This is a revised edition of Christopher Hill's classic and ground-breaking examination of the motivations behind the English Revolution and Civil War. In addition to the text of the original, first published in 1965, Dr Hill provides thirteen new chapters which take account of other publications since the first edition, bringing his work up-to-date in a stimulating and enjoyable way. This book poses the problem of how - after centuries of obedience to the rule of King, lords, and the established church - English men and women found the courage to revolt against Charles I, abolish bishops, and execute the king in the name of his people. Christopher Hill examines the intellectual forces which helped to prepare minds for a revolution that was much more than the religious wars and revolts which had gone before, and which became the precedent for the great revolutionary upheavals of the future.