Book Launch Spotlight: Republic: Britain's Revolutionary Decade, 1649–1660, by Alice Hunt

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

A biography of a daring and an unprecedented decade: the 1650s

Events moved fast in the 1650s. Something cataclysmic happened every year, something that would thrust the newly formed republic, its people, and its eventual ‘Lord Protector’ Oliver Cromwell, in an entirely new direction. 

It was a time of bewildering change and uncertainty, but it was also a time of innovation and opportunity. And, for the men and women who lived through these years, this period was certainly not an ‘interregnum’. The restoration of Charles II in 1660 was not inevitable, nor was it welcomed by everyone.

England’s unique republican experiment ­– imposed on Scotland and Ireland, too – may have been shortlived, but it has had a lasting impact on British monarchy, politics, religion and culture, and on the story the British continue to tell about themselves. 

It is a period that, for a long time, history chose to forget, or recalled as a failure. Here, in thrilling detail, Alice Hunt brings the republic and its extraordinary cast of characters, from politicians to poets and prophets, back to life.

Alice Hunt brilliantly reanimates this most extraordinary decade. It is a gripping tale of political and cultural crisis but also one of joy and hopeful innovation, told with eloquence and passion.'  MALCOLM GASKILL

'A magisterial, compelling and eye-opening biography of Britain's great and extraordinary experiment.'  SUZANNAH LIPSCOMB

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About the Author

Alice Hunt is an Associate Professor of English at Southampton University and the author of The Drama of Coronation (Cambridge University Press, 2008). She is also the co-editor, with Anna Whitelock, of a book about Mary I and Elizabeth I, co-author of the Rough Guide to Royals (2012), and has contributed to several television programmes, including BBC2’s ‘Fit to Rule’. Before becoming a full-time academic in 2006, Alice was a senior editor at Atlantic Books. Alice lives in Winchester with her husband, the writer James McConnachie, and their children. You can find Alice on Twitter @amm_hunt