Rebellion, Peter Ackroyd
Rebellion, Peter Ackroyd
List: $24.95 | Sale: $17.47
Club: $12.47

Rebellion
The History of England from James I to the Glorious Revolution

Author: Peter Ackroyd

Narrator: Clive Chafer

Unabridged: 19 hr

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 12/02/2014

Synopsis

Peter Ackroyd has been praised as one of the greatest living chroniclers of Britain and its people. In Rebellion, he continues his dazzling account of the history of England, beginning the progress south of the Scottish king James VI, who on the death of Elizabeth I became the first Stuart king of England, and ending with the deposition and flight into exile of his grandson James II.The Stuart monarchy brought together the two nations of England and Scotland into one realm, albeit a realm still marked by political divisions that echo to this day. More importantly perhaps, the Stuart era was marked by the cruel depredations of civil war and the killing of a king. Shrewd and opinionated, James I was eloquent on matters as diverse as theology, witchcraft, and the abuses of tobacco, but his attitude to the English parliament sowed the seeds of the division that would split the country during the reign of his hapless heir, Charles I. Ackroyd offers a brilliant, warts-and-all portrayal of Charles's nemesis, Oliver Cromwell, Parliament's great military leader and England's only dictator, who began his career as a political liberator but ended it as much of a despot as "that man of blood," the king he executed.England's turbulent seventeenth century is vividly laid out before us, but so too is the cultural and social life of the period, notable for its extraordinarily rich literature, including Shakespeare's late masterpieces, Jacobean tragedy, the poetry of John Donne and Milton, and Thomas Hobbes's great philosophical treatise, Leviathan. Rebellion also gives us a very real sense of the lives of ordinary English men and women, lived out against a backdrop of constant disruption and uncertainty.

About Peter Ackroyd

Peter Ackroyd is an award-winning novelist, as well as a broadcaster, biographer, poet, and historian. He is the author of the acclaimed Thames: Sacred River, London: The Biography, and the first and second volumes of his history of England series, Foundation and Tudors. He holds a CBE award for services to literature.

About Clive Chafer

Clive Chafer is a professional actor, director, producer, and theater instructor. Originally from England and educated at Leeds and Exeter universities, he has performed and directed at many theaters in the San Francisco area, where he makes his home, and elsewhere in the US. In 1993 he founded TheatreFIRST, Oakland’s professional theater company, where he served as artistic director until 2008. 

Reviews

Goodreads review by Leanda on October 19, 2014

If you are bored of the Tudors, then the Stuarts are what you have been waiting for. With their gay lovers, horrible murders, extravagant queens, and glorious revolutions, the dynasty offers enough scandals and drama to put their predecessors in the shade. This third volume of Peter Ackroyd’s Histor......more

Goodreads review by Yzabel on October 17, 2014

(I got an ARC of this book courtesy of the publisher through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.) I like to say that you can't really go wrong with Peter Ackroyd, and it seems to be once again the case. Even though what I read of him years ago feels pretty far by now, I still stand by this o......more

Goodreads review by Kirsti on January 22, 2020

So far, I'm amused that James I referred to his heir as "Baby Charles" even when the latter was a grown man about to be married off. I really like the author's inclusion of poems, songs, pamphlets, and insults from ordinary people of the time. Otherwise I would never have known that James I's hunky......more

Goodreads review by Gintautas on July 08, 2021

Trečioji Ackroydo Anglijos istorijos knyga. Nuo Stiuartų valdymo iki nevaldymo, paskui vėl valdymo ir galiausiai nevaldymo. Kaip ir anksčiau – gana patraukliai, nuodugniai ir informatyviai. Pagavau save pasąmonėje visą tą Anglijos istoriją įvairiausiomis grožinėmis knygomis chronologizuojantį – aha,......more

Quotes

“[The] splendid third volume of Ackroyd’s projected six-volume history of England…Ackroyd keeps things moving briskly along by alternating between weighty matters of state and vignettes of everyday life. An accomplished novelist, he has an eye for the revelatory digression. New York Times Book Review

“An exhilarating experience. Readers will come away from this book with an appreciation of how and why the cataclysmic events of seventeenth-century England shaped world history for the next two centuries.” NPR.org

“Ackroyd is a wonderful storyteller, and he has a wonderful and vitally important story to tell…Masterful…The ideas that launched our own revolution were forged during this seminal period of English history.” Booklist (starred review)

“Rebellion does more than lay out the facts of history. Spliced between the chapters that move the chronological history forward are vignettes on daily life in seventeenth-century England…This is a fascinating look at life in England during tumultuous times.” Shelf Awareness

“What makes the author so special is that he relates history as it once was told by the bards. Ackroyd tells us not just the history but the story behind it and the story as it might have been viewed at the time…[An] appropriately detailed, beautifully written story of the Stuarts’ rise and fall—will leave readers clamoring for the further adventures awaiting England in the eighteenth century.” Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Agitation was in the air throughout seventeenth-century England, and Ackroyd skillfully captures the feelings and events of the time in this third volume of his history of England…Addressing politics, religion, court life, scandal, science, literature, and art, the depth and scope of Ackroyd’s account is impressive, and it is as accessible as it is rich.” Publishers Weekly

Add to Cart
Add to Wish List