Gangraena and the Struggle for the English Revolution [Hardcover]

This meticulously researched and wide-ranging book is the first comprehensive study of Thomas Edwards's Gangraena, probably the most important printed work of the English revolution. It provides a vivid account of the printed polemic of the revolution and its place in the religious and political mobilisation of the mid-1640s. Hughes's book is a contribution to the history of Presbyterianism, of London, of parliamentarian fragmentation, and of reading during the revolution. It combines the new `history of the book' with a concern for politics and religion during the crisis of the English revolution.

A powerfully argued and wide-ranging study. This volume represents a major scholarly achievement and will be essential reading. --SHARP News

There is a great deal to admire in Hughes's book, not least in its exemplary scholarship and its integration of empirical research with theoretical approaches borrowed from post-structuralism/postmodernism. --Edward Vallance,Journal of Modern History

Hughes has written a very fine book, characterized by a remarkable depth of research and a highly intelligent and imaginative use of a complex body of primary sources. The argument is presented crisply and elegantly, and it sheds more light on the world of Thomas Edwards andGangraenathat one might have though possible. It is a very mature and accomplished piece of scholarship, and its approach is one that might fruitfully be applied to other key texts of the period. --David L. Smith, Selwyn College, Cambridge

[E]xtremely valuable, especially in allowing her to comment with sensitivity on the infuriatingly complex anatomy of midcentury religious and political nonconformity. --Renaissance Quarterly