Debates in Stuart History

by Ronald Hutton

In this essential introduction to the writing of Stuart history, Ronald Hutton provides a clear and authoritative guide to both the current condition of the discipline and its historiography. Hutton helps students to understand some of the key recent debates and shows them how to set their reading in context. He also provides a new sense of why historians of the Stuart period, both collectively and individually, perceive the past in particular ways, and shows how these perceptions alter over time.

239 pages, Paperback

First published May 5, 2004

About the author

Ronald Hutton (born 1953) is an English historian who specializes in the study of Early Modern Britain, British folklore, pre-Christian religion and contemporary Paganism. A professor of history at the University of Bristol, Hutton has published fourteen books and has appeared on British television and radio.

Reviews

[Ihsan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having enjoyed Ronald Hutton's biography of Charles II, I turned to this collection of essays, which cover the modern historiography of the English Civil War, Cromwell, Charles II, and the Glorious Revolution. I found all of them edifying and illuminating. Hutton is a details-oriented historian with a disinterested, occasionally skeptical attitude to his subjects. He's upfront, free of ideological extremism (of any kind) and often generous to his subjects and the scholars studying them.

Hutton's post-revisionist reading of Britain's long 17th century strikes me as the most sensible and fact-fitting version, but it does dispense with much of the debate that made the subject so high-profile in the 1950s and 60s. As Hutton notes, much of the excitement has gone out of the subject, and as time marches forward it becomes more difficult to simply take sides with Cavaliers or Roundheads or uncritically celebrate either. But since this comes with the benefit of seeing events with more clarity and fewer illusions, the trade off is for the best.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent little personalised view of the historiography of the seventeenth century, and a great starting point for any student interested in the period. It is of course limited by the publication date - 2004 - which means that all the historiography is out of date by fifteen years, but it still provides a good overview of the background. One major problem with it, though, is that the font is tiny (as in 4pt sort of small) and eye strain is therefore to be expected!