I'm really interested in how England/Britain evolved from medieval monarchy to modern democracy while still retaining medieval institutions like the monarchy and the House of Lords. I think the English Civil War is a pivotal moment in how power transferred from the monarch and the nobles to the Commons, but I don't know a lot about it.
Any good books on the ideas of the English Civil War? I'm less interested in the actual military history, though I don't mind a general summary…I'm interested in a book that explores the politics.
by ExtensionFeeling
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I really enjoyed the book “The Cousin’s War” which traces the English Civil War, The American Revolution and the American Civil War as fundamentally downstream from one another. The author goes as far to refer to the American Revolution as the “Second English Civil War”
The World Turned Upside Down, by Christopher Hill
Peter Ackroyd’s English history books are very good – his London is a “biography” of the city itself. He’s also an excellent novelist.
Antonia Fraser’s Cromwell biography is good and very readable.
Iain Pears’ An Instance of the Fingerpost – historical crime novel set during the Restoration. Also excellent!
Minette Walters’s The Swift and the Harrier is a novel set in this period. It’s very very good.
The Blazing World, by Jonathan Healey