This short book is a decent account of a very complex
historical event. The book is part of Cambridge Perspectives in History and is
aimed at AS and A Level history students. The author Graham E Seel covers the
period from 1603 to 1660.
Seel explains well the complex religious and political
developments such as the remarkable execution of Charles I, civil war and the
introduction of a republican form of government.
The book is well laid out and is beautifully illustrated
with free and entertaining pictures.The book was published in 2001, and this is reflected in a
large number of quotes from revisionist and post-revisionist historians.
It should come as no surprise as the revisionists tend to
dominate this particular historical field at the moment. The book does contain
a chapter on economical questions which again is a rarity but is to be welcomed
anyway.
The book is very light on historiography but does at least
give a fundamental rundown of the various schools of thought on the civil war.
Seel does issue a valuable piece of advice in that any new student of the
subject must study the historian before you study the history.
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