For over twenty years Barry Coward¿s The Stuart Age has been widely recognised as the best general book on the period.
"This is the introductory survey of seventeenth-century English history for which teachers in sixth form and tertiary education have been waiting for years."
(John Morrill in History)
"It can be recommended with confidence to undergraduates and sixth-formers as much the most comprehensive and up-to-date textbook on Stuart England." (John Miller in The Times Higher Educational Supplement).
"Here at last is an intelligible, enjoyable and thorough survey of a period that has become so baffling to the newcomer." (Blair Worden in The Journal of Ecclesiastical History)
"What an excellent book this is. The second edition provides without doubt the most up-to-date and most judicious overview of the seventeenth century we are likely to have for many years¿" (Jeremy Gregory in History Today)
The Stuart age is still at the centre of the most lively and intellectually exciting debates of any period of British history. The flood of new research on seventeenth-century Britain has necessitated a re-examination of existing historical interpretations. To take account of this Barry Coward has written a new extended Preface for this Third Edition.
The Stuart Age provides an accessible introduction to many major themes of the period including: the causes of the English Civil War, the nature of the English Revolution; the aims and achievements of Oliver Cromwell; the continuation of religious passion in the politics of Restoration England; and the impact onBritain of the Glorious Revolution. In it Cowards also covers the relevant history of Scotland and Ireland and gives comprehensive treatment of economic, social, intellectual, as well as political and religious history. The Third Edition also includes a useful, detailed Timeline.
The new Preface assesses the impact on the history of the period of major historiographical trends like the invention of New British History, the influence of New Historicism, the renewed emphasis on the importance of ideology and beliefs in explaining historical events, and new approaches pioneered by social historians to political culture. It also provides extensive guidance to many books and articles that have been published in the last ten years, supplementing the Bibliographical Essay at the end of the book.
Barry Coward is Reader in History at Birkbeck College, University of London. His other publications include Oliver Cromwell (Longman, 1991) and his most recent books are The Cromwellian Protectorate (Manchester UP, 2002) and A Companion to Stuart Britain (Blackwell, 2003).