The Glorious Revolution of 1688-9 was a decisive moment in England's history; an invading Dutch army forced James II to flee to France, and his son-in-law and daughter, William and Mary, were crowned as joint sovereigns. The wider consequences were no less startling: bloody war in Ireland, Union with Scotland, Jacobite intrigue, deep involvement in two major European wars, Britain's emergence as a great power, a 'financial revolution', greater religious toleration, a riven Church, and a startling growth of parliamentary government. Such changes were only part of the transformation of English society at the time.
An enriching torrent of new ideas from the likes of Newton, Defoe, and Addison, spread through newspapers, periodicals, and coffee-houses, provided new views and values that some embraced and others loathed. England's horizons were also growing, especially in the Caribbean and American colonies.
For many, however, the benefits were uncertain: the slave trade flourished, inequality widened, and the poor and 'disorderly' were increasingly subject to strictures and statutes.
If it was an age of prospects it was also one of anxieties.
England after the Glorious Revolution The Glorious Revolution and the Revolution Constitution The Facts of Life A Bloody Progress The Political World of William III Wars of Words and the Battle of the Books Faith and Fervour England, Britain, Empire The Political World of Queen Anne Profits, Progress and Projects The Wealth of the Country The Political World of George I Urban and Urbane An Ordered Society Epilogue Chronology Bibliography Index
Reviews for A Land of Liberty?: England 1689-1727
`...a very important contribution to the series' Roger Hainsworth, The Adelaide Review `Dr Hoppit explores fears and traumas incisively and expertly and makes it clearer than it perhaps has ever been made before why the positive developments prevailed and the worse fears ebbed away' Roger Hainsworth, The Adelaide Review `All students of this significant period will be in his debt for decades to come. Had it been put in my hands when I was studying this period as an undergraduate I would have gnawed on it like a famished wolf.' Roger Hainsworth, The Adelaide Review `[A]stute and intelligent' Penelope J. Corfield, TLS `[An] exemplary book' Penelope J. Corfield, TLS
