During the mid-seventeenth century, the Stuart dynasty faced revolution in their three kingdoms - Scotland, Ireland and England - which was marked by constitutional defiance, civil war, regecide, republicanism and the eventual restoration of monarchy. Opposition in all three kingdoms to the Stuarts as an imperial dynasty drew upon and shaped different perceptions of Britain.

Allan Macinnes' wider contextualising of a British revolution - which challenges the anglocentric dominance of British History - takes account of apocalyptic visions, baronial politics and commercial networks, as well as confessional allegiances, representative images and written texts. This comprehensive survey is essential reading for all those studying this period of political crisis, which ultimately contributed to the definition of both the national interest of England and the national survival of Scotland and Ireland.