Penry Williams Books

Focusing on the period from Edward VI's accession to Elizabeth I's death, this comprehensive study explores the intense conflicts in Europe and the internal struggles between Catholicism and Protestantism in England. Amidst widespread anxiety, the nation navigated challenges that led to a unique political and religious identity by the end of Elizabeth's reign. The narrative highlights how England was ultimately spared from the disasters faced by neighboring countries, detailing the intricate processes that shaped its history during this turbulent time.

Founded on the ruins of Hitler's defeated Third Reich, and lacking any intrinsic legitimacy, the German Democratic Republic nevertheless became the most stable and successful state in the Soviet bloc. Yet in the 'gentle revolution' of 1989 it collapsed with startling speed. How can this extraordinary story of political stability followed by sudden implosion be explained? With the opening of the East German archives, it is at last possible to look inside the apparently impregnable dictatorship. Mary Fulbrook provides a compelling interpretation of structures of power and patterns of popular opinion within the GDR. This absorbing study explores the ways in which the tentacles of the all-pervading state captured East German society in the grip of Stasi, party, and mass organizations, and analyses the emergence in the 1980s of oppositional cultures under the ambivalent shelter of a Protestant Church which had come to terms with the communist state