Chris Whatley, Professor Emeritus of Scottish History at the University of Dundee, is one of Scotland’s most distinguished historians and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Awarded an OBE for services to Scottish history, he is renowned for his work on the Union of 1707, industrialisation and popular protest. In Harvie’s Dyke: Glasgow’s People and the Liberty of the Banks of the Clyde (2025), Whatley uncovers a dramatic 1822 struggle over public access to the River Clyde—an early fight for environmental and civic rights. This powerful story of collective action and resilience still resonates today.