[T]his is a most informative book. Stewart has done a great deal of research in both primary and secondary sources--there are almost 1000 footnotes, many of them overstuffed, in a 340-page text. There is a lot of new information about the attitudes of the citizenry, including women, and their role in the triumph of the king's opponents... [A]n important piece of scholarship; the future historians of the period will have to take Stewart's findings and arguments into account.
Maurice Lee. Jr, Scotia: Interdisciplinary Journal of Scottish Studies
Laura Stewart offers an intelligent and insightful account of a national religious culture within the broader context of the three kingdoms during their mid seventeenth- century crisis.
Crawford Gribben, Queen's University, Belfast, Journal of Ecclesiastical History
In her new book, Laura Stewart offers a major reinterpretation of the mid-seventeenth century Scottish revolution based on a reconceptualising of early modern Scottish politics ... The book is grounded in an impressive array of manuscript records, printed works and secondary literature, with its strength lying in the many constructive comparisons made with contemporary events in England ... The author has undoubtedly produced a work of remarkable scope and quality. It has not only nuanced our understanding of the period, but also opened up several avenues for future study and further debate.
Neil McIntyre, University of Glasgow
The complex strands of revolution and reaction are deftly teased out by Stewart.
Patrick J. Murray, History Today
[an] excellent book ... Laura Stewart has succeeded resulting book serves to open up the whole subject in a multitude of exciting new ways.
Nicholas Tyacke, History
This is an excellent book, tackling with great assurance complex issues on the origins, impact and legacies of the Scottish revolution in the mid-seventeenth century ... Stewart's endeavours will undoubtedly (and deservedly) inspire renewed interest in covenanted Scotland. The conclusion, reflecting on the historical legacy of the Covenant right up to and including the recent referendum on independence makes a convincing case for further engagement with this fascinating period in Scottish history. Stewart has thrown down the gauntlet and let others now take up the challenge.
Michael O'Siochru, Scottish History Review
An excellent, deeply researched book that forces one to reexamine a critical, seldom detailed pivot point in Scottish history ... Essential.
CHOICE
Rethinking the Scottish Revolution successfully reconceptualises the Covenanting era as a vital episode in the evolution of early modern state power and public political engagement, which had long-term consequences for Scotland, and lays the foundation for all future studies of the period.
Paul Goatman, Sehepunkte
[A] bold study of Scotland's revolutionary politics of the mid-seventeenth century ... Stewart's careful unfolding of the great crises of the National Covenant of 1638 and the Engagement of 1648, crises that made Scottish politicians and readers alike ever more observant of what was being said and produced in London, is a model of interdisciplinary and even at times transnational scholarship.
Derek Hirst, Renaissance Quarterly