Britain has not been successfully invaded since 1066; nor in nearly 1 000 years has it known a true revolution
- one that brings radical systemic & enduring change. The contrast with her European neighbours
- with France Germany Italy Spain Greece & Russia
- is dramatic. All have been convulsed by external warfare revolution & civil war
- all have experienced fundamental change to their ruling elites or their social & economic structures. In The Road Not Taken" Frank Mc Lynn investigates the seven occasions when England came closest to revolution: the Peasants Revolt of 1381 the Jack Cade rising of 1450 the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536 the English Civil War of the 1640s the Jacobite Rising of 1745-6 the Chartist Movement of 1838-48 & the General Strike of 1926. Mixes narrative & analysis vividly recreating each episode & providing compelling explanations of why social turbulence stopped short of revolution. Mc Lynns powerful narrative explores massive themes of social religious & political change over seven centuries of British history & shows them at certain moments bursting forth to threaten the existing order. Why at these dramatic turning-points did history finally fail to turn? The actions of individuals at key moments had a huge influence as he shows but were there underlying currents in our history which have allowed Britain to evade the revolutions which engulfed its neighbours? This is the deeper question which Frank Mc Lynn explores in this fascinating book."