This volume is a systematic study of the politics of five crucial years of the Puritan Revolution, the period between John Pym's death in December 1643 and the execution of Charles I in January 1649. MacCormack provides a fresh and coherent interpretation of the events chronicled in the first volume of S. R. Gardiner's monumental "History of the Great Civil War," a work long known to be inadequate.

Through an exhaustive compilation of the activities of individual members, MacCormack examines the Long Parliament and the structures of its parties. He investigates the degree to which the...