Review by Booklist Review
American Anglophiles usually point to the British political system as a model of stability within which gradual but progressive changes can occur. They forget that much of that political system was formed as a result of a series of bloody conflicts that convulsed the island in the seventeenth century. When they ended, parliamentary supremacy was guaranteed, popular sovereignty was widely accepted, and the divine right of kings was a doomed concept. Carruthers is a writer of military history and heads a production company that adopts military history to film, video, and CD-ROM. In this well-done general survey, he provides finely drawn portraits of the key players, including Cromwell, Thomas Wentworth, and Charles I; he then weaves the personal lives of these figures into the larger mosaic surrounding them. While Carruthers emphasizes the military aspects of the conflicts, he also provides excellent insights into the political and social forces that fostered the conflicts. --Jay Freeman
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
