Commonwealth to Protectorate (Phoenix Press)

"This is, unmistakably, the work of a master historian, intended to endure."--London Review of Books. Studying one major episode can reveal its influence on the whole course of politics that ensued. The theme of this enlightening volume by a respected professor and historian is nothing less than the demise of the English republic and the eventual emergence of the quasi-monarchy of Cromwell's Protectorate. In particular, it unearths the reasons why the ideal of a republic, ruled by the people's nominated representatives, failed to take root in England.