The World Turned Upside Down

Posted on 22 March 2018 by Christopher Hill

Within the English revolution of the mid 17th century which resulted in the triumph of the protestant ethic the ideology of the propertied class there threatened another, quite different, revolution Its success might have established communal property, a far wider democracy in political and legal institutions, might have disestablished the state church and rejected the protestant ethic In The World Turned Upside Down, Christopher Hill studies the beliefs of such radical groups as the Diggers, the Ranters, the Levellers and others, and the social and emotional impulses that gave rise to them The relations between rich and poor classes, the part played by wandering masterless men, the outbursts of sexual freedom and deliberate blasphemy, the great imaginative creations of Milton and Bunyan these and many other elements build up into a marvellously detailed and coherent portrait of this strange, sudden effusion of revolutionary beliefs It is a portrait not of the bourgeois revolution that actually took place, but of the impulse towards a far fundamental overturning of society Incorporates some of Dr Hill s most profound statements yet about the 17th century revolution as a whole The Economist Best Read The World Turned Upside Down [ author ] Christopher Hill [ Kindle ePUB or eBook ] – kino-fada.fr The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of this book, the long and the short of it, is that just like the TV advert says it does exactly what it says on the tin To wit The world turned upside down Radical Ideas During the English Revolution So it is not a history of the English revolution view spoiler or interregnum, or Great Rebellion, as you may call it if you believe that Charles Stuart that man of blood is a holy blissful martyr of the Anglican view spoiler or Episcopalian if you are o The Good, the Bad ...Nearly 400 years ago, from the midst of the English Revolution, I hear the same anger at the despoilation and hooliganism of their rich ravening rulers as I do today, in the incoherent but passionate Occupy movements, and, if I m honest, in the outraged and outrageous screechings of the tea party on all sides there is the sense of trying, pitifully, to raise up a single skinny fist and shake it and howlThis is not the way things were suppo...This book opened my eyes, not only insofar as its strict subject matter, but also in its applicability to our own times Christopher Hill was without a doubt one of the most knowledgeable commenters on the seventeenth century in England, especially of that period between 1640 and 1660 which he refers to as the English Revolution.I recommend The World Turned Upside Down Radical Ideas During the English Revolution to anyone who is interested not only in English history, but our own I find in Hil This book opened my eyes, not only insofar as its strict subject matter, but also in its applicability to our own times Christopher Hill was without a doubt one of the most knowledgeable commenters on the seventeenth century in England, especially of that period between 1640 and 1660 which he refers to as the English Revolution.I recommend The World Turned Upside Down Radical Ideas During the English Revolution to anyone who is interested not only in English history, but our own I find in Hill s Antinomians and Ranters a fore runner of the Tea Party and many of theradical evangelical preachers in the American South and Midwest As Hill summarizes Since the external world is the manifestation of Gerrard Winstanley s God, our senses are to be valued because by thm we know this world Man must live in himself, not out of himself in his five senses, not in empty imaginations, books or hearsay docume...Blaaaaah Where to start How about with the aspect of the book that irritated me the most No women How could you write a book about the English revolution and have no women This was 100% a man s history Yes, yes, I m an angry feminist, but I couldn t believe, page after page, that a full 50% of the population was completely left out of Hill s analysis The only time women s issues were specifically addressed was in the chapter about changing sexual s, and then the discussion was so terr Blaaaaah Where to start How about with the aspect of the book that irritated me the most No women How could you write a book about the English revolution and have no women This was 100% a man s history Yes, yes, I m an angry feminist, but I couldn t believe, page after page, that a full 50% of the population was completely left out of Hill s analysis The only time women s issues were specifically addressed was in the chapter about changing sexual s, and then the discussion was so terrible that I wish he hadn t even attempted it For pages, he carries on about the improving condition of women in England at this time and cites ALL MALE SOURCES to prove his point ...Much of The World Turned Upside Down is not for the general reader It is aimed at professional historians of 17th century England and advanced students so it is full of references to historians active 45 to 50 years ago when Hill was writing his book, because he disagreed with both the top down view of history then prevalent and schools of thought that dismissed the ideas of religious radicals during the period as unhinged harangues of dissidents to the established church That said there is Much of The World Turned Upside Down is not for the general reader It is aimed at professional historians of 17th century England and advanced students so it is full of references to historians active 45 to 50 years ago when Hill was writing his book, because he disagreed with both the top down view of history then prevalent and schools of thought that di...Christopher Hill has written a stunning intellectual history of radical thinkers during the unruly decades of the English Civil Wars roughly 1640 1660 Censorship of printed material was strict for most of British history until the 19th century, but from 1641 1660, censorship was lifted When the restraining dam burst, a flood of eccentric, radical, blasphemous, and sometimes brilliant literature washed over Britain Christopher Hill has mastered this literature and brought it into some order Christopher Hill has written a stunning intellectual history of radical thinkers during the unruly decades o...Kind of surprised by the number of low ratings This is a terrific introduction to Hill, readable as a novel, and pretty much a landmark book Marxist and 17th Century studies It s an accessible introduction to Hill s writings on the period which have been so influential in reconsidering an intriguing period of not just English but human history By giving serious consideration to groups casually dismissed as madmen and criminals when they were mentioned at all , and tracking their influence an Kind of surprised by the number of low ratings This is a terrific introduction to Hill, ...Of course, the British Marxist historians are old hat 35 years ago they would have been argued against, but now they can be treated with condescension, ignored, while the stars of modern history extol the virtues of Empire But for many of the younger historians the greatest crime of the Marxists is that they didn t tell stories they deal with the dried up world of i...Very enlightening read on a moment of the Enlightenment that doesn t always get the attention it deserves radical movements during the English revolution It s not the best introduction to the period unless you don t mind wiki ing every other name but it s vital material for anyone interested in social movements And who isn t thes...As a Friend myself and a bit of a history geek, I ve read plenty about early Quakerism but mostly by other Quakers I ve been looking forward to reading this book to read about the birth of Quakerism by a non Friend for sometime Quakers were a part of a wide and varied radical landscape in Britain, and were influenced by many of these groups.Not a history of the English Civil War, but a study of the radical groups that, finding themselves suddenly free of censorship and the iron authority of th As a Friend myself and a bit of a history geek, I ve read plenty about early Quakerism but mostly by other Quakers I ve been looking forward to reading this book to read about the birth of Quakerism by a non Friend for s...

22 March 2018

Christopher Hill