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  • Decisive Battles of the English Civil War
  • David N. Farr
Decisive Battles of the English Civil War By Malcolm Wanklyn. Barnsley, U.K.: Pen & Sword Books, 2006. ISBN 1-84415-454-8. Maps. Photographs. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Pp. x, 246. £19.99.

The battles of the English Civil War would appear to be a well-trodden path. Not only are there many sound single-battle studies but good general studies. It therefore says much for Wanklyn's book that he has much that is new to say not only in terms of the battles he has chosen to analyse, [End Page 517] Edgehill, Newbury I and II, Cheriton, Marston Moor, Naseby, and Preston, but, more importantly, about the analysis of battles and the sources historians use.

Wanklyn's section on "Recapturing the Past" may tread well-worn ground for academics with regard to the discipline's engagement with postmodernism but he sets this directly within the context of what he sees as "the current defects in the practice of writing battlefield narratives" (p. 8). A general review of the provenance of printed and manuscript sources is developed by a more specific analysis of the sources and landscape for each of the battles. This works well and Wanklyn provides many useful correctives to previous readings of the source material such as accounts by generals Bellasis and Hopton or pamphlets like The Bloody Battle of Preston.

Wanklyn then proceeds to provide his own "narrative" of each battle. His narratives are in line with his preceding analyses of the sources and, where appropriate, he makes clear the provisional nature of some of his conclusions, even to the extent of highlighting "circumstantial evidence" in his own previous work (p. 155). As with his review of the sources the narratives engage well with previous studies. Criticism is directed at S. R. Gardiner (pp. 15, 24, 89, 90, 94, 201, 214 n. 8, 218 n. 57). While the defects in such studies as S. Reid's All the King's Armies (1998) are enumerated (pp. 25–26, 67, 92, 151, 182, 193–94) or more minor problems with G. Foard's Naseby (1995) and P. Newman's Marston Moor (1981) highlighted, Wanklyn is also generous in recognising the contribution made by previous historians of the battles he assesses. Admittedly Gardiner's slips have influenced later studies but as Wanklyn writes, while one should "be fully informed about what others have written" it is essential to "check" their "argument" and the "traces of the past that underpin it." The sheer scope of Gardiner's work should, however, be remembered. Similarly, while a brief passing comment on Gentles's use of a particular pamphlet may be an appropriate warning of the complexity of the source material to be engaged with, his work supercedes all previous studies of the New Model Army and sets battles like Preston in the wider context that is beyond the scope of this study.

Wanklyn's structure of "Context, Landscape and Sources" followed by each battle "Narrative" is effective. His narratives of the different battles are well considered. More significantly, his reviews of the source material are well-judged correctives for some previous accounts as well as useful reminders of the "potential pitfalls" for all future historians of these and other battles, whose accounts will always be provisional. At £20 this volume represents good value. I look forward to his forthcoming The Warring Generals (Yale, 2007).

David N. Farr
Norwich School
Norwich, United Kingdom
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