The Great Rebellion 1642-1660

by Ivan Roots

This revised edition aims to illustrate in detail the origins and course of the English Civil War, paying particular attention to the relatively neglected 1650s, and ends with the Restoration settlement of 1660. The emphasis throughout is on political and constitutional matters, and on the interaction of personalities and the interposition of chance.

Genres: History

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1940

Reviews

[Katie]

This is a decent overview of the English Civil War, especially good at tracing all the labyrinthine political machinations and providing a neat outline of military endeavors.

The writing is lively but lacking in clarity at points, and may be a bit unapproachable to someone who is unfamiliar with the topic. There are several occasions where large events are mentioned only in passing, with the assumption that the reader already knows the details. The trial of Charles I, for example, is given a page to describe how moving and interesting it was, but Roots never actually recounts what occurs (which is a bummer, because he made it sound kinda fascinating). But it is very good at tracing what all the varieties of Parliament during this period were up to, so if you already have a decent understanding of the narrative this may be a helpful second book to read.

[Emery Strand]

Good information on that chaotic time period. I'm trying to figure out how my ancestors were influenced by the politics and government switching that took place. Ivan Roots over uses the thesaurus. He must be trying to impress the reader with his great but tedious vocabulary. Not to be too niggling, but many of the words were off, slightly malapropism like. I wonder what his writing would have been like if he had wrote in English.