Product Description

The focus of this book is the period in which the country lost its king and how Oliver Cromwell became Lord Protector. This is used to examine the Commonwealth and the Protectorate where Professor Woolrych challenges accepted views on these areas.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #374830 in Books
• Published on: 1983-03-17
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 64 pages

From the Back Cover
Professor Woolrych surveys the establishment and history if the Commonwealth and Protectorate, first explaining how the country lost its king, and how Oliver Cromwell became Lord Protector. Professor Woolrych challenges accepted views on the nature of the Protectorate, and finally offers some guidelines to the tangled period between Cromwell's death and the Restoration.

Customer Reviews

The English Republic in Summary
Professor Austin Woolrych (1918-2004), head of history at Lancaster University, was one of the key figures in research of the Civil War period. His other works include his final opus 'Britain in Revolution', and 'Battles of the English Civil War', as well as volumes on the Commonwealth and New Model Army. Most of his output was in his later years. Though regarded as not particularly aventurous by contemporary scholars, his work has a deserved reputation for quality and thoroughness.

'England without a King' is a neat, brief (49 page), resume of the period 1649-1660. Though described by its cover blurb as 'introductory', and based essentially on secondary sources it does a good job of summarising a period of complexity which has often been poorly covered. This soft back includes a 'Time Chart' chronology and a bibiliography.

Within the limitations described very much recommended - should be supplemented by more recent work for thorough treatment of the era.