|
Thomas Babington Macaulay won instantaneous and outstanding success in proese and poetry, in politics and oratory. His book, translated throughout Europe and achieving sales in Amercica second only to the Bible, immediately became the canon of historical orthodoxy, replacing previous histories so completely that it is now difficult to see past its long and apparently effortless triumph. Though the theme of this book is clearly defined--the 1688 Revolution and the reign of William III which effectively consolidated that Revolution--it succeeds in presenting Macaulay's interpretation of the whole course of English History. He firmaly reasserted the primacy of politics in the historical process as the essential motor of social change.
|
