Lindsey, John. Robert Burns Rantin' Dog Poet of the Common Man. New York, Liveright Publishing Corporation, 1947.

This book is 396 pages long, has a bibliography, index, and illustrations which include portraits of Burns, his family, friends, residences, Burns memorial, a poem manuscript, and town of Dumfries.

The title is actually three titles, the last two of which are themes recurring throughout the book. It is a 'good read' especially in giving a sense of the grinding poverty of Burns family and descriptions of the different social levels Burns had contact with. Burns joys, frustrations, worries and successes come alive in this book. Sources are not well documented though Pete Kucik thinks they are probably from letters and I agree. James MacKay says this book is based on an earlier biography by Robert Chambers.

Douglas, Hugh. Robert Burns: The Tinder Heart Gloucestershire, Alan Sutton Publishing Ltd, 1996.

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This book is 270 pages long, has end notes for each chapter, a bibliography, index, chronology, and illustrations consisting of Burns, his family and friends, residences, and kirk sessions minutes.

Much of what I used for my talk on Jean Armour last February came from this book. It is about the passions of Burns - easily ignited (tinder) and deep, even if short lived. Of course this means the book is mainly about the women in his life. It left me with the feeling that if there had been no women in Burns life, there would have been no poet or song writer - political and religious agitator maybe, but no poet. This is only my opinion, so to debate it with me you will have to read the book, which I hope everyone does. (Pete Kucik, I think, reviewed this book in an earlier newsletter).

MacKay, James. R.B.: A Biography of Robert Burns. Edinburgh, Mainstream Publishing Company, 1992.

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This book is 689 pages long with end notes on each chapter, an index, but no illustrations.

I am reading this one now. Since I have already been through several Burns biographies, the numerous details are not so overwhelming. The details actually flesh out my basic knowledge of Burns life. The author calls his work a definitive biography and he has tenaciously tracked down facts which other biographers were not so careful with. In fact, he points out errors in other biographies throughout the book. His introduction has a critique of the biographies that came before his. This is a good source for researching aspects of Burns life, the only better sources being original documents - letters, bills and receipts, first hand accounts, etc.