Books with author Derek WILSON

The voyage of the ‘Pilgrim Fathers’ from Plymouth, England, and their settlement in Plymouth, New England, is iconic. Unfortunately. Why unfortunately? Because icons both simplify and glamorise. The Mayflower story is a gilded myth, a historical episode seen through the distorting lens of nationalism. Of all the accounts of New World colonisation in the 16th/17th centuries this is the one that has come to typify those qualities today’s US citizens admire and believe their nation stands for. And yet the 102 men, women and children who made that journey in the autumn of 1620 would not have recognised themselves in the heroes and heroines portrayed in films and romantic novels over the last century or so. Derek Wilson strips away the over-painting from the icon in order to discover what motivated the Pilgrim ‘Fathers’ (a term not invented until 1840), and to explain them against the background of the age in which they lived. He does this by exploring a series of probing questions, each of which narrows the focus until the travellers on the storm-tossed Mayflower stand before us clearly delineated.

The voyage of the 'Pilgrim Father' from Plymouth, England, and their settlement in Plymouth, New England, is iconic. Unfortunately. Why unfortunately? Because icons both simplify and glamorize. The Mayflower story is a gilded myth, a historical episode seen through the distorting lens of nationalism. Of all the accounts of New World colonization in the 16th/17th centuries this is the one that has come to typify those qualities today's US citizens admire and believe their nation stands for. The 102 men, women and children who made that journey in the autumn of 1620 would not have recognized themselves in the heroes and heroines portrayed in films and romantic novels over the last century or so. In Mayflower Pilgrims Derek Wilson strips away the over-painting from the icon in order to discover who the Pilgrim 'Fathers’ (a term not invented until 1840) were, and to explain them against the background of the age in which they lived. He does this by exploring a series of probing questions, each of which narrows the focus until the travelers on the storm-tossed Mayflower stand before us clearly delineated.

The image of Charles II as a randy monarch who dragged the crown through the moral mire and irredeemably weakened its position has persisted throughout the three centuries since John Evelyn gave his judgement. That judgement, Derek Wilson argues, is okay as far as it goes. The Restoration court did set an example of cynical libertinism that provoked opposition not only from outraged preachers, but also satirical journalists and angry mobs who pelted royal mistresses and burned down brothels. But Charles' bedroom antics are symptoms and not causes of social decadence. Why did Pepys complain 'there is nothing almost but bawdry at court from top to bottom' or Bishop Burnet observe that throughout the three kingdoms people were 'throwing off the very professions of virtue and piety'? The answers must be sought in the traumatic upheaval of the Civil War and its aftermath in the life of Charles Stuart and his people. In a society that was shaken loose by violent conflict the position of women changed radically. Many experienced a new freedom and an enhanced power to influence men and events. Charles grew up with and actually enjoyed the company of strong women. Ministers complained of his 'effeminate conversation'. As well as the notorious, grasping mistresses - the leach-like Lady Castlemaine, 'dearest Fubs' K-roualle, the outrageous Nell Gwynn - Charles was influenced by his domineering mother, Henrietta Maria, his 'pushy' nurse, Christabella Wyndham, his much-loved sisters, Mary and 'Minette', his only great love, Lucy Walter, his long-suffering wife, Catherine of Braganza and a cavalcade of devoted royalist ladies, actresses, whores, and ambitious gold-diggers who surrounded him throughout his exile and after his restoration. It is this miscellany of relationships that Derek Wilson explores and helps us to understand in All the King's Women. These relationships helped to form Charles II's character, shape the course of political events and, ultimately, seal the fate of the dynasty.

The voyage of the 'Pilgrim Fathers' from Plymouth, England, and their settlement in Plymouth, New England, is iconic. Unfortunately. Why unfortunately? Because icons both simplify and glamorise. The Mayflower story is a gilded myth, a historical episode seen through the distorting lens of nationalism. Of all the accounts of New World colonisation in the 16th/17th centuries this is the one that has come to typify those qualities today's US citizens admire and believe their nation stands for. The 102 men, women and children who made that journey in the autumn of 1620 would not have recognised themselves in the heroes and heroines portrayed in films and romantic novels over the last century or so. In Mayflower Pilgrims Derek Wilson strips away the over-painting from the icon in order to discover who the Pilgrim 'Fathers' (a term not invented until 1840) were, and to explain them against the background of the age in which they lived. He does this by exploring a series of probing questions, each of which narrows the focus until the travellers on the storm-tossed Mayflower stand before us clearly delineated.