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The Restless Republic
The Restless Republic | Anna Keay
11 posts | 4 read | 3 to read
THE SUNDAY TIMES HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEAR 2022 SHORTLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE 2022 Eleven years when Britain had no king. In 1649 Britain was engulfed by revolution. On a raw January afternoon, the Stuart king, Charles I, was executed for treason. Within weeks the English monarchy had been abolished and the 'useless and dangerous' House of Lords discarded. The people, it was announced, were now the sovereign force in the land. What this meant, and where it would lead, no one knew. The Restless Republic is the story of the extraordinary decade that followed. It takes as its guides the people who lived through those years. Among them is Anna Trapnel, the daughter of a Deptford shipwright whose visions transfixed the nation. John Bradshaw, the Cheshire lawyer who found himself trying the King. Marchamont Nedham, the irrepressible newspaper man and puppet master of propaganda. Gerrard Winstanley, who strove for a Utopia of common ownership where no one went hungry. William Petty, the precocious scientist whose mapping of Ireland prefaced the dispossession of tens of thousands. And the indomitable Countess of Derby who defended to the last the final Royalist stronghold on the Isle of Man. The Restless Republic ranges from London to Leith, Cornwall to Connacht, from the corridors of power to the common fields and hillsides. Gathering her cast of trembling visionaries and banished royalists, dextrous mandarins and bewildered bystanders, Anna Keay brings to vivid life the most extraordinary and experimental decade in Britain's history. It is the story of how these tempestuous years set the British Isles on a new course, and of what happened when a conservative people tried revolution.
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charl08
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The illustrations in the book are genius.

35 likes1 stack add
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charl08
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... tales of bluff Norfolk farmers baffled by religious change, of drunken evenings in provincial inns and oak-panelled parlours, of saucy Norwich prostitutes and dour Dutch drainage engineers, of Cuckold the Calthorpes‘ dog and Wiggett the Hunstanton Hall fool, and of the many misadventures of Mr Prick, the unfortunately named minister of Denham. [The book]... enclosed one family‘s capacity for laughter even in the most serious times.

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charl08
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Royalists were lampooned for thirsting for rewards and court positions (dreaming of being ‘mounted on horseback with golden Sausedges about their Necks‘)...

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charl08
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Print got there first. Seems oddly topical given the events in (some parts of) the UK this week.

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charl08
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They had fought and fasted, prayed and toiled for liberty, and even executed the King, but 'now the common enemy is gone, you are all like men in a mist, seeking for freedom and know not where, nor what it is'

(After the Parliamentary forces defeated the King in the English civil war)

Suet624 Yes, now what? 4mo
Cathythoughts ❤️ 4mo
39 likes2 comments
review
jenniferw88
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Pickpick

A very, very soft pick!

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jenniferw88
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#WondrousWednesday @Eggs

"The Venetian Ambassador commented that 'he [Oliver Cromwell] lacked nothing but the crown to appear a veritable king'. But he was not a king."

Eggs Excellent 👑 1y
47 likes1 comment
blurb
jenniferw88
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#weeklyforecast @Cinfhen

Finish The Restless Republic
Continue A History of Treason
Start The Silver Pigs

Cinfhen 🤓 1y
49 likes1 stack add1 comment
blurb
jenniferw88
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#bookreport @Cinfhen

Continued this chunkster! It's good, but very dense and slow in parts - only recommended if you're REALLY interested in the English Civil War, the Commonwealth/Protectorate and the Glorious Revolution - I haven't got to 1660 yet, but there's quite a few pages listed in the index for it!

Cuilin Looks really interesting 🤔 shall I stack it? 😬 1y
jenniferw88 @Cuilin I would suggest a #borrownotbuy or try her other book first to see if you like her writing style (tagged) as I'm finding it a bit slow and heavy-going in places. 1y
Cuilin @jenniferw88 thanks Jenny, I‘ll check the library. 1y
Cinfhen Ha! This is definitely not for me!!! But I think my hubby would LOVE IT!!!! 1y
47 likes1 stack add4 comments
blurb
jenniferw88
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#weeklyforecast @Cinfhen

Continue Restless Republic and History of Treason
Start Midnight's Children.

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jenniferw88
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#booked2023 #spring @Cinfhen @alisiakae @BarbaraTheBibliophage

Everything except the tagged is tentative - tagged is a definite as I have the paperback on pre-order!

Just Mercy covers 'wrongly incarcerated' and The War of Don Emanuel's Nether Parts is for 'title starts with v or w'.

KarenUK The history of love is one of my favorite books! 😍💕 2y
Cinfhen Just Mercy is SO GOOD!!!! Excellent choice!!!! 2y
BarbaraBB Thank you! I‘ve read the Chile one but am interested in the Colombia one! 2y
62 likes5 comments