This classic book was first published in 1967 and has been revised and in many editions since and this is the 2018 paperback by the 'Dean and paragon of English historians.' Covering the years between 1530 and 1780 it is a wide-ranging, popular and immensely prolific interpretation of 17th century England. Chapters cover national unification, agriculture, colonies and foreign policy, industry, finance, religion and intellectual life, the Civil War, revolution in government, foreign policy, factories and the working class and more. In 1530 England was a backward economy, yet by 1780 she possessed a global empire and was just about to become the first industrialized power in the world. The years 1530-1620 saw a population explosion and years of relative social and political stability. The ensuing half century of political crisis was one in which inflation tailed off. When we observe what Professor Wilson has called 'the drunken hopelessness' of the West Country weaver in the 18th century, which was cause and effect of his economic decline, we can contrast it with the sober independence of his prospering West Riding counterpart and wonder whether the catastrophic defeat of Monmouth's rebellion in the West in 1685 may not have had something to do with it. This book deals with these 250 years and tries to explain how England won her unique position in history. This is a story that opens with the break with Europe and charts the tumultuous period of war, revolutions, and a cultural and scientific flowering that made up the early modern period. During this period Britain also become the home to imperial ambitions and economic innovation, prefiguring what was to come. Hill excavates the conditions and ideas that underpin this age of extraordinary change, and shows how, and why, Britain became the most powerful nation in the world. Paperback, 320 pages.
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