The London Revolution 1640–1643: Class Struggles in 17th Century England

by Michael Sturza

The London Revolution 1640 – 1643: Class Struggles in 17th Century England chronicles England’s history through the revolution in 1641 – 1642, which toppled the feudal political system, and its aftermath. It explores how the growing capitalist economy fundamentally conflicted with decaying feudal society, causing tensions and dislocations that affected all social classes in the early modern period. In contrast with most other works, this book posits that the fundamental driving force of the revolution was the militant Puritan movement supported by the class of petty-bourgeois artisan craftworkers, instead of the moderate gentry in the House of Commons.

The London Revolution 1640 – 1643 further traces the detrimental effects of the political alliance between the free-trade Atlantic merchants and the gentry for the revolution. Despite the conservative and contradictory nature of the English bourgeois revolution, the experience in London is the original source for democratic ideas that were codified in the 1689 Bill of Rights and the U.S. Bill of Rights a century later.

Taken in its entirety, The London Revolution 1640 – 1643 refutes the virulent attacks on Marxist social class analysis spearheaded by revisionist historians who would rather write the concept of revolution out of history.

256 pages, Paperback

Published March 30, 2022

Reviews

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book offers a comprehensive and detailed account on the causes that led to the 1640 London Revolution.
Through Class differences, capitalism, religion, monarchy and parliament relations, we get an insight of the slowly emerging internal and external conflicts of the city.
Each chapter begins with a quote and we get so many references from other works for those who want to further their knowledge.
It shows that the author put a great effort into searching and combining the sources of this historical work.

[Louise Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

For those interested in class history or British history, this is a wonderful find. It offers deep insights into a specific period, which has not been covered extensively in many traditional historical accounts. Careful research is evident and I found myself delving into the source material to find out more. I wonder how many readers will find themselves analysing what lessons society has and has not learned since the events covered in this book.

[kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

thank you to BooksGoSocial for providing me with an ARC through NetGalley!

Admittedly, I am not a scholar and was not familiar with the events that are covered in this book. That being said, I am a lifelong learner and was thrilled to get the chance to read this incredibly well researched book and learn more about the times.

As I was reading, I couldn’t help thinking about and making comparisons to current events and conversations that are happing in the US. You know what they say, history repeats itself.

It did take me a bit of time to read this book solely because it took me a few rereads of passages to fully get the scope of events. Overall, incredibly well written, full of research, well supported points, and a fairly easy to navigate text. Definitely recommend to anyone interesting in learning more about class structures, the degree to which politics and economics are entwined, and just how influential this period of revolution in London was and continues to be.

[Lady · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great history book. I read it all in one day. I learnt so much and it was explained well. It was so interesting that there was so many ever changing ways of classing people. I especially found it interesting learning about the children of Lords especially if the only living child was a female. It was a quite shocking read in some places. It really opened my eyes to how bad the systems were back in history. It was rather shocking learning about lands and rent paid or not paid in some cases. This history was split into smallish chapters each looking at a specific point. I thought it was great that after each the references were there. Although if your using text to speech like me you would need to stop and start it unless you like references.
I thought the author did a brilliant job at getting his points across in a really interesting well researched way.
Many thanks to the author and publishers for creating this great history book.

[Jan R · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly materialist class analysis
If you thought you knew what happened in London in the years 1640-1643, but you haven't read Michael Sturza's book, then you probably don't know. It's also an enjoyable read, so I recommend you catch up with what really did happen.

[ᛚᚨᚱᚲᚨ × ᚠᛖᚾᚱᛁᚱ (Semi hiatus) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well reasearched book that delves deeps into history, Sometimes it was hard for me to follow, so I would probably recommend to be familiar with the topic, at least generally.