In
THE NOBLE REVOLT John Adamson traces the careers and fortunes of the small group
of noblemen who risked their lives and fortunes to challenge Charles I's attempt
to refashion his three kingdoms as an authoritarian monarchy. Beginning with a
core of little more than a dozen, this aristocratic leadership exploited a
contemporary rebellion against Charles's rule in Scotland to create an entirely
new political order in England: an essentially republican state in which
executive power was monopolized by a small cartel of noblemen, answerable to
Parliament, and where the monarch was permanently reduced to the status of a
figurehead king. What was achieved in the 'year of wonders', 1641, astonished -
and alarmed - contemporary Europe: the public trial and execution of the king's
greatest minister; the monarch himself stripped of most of his sources of
revenue; the transference of executive power to a new 'godly' noble-dominated
cartel; and a new, sometimes violent, phase of reformation in the English
Church.
Far from this being a slow, almost accidental build-up to the outbreak of
armed hostilities between the king and Parliament in 1642, Adamson argues that
the noblemen opposed to Charles I had made contingency plans for, and publicly
justified, armed resistance to the king even before the Parliament had first met
in 1640. Indeed, during the creation of England's 'monarchical republic', the
threat of civil war had rarely been absent. And as the new oligarchic regime
began to assert its newly won authority in the summer of 1641, its ambition and
radicalism triggered a series of reactions that made the resort to hostilities
seem - on both sides - a viable, perhaps even attractive, means of resolving the
conflict.
Based on a mass of newly discovered evidence, THE NOBLE REVOLT offers the
most comprehensive and detailed re-evaluation of the origins of the English
Civil War for over a century. Order
through our link with the
The First Salute. Written by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Guns
of August, this is an exceptional narrative history of the American War of
Independence, The compelling narrative of the progress of the American
Revolutionary War takes as its starting point the first salute to a ship flying the
white striped ensign of the Continental Congress. Few historians, if any, write
as well as Barbara Tuchman. Order
The First Salute
In a
Defiant Stance : The Conditions of law in Massachusetts Bay...and the coming of
the American Revolution, By John Phillip Reid. Reid has both law and history degrees. His
In a
Defiant Stance explanation of the causes of the American Revolution examines
the legal weapons the Americans used, and why the British military force could
not be used to put down the rebellion.
Think about it --- no American was tried for treason; but the American courts
tried British naval officers for lawfully (according to the British) seizing
smuggled goods, found them guilty of civil wrongs, entered judgment
against them , and put the British commanders in jail as debtors! This
book has special appeal for lawyers, who will fully appreciate actions for
trespass, writs stopping proceedings in admiralty courts, imprisonment for debt
procedures directed against English commanders, et cetera. For the
rest of us, it is a good read on a subject Americans like to debate. Special note: this book gives a reader the understanding of the background
that lead to the 1772 Gaspee Affair. Order
In a
Defiant Stance.
Constitutional
History of the American Revolution, Another book by John Phillip Reid.
This is soft cover, one volume, abridgement of Reid's original magnificent
four volume work on the American Revolution. This is a book intended for
college courses in history, but it makes a good read.
"Reid persuasively argues that students of the Revolution have moved too
quickly from constitutional arguments to economic interests, ideology, and
social psychology. Reid's Constitutional History is essential reading for any
serious student of the American Revolution. " Peter S. Onuf, Journal
of American History.
Designed for use in courses, this abridged edition of the four-volume
Constitutional History of the American Revolution demonstrates how significant
constitutional disputes were in instigating the American Revolution. John
Phillip Reid addresses the central constitutional issues that divided the
American colonists from their English legislators:
the authority to tax,
the authority to legislate,
the security of rights,
the nature of law,
the foundation of constitutional government in custom and contract theory,
and the search for a constitutional settlement.
Reid's distinctive analysis discusses the irreconcilable nature of this
conflict --- irreconcilable because the dynamics of constitutional
law impeded a solution that permitted the colonies to remain part of the
dominions of George III.
" Reid's argument is convincing, historians need to rethink issues and
problems of economics, social stress, and political nationalism and place
constitutionalism . . . back at the top of the list of causes of the
Revolution. " Howard A. Ohline, Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography
Order Constitutional History of the American Revolution, by John Phillip Reid,
by using this link of our Book Store.
King Philip's War : The History
and Legacy of America's Forgotten Conflict The massacres
of 1675 to 1676, known as King Philip's War, ended the
harmonious relations that had existed between native Americans and the
colonists since 1620. Hundreds of English died as farmers fled and cowered
behind stockades or in the few port towns. Benjamin Bucklin's death in that
war was a part of the "Nine Men's Misery" that is the subject of a present day
monument. This well-researched book keeps alive that episode so
important to Bucklin and Rhode Island history.
A
Little Commonwealth : Family Life in Plymouth Colony.
Details of everyday colonial life. Did you know that many homes had only
one chair but might have large wardrobes of clothes? Did you know
that women of New England probably had more status and rights than those in
England? Do not let the title of the book fool you--this book embraces the
Massachusetts Bay Colony. For example, he refers to the wedding of
Joseph Bucklin and Deborah Allen and describes what the families did
("apparently were typical") of the day.
The Shoemaker and the Tea Party :
Memory and the
American
Revolution.
Examine
the life of an ordinary American who became involved with the Boston Tea Party
I think Alfred Young is one of the great historians of American history. This book offers a profound meditation on the American Revolution, and
particularly the Boston Tea Party.
There's more
selections with our comments if
you go to to
another page - chockfull!
