O Rex Gentium
2 hours ago
Friday, June 22, 2007
English Civil War Bleg
We seem to have a pretty historically literate readership. Any recommendations on a good book on the English Civil War (and possibly the Protectorate as well) which isn't insanely long? (Not that I'm questioning there are a good 800+ pages of history to be told -- I just don't necessarily have the time to know them in the near future.)
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For kids or adults? Here's what I have on my homeschooling history timeline for the English Civil Wars/Charles II:
History of King Charles II of England (Jacob Abbott)
The Tinker's Armor: The Story of John Bunyan (Gladys Barr)
Oliver Cromwell (I.E. Levine)
Oliver Cromwell (L. du Garde Peach: Ladybird History)
Gamble for a Throne (Henry Garnett) (f)
The Flight and Adventures of Charles II (Landmark History)
Bright Banners (Regina Victoria Hunt) (f)
For adults -- me specifically :-)
this might be a touch long for you, but i would give it 3 stars.
C.V. Wedgwood: Her trilogy on the English Civil War, the King's Peace, the King's War and a Coffin for King Charles are my favorite histories of the period. For a good short overview, volume 2 of Winston Churchill's History of the English Speaking Peoples is quite good. A very good short bio, 320 pages, of that "bold, bad man" is Christopher Hill's God's Englishman: Oliver Cromwell and the English Revolution.
I've got a copy of Churchill's History (which I haven't read yet), so maybe that marks a good place to start.
I was kind of hoping for something of roughly the length and depth of Madden's New Concise History of the Crusades, mainly because through my bad habbit of always being in the middle of 3-4 books at once, I doubt I'd finish a truly comprehensive book in anything like a reasonable period of time.
The Purkiss books sounds interesting. Am I right in thinking from the reviews that it's pretty heavy on the social history and light on the political and military?
I'm certainly not looking for a military history only, and I guess the biggest item I'm looking to learn more on (and which I didn't pick up from what I read about it when in school) is a clearer understanding of how the ECW shaped the religious and political landscape of Britain. A few things I've read in passing lately have been giving me the impression there's much more than the Puritan vs. Cavalier and middle class vs. aristocracy thing going on in the period, and I'm trying to find something that would delve into that area.
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