"In this history of the violent struggle between the monarchy and parliament that tore apart seventeenth-century England, a rising star among British historians sheds new light on the people who fought and died during those tumultuous years. Like the Magna Carta or the American Revolution, the English Civil War concerned fundamental questions of sovereignty and political rights that are still the guiding principles of democracies today. But the political revolutions came at a price: the execution of a king, brutal persecution of Catholics and Royalists, and years of tyranny. Drawing on exciting new sources, including letters, memoirs, ballads, plays, illustrations, and even cookbooks, Diane Purkiss creates a portrait of this turbulent era."--Jacket.