A straightforward narrative history of Britain's 'Glorious Revolution' of 1688. This is as rigorous as popular history gets: Barone cites his sources scrupulously, and he cites to the leading academic syntheses of the last two decades. Given Barone's career as a political journalist, it's not surprising that this volume emphasizes the ins and outs of politics under Charles II and James II; it's a political wonk's history. Readers more interested in social trends or the full personalities of the major historical figures will find this a dry read, or at least incomplete. But as a basic narrative history, it's a great introduction to the Revolution of 1688.

One quibble: in his introduction, Barone argues that the Revolution of 1688 has received much less attention in the U.S. than it deserves: "this First Revolution was ...a long step forward toward the kind of society we take for granted now. It provided the backdrop for the amazing growth, prosperity, and military success of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Britain -- and for the American Revolution and the even more amazing growth, prosperity, and military success of the United States." But this interpretation isn't new; it's the heart of traditional Whig history, the view that 1688 is best understood as one step in the long unfolding of British history to generate the modern, democratic, relatively free market state. Plenty of American historians have articulated this view (especially through the 1800s); fewer recently in academia because it imposes current values retroactively, and is now viewed as a sloppy way to do history. Fortunately, Barone's Whig impulse doesn't prejudice most of his narrative -- which, after all, is based closely on the work of modern, post-Whig academic historians -- and it's possible ignore this theme in his introduction and conclusion. ( )

A good book on the 1680s outing of King James by William of Orange leading to the reign of William and Mary. ( )

Well-known political journalist Michael Barone plunges into the armchair history genre with Our First Revolution: The Remarkable British Upheaval That Inspired America's Founding Fathers (Crown, 2007). Drawing on existing secondary sources, Barone has written a concise and interesting account of England's Glorious Revolution, when the Protestant William of Orange overthrew England's King James II in 1688-89 in what Barone says is "the first change of government to be called a revolution" by those who lived through it (pg. 2-3).

The majority of the book treats the history of England in the years following the Restoration, the immediate leadup to William's invasion, and the Glorious Revolution's aftermath. Barone cogently discusses the religious and political turmoil that gripped the British Isles during these decades, and although he breaks little new ground, his discussions are worthwhile for their synthesis of previous research.

Barone's sections on William's skillful and brilliant use of printed propaganda before and during the Glorious Revolution were of great interest, and I wished he'd expanded them. Likewise, given the subtitle it might have been appropriate to provide a fuller examination of the contemporary impact of the Revolution on the American colonies (two paragraphs and then a short concluding chapter form most of this discussion), rather than simply linking the 1688-89 Revolution with America's own struggle decades later.

Slightly flawed, but nonetheless a readable introduction to the period and an excellent analysis of the parliamentary elections from the 1660s through the 1690s.

http://philobiblos.blogspot.com/2007/... ( )