an interesting hypothesis, but was it ever fully tested?

Could tests on other groups with long standing levels of aggression be used to support it? Possible examples:<br /> - The Troubles in Northern Ireland;<br /> - cultural aggressiveness of the Scots-Irish, particularly in America (Hatfields & McCoys, et al.) (Did Malcolm Gladwell have some work on this?)

References in the article include: <br /> - Lloyd, John; Mitchinson, John (2006). The Book of General Ignorance. Faber & Faber. - Jury, Louise (19 December 1999). "De Bono's Marmite plan for peace in Middle Yeast". The Independent. Retrieved 3 January 2022.

https://mapofstories.scot/

https://theconversation.com/doric-the-scots-dialect-spoken-by-the-queen-what-it-sounds-like-and-where-it-comes-from-190385

James I, James V of Scotland and James VI (and I of England) all spoke and wrote Scots.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRnQ8lYcvFU

rewatched

One's native language is one of their most important tools for thought.

https://www.thenational.scot/news/19494171.major-web-browser-first-available-scots-language/

https://www.thenational.scot/news/19808278.eemis-stane-new-magazine-giving-scots-outlet-write-language/

This sounds like some of the remnants of the Scots/Irish fighting spirit renewed.

What does the overlap of this look like in Appalachia within the American Nations thesis?

This is the story of 16th century Europe, and the political earthquake that was protestantism. The overarching historical narrative unfolds around the lives of fictional characters who might have lived in this historic period.

Follett's literary reenactment explores the intricacies of the Protestant Reformation through a cast of strategically diverse characters, whose stories span across multiple continents, nations, and cities. Each character is an important harbinger of larger historical trends. Within the masterfully established geo-political reality, each of their decisions serve to gradually reveal their distinct personalities and temperaments, belief systems and ideologies, and cultural identities.

The River Lethe was one of the rivers of Hades in Greek mythology. Exposure to its waters was held to lead to loss of memory, or, more intriguingly, a state of "unmindfulness" and oblivion. From this origin, it has re-appeared throughout western culture, from Dante to Tony Banks's first solo album (River Lethe in popular culture, Wikipedia).

By providing the alternative spelling of Leith, Alasdair Roberts 'doubles' this meaning with the Water of Leith, a river that runs through Edinburgh, and co-locates ancient Greek and contemporary Scots mythology.

The idea of eternal return is bound up with memory, with cultures being compelled to repeat and confront the missteps of the past. So the oblivion of forgetfulness provided by the endless Lethe provides a form of antidote or escape.

Flyting is fighting with words, a verbal contest between two adversaries who trade barbed insults and boasts, often in verse (Wikipedia entry). In working with this form, Alasdair Roberts is very probably inspired by Hamish Henderson's sung poem The Flyting o' Life and Daith (words, recording). The Tobar an Duchlais site notes that

Hamish Henderson finished this poem in 1963, having drawn on an anonymous German poem he had seen in 1939. Referring to the melody that he composed in order for it to be performed as a song, he stated: "[it] somewhat resembles the 'urlar' (or 'ground') of a pibroch". The poem was first published in 'The Scottish Broadsheet' (May, 1963).