THE MAKING OF OLIVER CROMWELL

Narrator Michael Page's rich British accents lend distinction to this biography of the opposition leader in the British civil wars of the 1640s, Oliver Cromwell. This first of two parts covers Cromwell's early years and his rise to dominance over the Parliament armies opposing King Charles I. The politics, the personalities involved, and the shifts in the warring parties are complicated, and rooted in causes and issues long obsolete. But the essence of this history, well researched by its author and effectively delivered by Page, is unmistakable. Civil war is savage, inflamed by a special brand of ferocity, and in this case avoidable. The lessons of domestic strife seem so clear, so simple--at a distance. D.A.W. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine [Published: NOVEMBER 2021]