No other poet excites such fanatical, worldwide devotion as Robert Burns (otherwise known as Rabbie Burns, Scotland's Favourite Son, the Ploughman Poet, the Bard of Ayrshire or simply the Bard). Ian McIntyre's biography, first published to mark the bicentenary of Burns' death and revised here for the 250th anniversary of his birth, is still considered the best take on a notorious and often over-romanticised life. McIntyre's meticulous use of documentary and archival sources strips away myth and legend. Here, we meet the man - eminently capable of holding two contradictory political views at...