Product Description

This is the definitive history of the English Civil War, set in its full historical context from the accession of Charles I to the Restoration of Charles II. These were the most turbulent years of British history and their reverberations have been felt down the centuries. Throughout the middle decades of the seventeenth century England, Scotland, and Ireland were convulsed by political upheaval and wracked by rebellion and civil war. The Stuart monarchy was in abeyance for twenty years in all three kingdoms, and Charles I famously met his death on the scaffold. Austin Woolrych breathes life back into the story of these years, the sweep of his prose buttressed by the authority of a lifetime's scholarship. He captures the drama and the passion, the momentum of events and the force of contingency. He brilliantly interweaves the history of the three kingdoms and their peoples, gripping the reader with the fast-paced yet always balanced story.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #638470 in Books
• Published on: 2002-11-14
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 814 pages

Review
... deeply learned, tightly constructed, expertly orchestrated and elegantly written ... attractively priced ... effective and well-chosen illustrations ... Always informative and often illuminating. European Review of History This is a formidable and convincing study. Whilst the book can be dipped into, because of its clear and precise structure, the whole text should be essential reading for anyone taking an interest in the period. History Review The triumph of the book lies in the subtlety of its interpretation, which is often a matter of nuance rather than statement. This is the master work of a highly distinguished historian. History The publisher's blurb is exactly right: this magnificent book, the fruit of a long lifetime of pondering and scholarship in the field, abounds with 'astute analysis and penetrating insight' ... This extended and professionally paced narrative does 'capture the drama and the passion'; and it manages always to be more than narrative, deftly weaving a satisfying interpretative line into the story of civil war and its aftermath in the three kingdoms. History Britain in Revolution will serve as a useful summary of one of the most confused and confusing periods of British history ... students will find Woolrych a reliable guide. Mark Kishlansky, Times Literary Supplement It is the fullest general account of this period we have ever had, and it will inevitably become a standard work of reference. Mark Kishlansky, Times Literary Supplement Anyone interested in the English Cvil War will wish to read Britian in Revolution. John Adamson, Sunday Telegraph Making sense of the origins and course of that conflict has been, notoriously, one of the toughest assignments, an English historian can essay. Here we have the finest synthesis yet produced. John Adamson, Sunday Telegraph Books of the Year Austin Woolrych has now written probably the only book on the English Civil War that you are ever likely to need. Simon Heffer, Literary Review Drawing on half a century of research and reflection, it deploys a depth and range of knowledge and an authority of judgement, that no other historian of the period could hope to match. In graceful, self-effacing, perfectly weighted prose Woolrych guides us irresistibly through the tangled events of the 1640s and 1650s and stamps his own vision on them. Blair Worden, The Sunday Telegraph For as long as is imaginable his book will be the vade-mecum of everyone, from the scholar to the newcomer, who wants to learn about the Civil wars. Blair Worden, The Sunday Telegraph Austin Woolrych has given his book a title suitable for a textbook, but this blockbuster of a study is much more than a survey of the period. It represents a summation of half a century's reflection on a complex period of British history, and lives up to the claim implied in the title that Britain and not England is under scrutiny ... In looking for comparators for Britain in Revolution, one must dismiss all the textbook rivals ... This book is a sure guide to mid-seventeenth-century Britain, and is unlikely to be rivaled for many years to come. H-Net Book Review I can think of no other history book of recent times that has controlled so large and so demanding a subject so skilfully and satisfyingly. It is a wonderful achievement. Blair Worden, The Sunday Telegraph Those to whom the story is unfamiliar will be impressed by the freshness with which it is told. The scholarship is immense and faultless without being heavy or intrusive. By the end, the reader is left in no doubt that every source has been tapped that could have been. Simon Heffer Literary Review The fitting culmination of a lifetime's study of the English Civil War, and the best one-volume study we are likely to have for a long time. Andrew Roberts, Evening Standard

John Adamson, Sunday Telegraph
"Anyone interested in the English Cvil War will wish to read Britian in Revolution."

John Adamson, Sunday Telegraph
"Anyone interested in the English Cvil War will wish to read Britian in Revolution."

Customer Reviews

Superb
This is the best account of the English Civil War since S R Gardiner wrote his history of it in the 19th Century. Proffessor Woolrych's final work is filled with impressive analysis and clear prose- the starting point for almost all historians who are searching for an account of an incident within the civil war- it should be on the bookshelves of anyone interested in the period. This is perhaps not a volume for those merely beggining on the period- it is long- but it is a volume for anyone interested in anything beyond the peripheral. For A-Level or Undergraduate students there is a clear narrative- which can be dipped into and elucidates many of the complexities of the era. For Graduates and Academics, the uncomplicated clear narrative deftly captures the complexities of the period and in my own field many times having read Woolrych as an introduction- I've gone back knowing more and noticed how his choice of words makes me understand my new expertise in a different way. Simply this is the best narrative account of the civil war available: it synthesizes present historical understanding with elegance and beauty. This is history as it was meant to be written. The style is up there with the best of Macaulay and Gibbon, the analysis sits easily with more modern interpretations- go out and buy it now.

Everything you know about this era is Wrong
As far as popular history is concerned, the British public seems to be being fed on a constant diet of Elizabeth 1, Henry 8 and, to a lesser extent, a continually reinvented Queen Victoria. But in this 'World turned upside down' it seems to me that the era covered in this book is far more important for people to be informed of and to understand. If for no other reason, it would be an immense relief if the entire subject weren't fundamentally reduced to Uptight Puritans vs. People Like Us Cavaliers.

Turning in at near 800 pages, this has to be the one volume treatment that can best start the job.

Above all, I do believe that it is vitally important to understand as much as possible about Oliver Cromwell in his context and rescue him from the mountain of propaganda that in three words could be said to label him as `Strong but Wrong', especially with regard to the characteristically disproportionate hatred generated by the pseudo-historical demonising of Cromwell in Ireland. The man's reputation can only ever be enhanced by the sheer accumulation of factual data, and there is something near miraculous about the 41 year old backbencher with no military experience becoming firstly the most able commander of the Civil War and then subsequently the most able and versatile Statesman of the era, with an exceptional instinct for judging character and promoting the most unlikely of people (often opponents) successfully into vital positions. Cromwell would simply and sincerely have put this down to the providential gifts of God, and it is highly unlikely that this extraordinary flowering would have happened without his religious conversion of the 1620s (not mentioned in this text.)

A few deprogramming factoids to begin with: Radical Puritans, not a Royalist resurgence, ultimately brought down the Protectorate. Cromwell loved giving musical entertainments and had more court musicians than Charles the Second. There was less censorship of the printed word and more freedom of worship under the Protectorate than there was in the subsequent Restoration. And in 1654, approximately halfway through the interregnum, renowned diarist John Evelyn 'observed how the women began to paint themselves, formerly a most ignominious thing and used only by prostitutes.'