- Hardcover: 488 pages
- Publisher: Viking (6 Aug 2009)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0670916196
- ISBN-13: 978-0670916191
- Product Dimensions: 23.2 x 15.4 x 4.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 350,141 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The English Rebel
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Product Description
Review
'An unfailingly lucid, immensely readable and above all clear-eyed account of an indomitable strand in our national story' --David Kynaston
Review
'A superb losers' history of England - two-thirds of the main characters end up on the scaffold or the gallows - written with narrative verve and delicious detail'
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
24 of 25 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
A smashing read. This is almost `Our Island History' for the seriously vexed and inordinately peeved. With all due respect to our Irish, Scots and Welsh cousins, the English have been fighting against our own government longer than anybody else. This fast paced book is a potted history of the growth of English government and the attempts to keep it under control from Norman times to the nineties. It shows the development of opposition to government from the self-interest of the barons to the appealing to the higher power that monarchy claimed through to right of the ordinary man in the street to have his voice heard. The common thread of the rebel is the `commonwealth' or ` community, the rebellions of the Reformation, the Peasants revolt or Magna Carta to name but a few of the revolts that would make you believe that this country is a seething mass of discontent ready to erupt at any time (which in a way it has). Equally good at pointing out examples of how chance and opportunity play there part in events, Horspool also points to a geographic continuity that certain areas have, such as Clerkenwell in London, in drawing in rebels. The other area of continuity that he points to is that of example. Rebels always appeal to past examples, whether it was the poll tax rioters of the nineties casting back to the Peasants Revolt or the appeals to Magna Carta that even the Americans appealed to in their revolt (after all, they regarded themselves as Britons living in America with a direct link to the English political past. That's why there's a mural of Simon de Montfort in the House of Representatives). Perhaps that's why the English have a reputation for being so well-mannered. We have to keep that seething mass of emotion in check to stop ourselves from running amok!
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is a very entertaining and informative book. Given that it cover a thousand years of English history, none of the rebellions, riots, marches and civil disturbances it chronicles get much space, but within these confines, the author does a fantastic job in giving the facts, extracting the meaning and consequences and charting the myths, in elegant, sturdy prose. He has a great writing style. It is very well structured to show the thread of memory, historic fact and myth that ties together outbursts of troublemaking, principled or otherwise, from opposition to the Norman Conquest to opposition to the Poll Tax (er - sorry, Community Charge). With splendid notes on sources and suggestions for further reading, this is almost the perfect rebellion spotters' guide!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I love this book. It's easy to read, informative and in places quite exciting. The story of rebellions by nobles and peasants throughout history, from the Norman Conquest through to the industrial and political struggles of the 20th century, which seem very contemporary with the disputes over tuition fees and cuts. It gives an insight into the evolution of protest against government and outlines the main characters who rebelled. Cracking stuff!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Accurate - uninspiring?
I should confess that I haven't read this book from cover to cover. My review is a personal response to the book's angle and tone, but I hope this may guide other potential... Read more
Published 24 months ago by jeremy gauntlet-gilbert
Potted History
This is a very disappointing book written in a style that is neither historical nor journalistic and barely able to gain a B minus at undergraduate level. Read more
Published on 10 Sep 2009 by Neutral
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