'A compelling and wry narrative of one of the most intellectually thrilling eras of British history' The Guardian England, 1651. Oliver Cromwell has defeated his royalist opponents in two civil wars, executed the Stuart king Charles I, laid waste to Ireland, and crushed the late king's son and his Scottish allies. He is master of Britain and Ireland. But Parliament, divided between moderates, republicans and Puritans of uncompromisingly millenarian hue, is faction-ridden and disputatious. By the end of 1653, Cromwell has become 'Lord Protector'. Seeking dragons for an elect Protestant nation to slay, he launches an ambitious 'Western Design' against Spain's empire in the New World. When an amphibious assault on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola in 1655 proves a disaster, a shaken Cromwell is convinced that God is punishing England for its sinfulness. But the imposition of the rule of the Major-Generals – bureaucrats with a penchant for closing alehouses – backfires spectacularly. Sectarianism and fundamentalism run riot. Radicals and royalists join together in conspiracy. The only way out seems to be a return to a Parliament presided over by a king. But will Cromwell accept the crown? Paul Lay narrates in entertaining but always rigorous fashion the story of England's first and only experiment with republican government: he brings the febrile world of Oliver Cromwell's Protectorate to life, providing vivid portraits of the extraordinary individuals who inhabited it and capturing its dissonant cacophony of political and religious voices.
© 2020 W. F. Howes Ltd (Ljudbok): 9781800242432
Utgivningsdatum
Ljudbok: 26 juni 2020
'A compelling and wry narrative of one of the most intellectually thrilling eras of British history' The Guardian England, 1651. Oliver Cromwell has defeated his royalist opponents in two civil wars, executed the Stuart king Charles I, laid waste to Ireland, and crushed the late king's son and his Scottish allies. He is master of Britain and Ireland. But Parliament, divided between moderates, republicans and Puritans of uncompromisingly millenarian hue, is faction-ridden and disputatious. By the end of 1653, Cromwell has become 'Lord Protector'. Seeking dragons for an elect Protestant nation to slay, he launches an ambitious 'Western Design' against Spain's empire in the New World. When an amphibious assault on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola in 1655 proves a disaster, a shaken Cromwell is convinced that God is punishing England for its sinfulness. But the imposition of the rule of the Major-Generals – bureaucrats with a penchant for closing alehouses – backfires spectacularly. Sectarianism and fundamentalism run riot. Radicals and royalists join together in conspiracy. The only way out seems to be a return to a Parliament presided over by a king. But will Cromwell accept the crown? Paul Lay narrates in entertaining but always rigorous fashion the story of England's first and only experiment with republican government: he brings the febrile world of Oliver Cromwell's Protectorate to life, providing vivid portraits of the extraordinary individuals who inhabited it and capturing its dissonant cacophony of political and religious voices.
© 2020 W. F. Howes Ltd (Ljudbok): 9781800242432
Utgivningsdatum
Ljudbok: 26 juni 2020
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Lillian
5 apr. 2021
Mycket bra uppläsare
Anton
8 juli 2020
En välskriven och fascinerande djupdykning i en spännande del av Storbritanniens historia, som ofta betraktas som ett mellanspel. Protektorates historia kännetecknas av identitetskris och detta förmedlar boken i redogörelserna och analyserna. I spetsen finns den tvetydiga, men starke mannen, Oliver Cromwell som inte är kung men ändå är kung, existensberättigande projekt som koloniala drömmar i Sydamerika och föränderliga politiska institutioner, som bland inkluderar militärstyre och leder till moralpanik blandat med hyckleri. Tesen att protektoratet föll på sin egen tillit till guds försyn är en tankeväckande tes som blir en smart röd tråd genom bokens redogörelser och analyser. Avslutningsvis har boken en bra uppläsare.
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