Off The Bookshelf UK - Books The English Civil War: A People's History The English Civil War: A People's History New & Used The English Civil War: A People's History

Search Books - select a category

Buy The English Civil War: A People's History online at Discounted New and Used prices. Delivered to your door with Off-The-Bookshelf.

The English Civil War: A People's History
by: Diane Purkiss

List Price: £9.99

Off The Bookshelf's Price: £9.69

You Save: £0.30 ( 3%)
Prices subject to change.

Used Price: £4.50
Third Party New Price: £5.27

Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours Binding: Paperback
EAN: 9780007150625
ISBN: 0007150628
Label: HarperPerennial
Manufacturer: HarperPerennial
Number Of Pages: 400
Publication Date: February 05, 2007
Publisher: HarperPerennial
Studio: HarperPerennial
Sales Rank: 7201

Related Items:

The World Turned Upside Down: Radical Ideas During the English Revolution (Penguin history)

The English Civil Wars 1642-1651 (Essential Histories)

The Verneys: Love, War and Madness in Seventeenth-century England

God's Fury, England's Fire: A New History of the English Civil Wars

Austerity Britain, 1945-1951 (Tales of a New Jerusalem)

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- Readable, engaging, and insightful
A wonderfully comprehensive review of the period that includes areas that would normally be missed in traditional top-down approaches, such as the experience for ordinary soliders, and those groups at the political periphery.

At the same time, the style is very easy to read, and the material remains engaging through out.

The one flaw is that, at times, the narative of events becomes slightly obscured, which can become a little confusing, meaning that this is a very good book to explore why these events happened if you are already aware of what happened. A glossary of names, due to the number of individuals mentioned, at times several chapters after they are first introduced, would also be a welcome addition.

Rating:

- The people's war
An Australian has written the best book I have read on our civil war. She tells the story using the accounts and histories of people great and small involved in the most devastating conflict our country had ever experienced. She is very even handed promoting the readers respect for aspects of both Charles and Cromwell, thgough I still conclude the thing the king did best was the way he faced death. One gets a real feel for the times and the horror of war. So much so I skipped some of the accounts of the military surgeons. There are limits to how much real blood and gore this reader can stomach.

Rating:

- It started with Montrose....
I became interested in the Civil War whilst planning across a trip to Scotland 3 years ago and coming across the book "Montrose - Cavalier in Mourning" - since then I have read other books about Montrose (James Graham) and these lead south to the War in England. Reading Purkiss's book at the moment, 90% through... I would recommend it, one of those 'hard to put down' books and always eager to pick it up again.
As far as facts go, you have to use your own judgement. I intend to make a calendar on paper from 1640 to 1650 and begin to jot down when what event occurred and build up for myself a picture - and then perhaps write my own essay on The Civil War. I will certainly run through Purkiss's book again to help me fill in this calendar. ... Read More:

Rating:

- A very readable narrative of interesting times
This is a book aptly summarised by it's title. Buildup to the war is
adequately covered, as it should, but it ends with Charles' head being
chopped off his body. Those interested in the interregnum or restoration
need look elsewhere.

Even though the book aims to give voice to the ordinary people usually
forgotten, this is hardly possible as the sources surviving are already
badly biased. Every individual who could or would leave a written legacy
was a member of the middle-to-upper classes, as the lengthy quotations show. The
author repeatedly states this as an inevitable shortcoming, and tries to
overcome it by including e.g. recorded statements overheard in pubs.

The methods ... Read More:

Rating:

- Eminently readable, entertaining and informative.
I'm not really a fan of history books. A 'C' in GCSE 15 years ago was good enough for me and I haven't exactly been at the front of the queue in the bookshops to pick up the latest historical offerings. To be honest, I only picked this book up in my local library on a wet Tuesday lunchtime because the local shop had sold out of newspapers; I never expected to get so caught up in it.

The way Purkiss writes is superb: it's like having a super-informed friend explain something to you in a language that is somewhere between typical history book prose and an almost knowing informality (speaking of a contemporary play she writes "It was about love. It was about faith. It was about four hours longer than the audience was used to.")

Don't ... Read More:

Books : The English Civil War: A People's History