England in the 1670's: "This Masquerading Age". (Reviews of Books).

John Spurr. England in the 1670's: "This Masquerading Age." (History of Early Modern England.) Malden, Mass.: Blackwell Publishers. 2000. Pp. xviii, 350. $34.95. ISBN 0-631-22253-7.

John Spurr has written a wonderfully intriguing account of the 1670s, a decade in which merry England seemed to flourish but which was rather the "masquerading age" of the book's subtitle. Spurr argues that the period is not easily summarized by the "glib slogan of the fear of popery and arbitrary government," but was riddled with a wider range of anxieties--about the role ...

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