Cromwell Book

I was more than a bit disappointed by this book, I'm afraid. And it's a shame, because I'd been dying to learn more about Oliver Cromwell, and a several-hundred-page tome of lightly written history seemed like just the thing for a person like me who wants to feel like he's learned a lot without (ahem) plowing through a lot of hard-to-read academic papers.

Let's start with the positive. I really did learn a lot. Cromwell was a lot better off financially than I would have expected; it wasn't obvious early on that he'd become the Lord Protector; the English Civil War was a lot more protracted, confused, and multi-staged than I imagined; and there were a lot of different groups vying for power.

Part of the problem I had was the sneaking suspicion that Ms. Fraser fell in love with the subject of her research. Cromwell comes across as a driven yet pure-hearted man, barely able to keep himself afloat among these competing interests, and a loyal subject who would have saved the king if it was at all possible. She admits that a lot isn't known about his thoughts and motivations, but seems to paint in a lot of details where there doesn't seem to be much reason.

The main problem I had, though, was the prose style. Now this could be because I'm an American. I'll be the first to admit that there are a lot of differences between American English (and its myriad dialects) and British English (and its myriad dialects), but I actually enjoy most British writing that I've encountered, and this just seemed different.

The sentences wander all over the page. Subordinate clauses are used with wild abandon and the use of commas is almost criminal. You can reach the end of a sentence and find yourself backtracking to the beginning to try to understand what it was about in the first place. Or you may simply sit there with your eyes glazing over, struggling to care, and being unable.

I made it as far as the execution of the king, then set the book aside. I'll have to learn my history somewhere else.