Disaffection and Everyday Life in Interregnum England

A richly detailed volume that will be of interest to readers who seek to understand popular responses to unpopular political regimes. * JOURNAL OF ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY * Boswell's book will act as a catalyst for research which, like hers, takes evidence of disaffection seriously and illuminates political identity in its full intricacy. * ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW * [A] vivid portrait of manifest, manyheaded, multidirectional national disaffection. . . . This is a worthy contribution to the 'new' social and political history. * AMERICAN HISTORICAL REVIEW * A most impressive book, richly researched and written with clarity and precision. * NORTHERN HISTORY * Caroline Boswell's fascinating book follows [political] debates into places of everyday interaction and sociability, streets and marketplaces, inns and taverns. The result is always illuminating, and often fascinating. * SIXTEENTH CENTURY STUDIES * Disaffection and Everyday Life in Interregnum England wades into a complicated and contentious political environment. Generally Boswell does not avoid that complexity but instead provides a nuanced treatment of the issues raised by her selected stories of estrangement. * H-NET * Caroline Boswell's book . . . presents a wealth of vivid and valuable material, much of it drawn from local records and the underused Northern Assize records. It is a very welcome addition to the literature, and a fine example of how the new politics of the parish could be closely tied to the national story. * CANADIAN JOURNAL OF HISTORY * It is about ordinary people living ordinary lives. This makes this book compelling reading..Where Boswell's book makes a powerful contribution to the existing literature on Interregnum England is not only in its analysis of everyday experiences in relation to larger political issues but also in its discussion of the transformative use of print. * CERCLES * Scholars of 17th-century Europe will appreciate this dense book. * CHOICE * [Boswell] demonstrates convincingly how local disputes and discontent were refashioned by pamphleteers and newsbook writers to present an image of popular disenchantment with the interregnum regimes. . . . This monograph should both provide much food thought for historians of later Stuart popular political culture and shed important light on the "popularity" of Charles II's restoration. -- Ted Vallance * Journal of British Studies *

Introduction Streets and Marketplaces Drink and Disaffection Meddling Soldiers The "Unnatural" Excise-man The Rise of the "Fanatic" Conclusion