{"product_id":"the-experience-of-defeat-milton-and-some-contemporaries-9781784786694","title":"The Experience of Defeat: Milton and Some Contemporaries","description":"\u003cb\u003eWhat happened to the radicals when the English Revolution failed?\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe Restoration, which re-established Charles II as king of England in 1660, marked the end of \"God's cause\"--a struggle for liberty and republican freedom. While most accounts of this period concentrate on the court, Christopher Hill focuses on those who mourned the passing of the most radical era in English history. The radical protestant clergy, as well as republican intellectuals and writers generally, had to explain why providence had forsaken the agents of God's work. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e In \u003ci\u003eThe Experience of Defeat\u003c\/i\u003e, Christopher Hill explores the writings and lives of the Levellers, the Ranters and the Diggers, as well as the work of George Fox and other important early Quakers. Some of them were pursued by the new regime, forced into hiding or exile; others compelled to recant. In particular Hill examines John Milton's late work, arguing that it came directly out of a painful reassessment of man and society that impelled him to \"justify the ways of God to Man.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eChristopher Hill\u003c\/b\u003e (1912-2003), born in York, was a historian and academic specializing in seventeenth-century English history. As a young man he witnessed the growth of the Nazi party firsthand during a prolonged holiday in Germany, an experience he later said contributed to the radicalization of his politics. He was master of Balliol College, University of Oxford, his alma mater, from 1965 to 1978. His celebrated and influential works include \u003ci\u003eIntellectual Origins of the English Revolution\u003c\/i\u003e; \u003ci\u003eThe World Turned Upside Down\u003c\/i\u003e; and \u003ci\u003eA Turbulent, Seditious and Fractious People: John Bunyan and His Church\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Verso","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51176258732306,"sku":"9781784786694","price":29.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_0c6123ad-35dc-4f25-8d23-25aaac71f1e4.jpg?v=1744297642","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-experience-of-defeat-milton-and-some-contemporaries-9781784786694","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}