History of England from the Invasion of Julius Caesar to the Revolution of 1688, Volume 1E

Before Hume revolutionized philosophy, he revolutionized how England understood itself. This first volume of his monumental history covers the most tumultuous decades in the nation's story: the reign of Charles I, whose stubborn belief in divine right pushed England into civil war; the shocking execution of a king; Oliver Cromwell's rise as Lord Protector; and the strange, tense restoration of the monarchy. Hume brings the skeptical precision of his philosophical mind to bear on questions that still divide us: What limits should constrain royal power? When, if ever, is rebellion justified? Can a nation survive the absence of a king? Written in crystalline prose that helped define English literary style, this is history as literature, alive with drama and stripped of cant. It remains the work against which all subsequent English histories are measured, not for its conclusions, but for its clarity.