The Blazing World: A New History of Revolutionary England
Autor Dr Jonathan Healeyen Limba Engleză Paperback – 11 apr 2024
În cadrul programelor de studii dedicate istoriei moderne timpurii, secolul al XVII-lea britanic reprezintă pilonul central pentru înțelegerea democrației parlamentare și a libertăților civile. Ne-a atras atenția The Blazing World prin modul în care Dr Jonathan Healey reușește să recalibreze această epocă a extremelor, mutând accentul de la miturile politice rigide către efervescența socială a cafenelelor și cârciumilor vremii. Observăm o tranziție narativă de la începutul domniei unui rege scoțian până la umbra unei invazii olandeze, trecând prin experiența radicală a republicii și a regicidului.
Această lucrare acoperă aceeași arie tematică precum volumul clasic England in the Seventeenth Century de Maurice Ashley, dar cu o abordare mult mai ancorată în istoria socială și în experiența cotidiană a cetățeanului de rând, spre deosebire de viziunea predominant instituțională a textelor mai vechi. Dacă în The Blood in Winter autorul s-a concentrat strict pe tensiunea lunilor ce au precedat colapsul societății, în The Blazing World el extinde perspectiva la un nivel panoramic. Stilul este riguros dar plin de vitalitate, integrând analiza politică brută cu detalii despre procesele vrăjitoarelor sau impactul ciumei, oferind o imagine completă a unei societăți în plină revoluție ideologică.
Găsim în această carte un instrument de studiu esențial care depășește simpla cronologie, explicând cum ideile populiste și radicale de acum patru secole au pus bazele lumii moderne. Spre deosebire de Stuart England de Angus Stroud, care servește drept introducere academică tradițională, Healey propune o interpretare mai dinamică, menită să corecteze clișeele istorice despre figuri precum Oliver Cromwell sau Carol al II-lea, tratându-i ca actori într-un peisaj social complex, nu doar ca simple figuri de manual.
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Specificații
ISBN-10: 152662169X
Pagini: 512
Dimensiuni: 128 x 196 x 36 mm
Greutate: 0.38 kg
Editura: Bloomsbury Publishing
Colecția Bloomsbury Publishing
Locul publicării:London, United Kingdom
De ce să citești această carte
Pentru studenții și pasionații de istorie britanică, această carte oferă o perspectivă proaspătă asupra „secolului revoluționar”. Cititorul câștigă o înțelegere profundă a modului în care s-au născut libertatea presei și politica modernă în mijlocul haosului. Este o recomandare ideală pentru cei care caută o istorie documentată academic, dar scrisă cu energia unui jurnalist martor la evenimente, transformând datele seci în narațiuni umane vibrante.
Descriere
'A brilliant, bloody account of England's most dramatic century . . . Thrilling' TELEGRAPH
'The most entertaining general history of seventeenth-century England I have read' TOM HOLLAND
The seventeenth century began as the English found themselves ruled by a Scotsman, and ended in the shadow of a Dutch invasion. Midway through, society collapsed into a civil war, followed by army coup and regicide. For a short time - for the only time in history - England was a republic. In coffee shops and alehouses, ordinary people fizzed with ideas that were angry, populist and almost impossible to control.
Despite these radical changes, few today fully understand the story of this revolutionary age. Leaders like Oliver Cromwell, Charles II and William of Orange have been reduced to caricatures, while major turning points like the Civil War and the Glorious Revolution are shrouded in myth. Yet, as Jonathan Healey argues, the period has never been more relevant. From raw politics to religious divisions, civil wars to witch trials, plague to press freedoms, The Blazing World tells the story of this strange but fascinating century in exuberant, panoramic detail.
Recenzii
This lively and mischievous book guides us through a dangerous revolutionary century . . . There's a reticence about taking on such a complex and turbulent period, but the rewards, as The Blazing World manifestly demonstrates, are very great
One of the many virtues of Jonathan Healey's exciting new history of England during its most revolutionary period is the skilful way in which he thoroughly dissects the often obscure points of contention while never losing sight of the need to keep the narrative flowing . . . A rich and compelling account of one of the most fascinating and turbulent periods in all our history
[A] lively, compelling and combative study of the most dramatic and consequential century in English history . . . The Blazing World offers a thrilling panorama of the period, from perspectives high and low, told with a winning combination of impish wit, sound judgment, and serious scholarship . . . It will delight those new to its extraordinary age, and fire up its grizzled veterans
Healey's prose is precise but colloquial. He presents complex arguments, but delivers them in a laid back, often jocular manner . . . He tackles big subjects - religious dissent, the legal system - but hitches them to piquant stories about individuals previously unknown to history . . . Events were tumultuous, but Healey persuasively shows us that thoughts were as thrilling and sometimes as wild . . . Compendious and lucid
An admirably even-handed account . . . For those new to the subject, Healey's retelling is exemplary
[An] engaging narrative of seventeenth-century Britain . . . The nature of political legitimacy, the threats of populist frenzy, the longing for transparent representative structures and the debates over their limits, the power of media and the manipulation of images in political life: as Healey indicates, these are not remote issues. He enables us to see the deep continuities in the period, and to understand how the arguments that dominated the seventeenth century have had a profound and formative effect on Britain's democracy today
A zesty and gripping account of England's "century of revolution"
The Blazing World, offering a new history of revolutionary England in the seventeenth century, illustrates how uneasily any new king settles upon the throne . . . Healey has done extraordinary work in synthesising those academic books on the subject . . . Courageous and frequently engrossing . . . By tackling an enormous range of history with vim and intelligence, Healey has provided all of us with a lot to talk about
Jonathan Healey's book is an impressive achievement. It focuses on the English political crises, setting them in an up-to-date social, intellectual and cultural context. Healey's spare but engaging narrative is brought to life at every stage with individual experiences . . . The reader is in safe hands, guided by a historian who is on top of the best work on many areas of seventeenth-century life, and who has made his own distinctive contribution to our understanding of seventeenth-century society
Charts th[e] extraordinary course from the Tudors to the Hanoverians . . . Healey channels the inquiring spirit which came to define this revolutionary age, creating his own survey as rich and wide-ranging as the pioneering work of the seventeenth-century characters he so admires
Teems with details . . . The strength of the narrative is its determination to range nationwide, as metropolitan affairs affected the lives of ordinary folk in the shires; this is history told from the bottom up. Dr Healey deals with the major historical events with assurance and forensic insight . . . A triumph of exposition, illuminating a blazing time of revolution in which was forged a new world order
A sparkling account of a period that is crucial for any understanding of the history of the UK, Europe and the world beyond
Seventeenth-century England comes thrillingly alive in Jonathan Healey's energetic new history . . . Healey's book is refreshing for its energetic writing, engaging wit and sound foundation in recent historical scholarship . . . Rich with anecdotes and explanations . . . Healey captures the vitality and turbulence of 17th-century England in an effective retelling, with many more players than the typical cast of kings and queens . . . While narrating his tempestuous past, Healey has an eye on the present . . . This readable and informative overview evokes a lost world which, for better or for worse, "was blazing a path toward our own"
Capturing a century such as this in one breath is not for the faint-hearted . . . An unapologetic narrative history that draws the focus from the Tudors and onto the fascinating Stuart age can only help to freshen the air of current historical discourse. In this sense, Healey's book is blazing trails
In his wide-ranging new history of revolutionary England, Jonathan Healey has given us a masterly account of a period that urgently needs to be reclaimed and recognised for its importance and interest . . . Painstakingly researched and elegantly written, The Blazing World is that rare achievement - a window into the past that is at once profoundly different and yet startlingly familiar. It deserves every success
The Blazing World tells the story of that crucible era when Englishmen began to think. About God and government, how to limit the monarchy and how 'the poorest he' (if not the poorest she) might share in some kind of democracy. Jonathan Healey explains Revolutionary England with great insight and wit, and an objectivity usually lacking in histories written with an inclination towards one side or the other. The book helps us to understand how and why, 400 years ago, Englishmen came to develop political and religious beliefs for which they were prepared to die and would eventually amalgamate in a way which set Britain (and, ideologically) America on a path to greatness.
An erudite but readable history of a remarkable century. Contemporary voices, unearthed from the archive, convey the texture of the times and bring events to life
Here a familiar and very important story is told with exceptional clarity and vigour, and plenty of very unfamiliar anecdotes and characters, drawn from all over the nation and all of Stuart society
The seventeenth century was the most dramatic and consequential in British history, the period during which the modern world was formed, and Jonathan Healey is as assured a guide to its twists and turns, its tragedies and triumphs as one could wish for. The Blazing World is a triumph of scholarship and concision