Coming from a long line of Scottish and Scots-Irish on my father's side, I have to say that I found much of what David Hackett Fischer said to be right on the money, and I wasn't offended by it at all. I thought his characterization of the Scottish and Scots-Irish people of the Carolinas was, in broad strokes, quite accurate, and certainly explained to me much of what I grew up taking for granted. It also gave me plenty of basis for understanding how my husband's New England forebears came at the world from a very different angle. I didn't find Fischer's views a "put-down" of the Scots and Scots-Irish at all, though I'm sure the values they held might have been considered inferior by those from the other folkways discussed who didn't share them. Fischer's scholarship seems to be quite thorough, and while exception can always be taken, his discussion of the four folkways is, I think, really enlightening and was a huge undertaking. His conclusions about the folkways and values of the people who settled the Carolinas, in particular, are further substantiated by a book by Grady McWhiney called CRACKER CULTURE, which is available through several online booksellers, some of which have reviews posted. The reviews, with some qualification, further substantiate Fischer's and McWhiney's contentions. I would recommend you check this book out so you can see that Fischer is not alone in his understanding of the Scots-Irish/Scottish/Borderer or generally Celtic cultural influence on the area. Barbara