 23rd century. Scotland's unlikely new hero, the gangling, intellectual warrior Wat Dryhope, has some reservations about the bloodshedbut misgivings are easily forgotten when you're the reigning media darling and consequently a much-desired bedpartner. This novel purports to be Wat's memoir of seven crucial days during which utopia nearly self-destructs, annotated extensively by his erudite mother, Kittock the henwife. Gray, author of the Whitbread Award-winning Poor Things, is known for his skewed and original views of our world. Oddities, such as the author's own line drawings dropped into the text mid-sentence, abound in this work. The futuristic dialect is appealingly colorful (" `Ye Gowk Archie!... Ye Doited gomeril! Ye Stupit Nyaff! Ye Blirt!' "). The wit is sharp, the social commentary on target and, most important, the quirky, arch-voiced storytelling is unfailingly entertaining. Insightful and unusual, this is a fine read on the order of the best social satire. (May)

Booknews

A science fiction yarn, set in Scotland's Ettrick Forest in the 23rd century, from a fat, old asthmatic novelist from Glasgow. Includes b&w illustrations. Paper edition (unseen), $14.00. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Kirkus Reviews

From the always original Gray (Ten Tales Tall and True, 1994, etc.), allegorical musings on war masquerading as a rambunctious novel set in 23rd-century Scotland, which, here, more resembles the Highlands in the time of Bonnie Prince Charlie.

Despite the science-fictional gizmos and chat of intergalactic travel, life round St. Mary's Loch in the year 2220 is more reminiscent of the time when kilted clans armed with claymores butchered each other for a bit of heath. Among other things, they're still fighting, though for different objectives; their talk is sprinkled with archaisms; and their appetites, sexual and otherwise, are lustily premodern. War has become a spectator sport, complete with rules made in Geneva and commented on by the so- called Public Eye that—like the Goodyear blimp at a football game—relays the contest to a watching world. Those who choose to colonize space are granted immortality, while mortals like hero warrior Wat Dryhope live lives of "tragic sweetness" haunted by the past. When Wat is appointed chief of the Ettrick clan after a bitter battle that few survive, he worries that war is becoming both too costly and too attractive. Though he enjoys the comfort of women (the sexual arrangements are fluid and generous) and the stability they give society—women maintain the power plants that create the food—he has, until he meets the diabolical Delilah Puddock, "wanted danger, not safety." But after an encounter with Delilah, who, wanting to restore the "competitive exploration of human resources," infects Wat with a virus that almost destroys the world's food supply, he gives up fighting and takes to farming. An accompanying set of Notes and Glossary adds a touch of scholarly verisimilitude.

A journey to the future, with an edge blunted by whimsy but nonetheless sly and startling as Gray turns history on its head.