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There is an immense range of books about the English Civil War, but one historian stands head and shoulders above all others for the quality of his work on the subject. In 1961 Christopher Hill first published what has come to be acknowledged as the best concise history of the period, Century of Revolution. Stimulating, vivid and provocative, his graphic depiction of the turbulent era examines ordinary English men and women as well as kings and queens.

Reviews:

• ‘This is a book we have all been waiting for – a history of the political and religious conflicts of the seventeenth century that is rooted in reality; and it will be a long, long time before this brilliantly lucid and forcefully argued book is bettered.’ – Spectator

• ‘Lucid and economical … his immense range of reading sits lightly upon him, revealed only in the frequent, telling quotations on every aspect of seventeenth century life … ingenious and provocative.’ – Times Literary Supplement

• ‘This is a book we have all been waiting for … it will be a long, long time before this brilliantly lucid and forcefully argued book is bettered.’ – The Spectator

• ‘This is a book we have all been waiting for – a history of the political and religious conflicts of the seventeenth century that is rooted in reality; and it will be a long, long time before this brilliantly lucid and forcefully argued book is bettered.’ – J.H. Plumb, The Spectator.

• The events that took place in Britain between 1603 and 1714 were perhaps the most decisive in its history – from revolution and civil wars to democratic theories and scientific innovations – and were to have incalculable effects throughout the world, particularly in North America. Of the historians of the period, Christopher Hill stands head and shoulders above all others. He argued that history is not about a narrative of events but about explaining what happened. So, in The Century of Revolution he succeeded in penetrating some of the most exciting and dramatic events in British history to explain what it all meant to the people who lived through them. A revolutionary history of a revolutionary time, this is a remarkable book, combining vivid description with provocative argument. As Hill notes in his introduction, ‘What happened in the seventeenth century is still sufficiently part of us today, of our ways of thinking, our prejudices, our hopes, to be worth trying to understand.’

John Edward Christopher Hill (6 February 1912 – 23 February 2003) was an English Marxist historian and academic, specialising in 17th-century English history. From 1965 to 1978 he was Master of Balliol College, Oxford.