Friends in Youth

Choosing Sides in the English Civil War

Minoo Dinshaw

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English

Allen Lane
23 April 2025

Biography: historical, political & military; Biography: literary; History; British & Irish history; Early modern history: c 1450 to c 1700; English Civil War

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Two old friends end up on opposite sides of the English Civil War, in this scintillating history

At the Inns of Court, the intellectual, literary, and social heart of early 17th century London, many pivotal friendships were forged- few closer than that of Bulstrode Whitelocke and Edward (Ned) Hyde. Both young men were lively characters, industrious, well-connected, principled and optimistic. They dreamed of reforming the government of Charles I, a young court with age-old problems, by restoring the traditional harmony of Crown and Parliament. This is the story of how their hopes climbed, overreached, and fell into an abyss of relentless civil war.

This highly original, vivid and engaging book recreates the atmosphere, drama, players and ideas of what is arguably England's (and Britain's) most crucial and traumatic formative period. Through the stories of his two protagonists, Minoo Dinshaw shows how subtle religious and political differences, careful personal judgments, and mere happenstance combined to place these two friends, most reluctantly, on opposite sides in the English Civil Wars. They would both survive, unlike many thousands of others, into old age; both would become influential historians, shaping how we still understand the conflicts of their age. But their friendship, like the once hopeful country in which it had first flourished, would be forever changed- permanently marred by what both men believed to be senseless and unnecessary civil strife.

By: Minoo Dinshaw
Imprint: Allen Lane
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 240mm, Width: 162mm, Spine: 35mm
Weight: 968g
ISBN: 9780241312827
ISBN 10: 0241312825
Pages: 544
Publication Date: 23 April 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Minoo Dinshaw lives in London and is the author of the highly acclaimed Outlandish Knight- The Byzantine Life of Steven Runciman.

Reviews for Friends in Youth: Choosing Sides in the English Civil War

An outstanding dual biography... Dinshaw’s book is profoundly entertaining, startling in its depth, and a necessary cautionary tale about the human cost of political division -- Daniel Brookes * The Telegraph * A zest for gossip; antiquarianism; a delight in networks and family trees and piquant coincidences; a penchant for trains of thought which, rather than travelling compulsively forward like a railway train, stray about like a mule-train of hungry animals released into a field full of clover: these are unusual attributes for a chronicler of great public events. They make Dinshaw an informative and engaging historian, and an extremely idiosyncratic one -- Lucy Hughes-Hallett * New Statesman *