PERHAPS A GIFT VOUCHER FOR MUM?: MOTHER'S DAY
Born and educated in England, David Cressy built his career in the United States, where he taught in California and Ohio, most recently as the George III Professor of British History and Humanities Distinguished Professor Emeritus at The Ohio State University. A frequent visitor to English archives and universities, he may also be found exploring the deserts and beaches of the American west.
"This is a richly detailed and thoughtful work which, in bringing these 'problematic outliers' to centre stage, helps us to see the history of seventeenth century England in a new way. * Richard Blakemore, The English Historical Review * A welcome addition to the literature covering the islands associated with the English crown * Tim Thornton, Journal of British Studies * This is an absorbing, comprehensive and fascinating account of England's offshore islands during the Stuart period * Kirsteen M. MacKenzie, Independent Researcher, The Seventeenth Century journal * Cressy - one of the most prominent social historians of the early modern era - has produced a book that reframes our understanding of the Britain as an 'island nation', and in the process makes an vital contribution to both maritime and national history... Cressy is skilled at interweaving dry official documents with more colourful accounts that reveal the agendas and priorities of those who inhabited these islands....this book will do well with lay readers alongside academics. * James Davey, University of Exeter * Historiographically astute and conceptually brilliant, it is a wonderful example of how maritime sujects offer new opportunities for intellectual discovery. * James Davey, The Mariner's Mirror * Cressy's book is to be welcomed for its effective introduction of island narratives into the wider sphere of seventeenth-century history and the important reminders he offers of the complexity that continued to exist within these territories subject to the English crown around English and Welsh shores. His book will undoubtedly prompt further useful work on the communities which he describes and their many important interconnections. * Tim Thornton, La Societe Guernesiaise * This is an absorbing, comprehensive and fascinating account of England's offshore islandsduring the Stuart period... This book is an important addition to the literature of Stuart Britain, highlighting a hitherto underexplored element in early modern British and Irish history. * Kirsteen M. MacKenzie, The Seventeenth Century * England's Islands is based on prodigious research in scattered and varied sources, including manuscripts from fourteen libraries and archives, extensive printed primary sources, and an abundance of modern works. Cressy is a master at sniffing out fascinating anecdotes that enliven and enrich his narrative. [...] Cressy's book shows how even insular and peripheral places could help shape, and be shaped by, the early modern state * Catherine F. Patterson, The Journal of Interdisciplinary History * England's Islands... is a great achievement. For a work addressing the 'margin', its scope and breadth of reference are remarkable. Cressy untangles for the reader the legal and constitutional complexities of the islands with a clarity and poise that never falters. He seamlessly integrates the wider history of the Civil War and the Restoration into the islands' story, vital if we are to truly understand its significance. * Dr John Bolland * England's Islands identifies a set of locations where these might be fruitfully asked and will provide a solid foundation on which future studies might build. * Keith Pluymers, Journal of Modern History * A foundational book due to Cressy's exhaustive archival work, his synthesis of multiple island histories, and his efforts to fit that synthesis into larger English and British stories ... In recent years, early modern British historians have increasingly turned toward empire, which should prompt new questions about how colonial expansion shaped and was shaped by transformations to law, society, and the state in early modern England. England's Islands identifies a set of locations where these might be fruitfully asked and will provide a solid foundation on which future studies might build. * Keith Pluymers, Journal of Modern History * England's Islands in a Sea of Troubles is a fine work of scholarship and Cressy is to be commended for expertly knitting together the disparate histories of these ""strange, separate and perversely independent"" outposts and neatly fitting the islands into the history of early modern England. The book is also a welcome addition to the burgeoning field of island studies and will be very useful to those investigating the origins of English prisons before the age of Howard. * David R. Lawrence, England's Islands in a Sea of Troubles *"
