Civil War: The History of England, Volume III
In Civil War, the third instalment of his ambitious attempt to write a history of England akin to Macaulay, Peter Ackroyd covers the Stuart Age from James I, the wisest fool in Christendom, to his fleeing grandson James II, in an elegant single volume. As befits a historical novelist, Ackroyd wants to write the tale of the 17th century in England, and his own wonderful prose is certainly the strength of this book. He ranges through the cultural and social life of the period with a magpie’s eye for the telling point, and his facility in discussing the rich literature of Milton and Donne among others is impressive.
His focus purely on story, however, is also a weakness, as Ackroyd narrates at breakneck speed with little space for historical analysis. Religion, perhaps the single most important element of 17th century life, gets scant attention while the political is consistently preferred to the military. The events outside the main Civil War years are generally rushed also; the Glorious Revolution is over in a few pages. And yet this is a delightfully easy read and is ideal for the student who is coming to this period for the first time.
