|
|
Title: The Glorious Revolution: 1688-Britain's Fight for Liberty
Purchase
Item
Manufacturer: Pegasus Books
List Price: $26.95
Our Price: $13.95
|
|
| Customer Reviews: |
| The Glorious Revolution: 1688-Britain's Fight for Liberty by Pegasus Books A detailed, but highly readable account | A detailed account of William of Orange's seizure of the British throne in 1688. Vallance also explains the preceding political context, which caused many Britons to welcome a Protestant Dutchman (William III) over a Catholic Englishman (James II), and covers the subsequent British politics as William consolidated power.
The narrative is centered on William's Dutch invasion of England in 1688, but Vallance also covers preceding events, such as the 1685 Protestant insurrection of the Duke of Monmouth (and the infamous "bloody assizes" that followed) and subsequent events, such as the fighting in Ireland culminating in the Battle of the Boyne in 1690.
These events were set in a European context where it was widely assumed that a state had a right and even an obligation to maintain religious "correctness" and to suppress false religious ideas. Thus for both Protestants and Catholics the stakes were very high. Their faith could easily be suppressed and they themselves exiled or killed. To modern eyes the degree to which leading politicians on both sides opposed simple tolerance is staggering. In fact, Vallance argues that both James II and William III were much more interested in reasonable tolerance than their leading followers were willing to accept.
Even within the Protestant camp, the political battles between Whigs and Tories were extremely vituperative. The Tories were hamstrung by a reluctance to overtly break their oaths of loyalty to James II. The Whigs exploited this by demanding unnecessarily explicit wording in loyalty to William.
This is a highly readable account of a very complex topic. The final sections of the book can sometimes be a little slow moving, with many details of English politics after William takes the throne, but the opening and middle are strong and compelling.
| | The Glorious Revolution: 1688-Britain's Fight for Liberty by Pegasus Books Product Description |
In this new, highly readable history of the Glorious Revolution of 1688-when James II was supplanted on the English throne by William, Prince of Orange, and his English wife Mary-Edward Vallance challenges the view that it was a bloodless coup in the name of progress, arguing instead that the revolution was a brutal Protestant struggle to obtain power. Meticulously researched and told with verve and color, this will remain the definitive narrative of the Glorious Revolution for years to come. |
| |
