Alison Plowden wrote many books only four that
touched upon the English revolution. Plowden wrote at a time when the
historiography of the English revolution was heavily dominated by male
historians.
Plowden writes engagingly and thoughtfully. She once
described herself as being "in the fortunate position of having been able
to turn my hobby into a profession". "There must be thousands of
women doing unsatisfying jobs who have a private interest or talent which could
be turned to full-time and financial advantage… I do wish more of them would
have a go."
The book is well researched, and she makes good use
of primary sources such as diaries of some leading figures of the revolution.
Her books are prevalent, leading one writer to say on one of her books on the
Elizabethan period "Where Alison Plowden excels, is in shrewdly stressing
how Elizabeth appreciated the dangers of sexual desire; the general reader will
find it wholly informative and very entertaining."
In this book, she does appear to rely heavily on
conservatives figures of the revolution, and especially there seems to be an
over-reliance on the diary of John Evelyn.
Plowden's background as a writer is interesting. She
came to write academic history from her experiences as a writer in television
and a very successful one at that. Of this job, she said "I could do
better than this with my hands behind my back. Later on, she said "A
secretary writing scripts was a little like a performing monkey at the BBC -
there was a sort of 'Fancy, what a clever little girl' attitude.
She seems to have been well-liked among her fellow
writers with historian and journalist Paul Johnson saying she "writes with
verve, brevity and often wit; a most entertaining book which at the same time
is accurate and judicious".
Plowden wrote four books on the civil war, The Stuart
Princesses (1996), Women All on Fire: Women of the English Civil War
(1998)Henrietta Maria: Charles I's Indomitable Queen (2001)In a Free Republic
(2006).
The Stuart Princesses, which examines the lives of
the six princesses of the House of Stuart. Again the book is a well written and
as one writer said she "combines detailed histories of the individual
women into a single coherent narrative in a somewhat original way".
She followed up with the book Women All on Fire. This
is a strong book in many ways. It is a valuable study of the women who played a
significant political and social on both sides of the Civil War.
While she had every right to write a book which
mostly stems from a conservative and bordering of royalist historiography In a
Free Republic – Life in Cromwell's England, it does tend to be heavily critical
of Cromwell's Republic. While it has been portrayed as looking at the reality
of life in Cromwell's England, it tends to be a little one-sided. It is not so
much what she writes; it is what she chooses to leave out.
A Free Republic does offer a revealing insight into
everyday life during the interregnum, from 1649 to 1660. She makes heavy use of
primary sources, particularly memoirs, diaries of the social commentator Samuel
Pepys, letters, newspapers and state papers.
Given that during this "free" republic
press censorship was extremely heavy and any news had to get approval from the
Secretary of State before publishing, surprisingly, so many many primary
sources are available to examine.
Alison Plowden, who died on August 17 aged 75 said: "I
am in the fortunate position of having been able to turn my hobby into a
profession".There must be thousands of women doing unsatisfying jobs who
have a private interest or talent which could be turned to full-time and
financial advantage… I do wish more of them would have a go."
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