The Gunpowder Plot [Hardcover]

Hugh Ross Williamson (Author), Hugh Ross Williamson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1996

This book has 300 compact pages explaining what happened almost 400 years ago in England when barrels of gunpowder were found under the House of Lords. A plot was undoubtedly discovered, but what kind of plot. Was it a conspiracy of Catholics against the Government or the Government against Catholics? This is a fascinating story of intrigue and suspense-involving heroic actions, cowardly politics and unwavering faith. But even more fascinating is the fact that it is a true story. Hugh Ross Williamson writes a clear and exact account of one of the most controversial episodes of the English Reformation, but in a style interesting even to the casual reader. The author's careful attention in gathering the details of this historic event makes the reader feel he has been transported back in time. The book will attract your undivided attention right down to the very last page, including the excellent documentation in the Notes and Bibliography. Illustrated with complete index.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 301 pages
• Publisher: Neumann Press; 2 edition (March 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 091184533X
• ISBN-13: 978-0911845334
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,476,124 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars They're Celebrating the Wrong Thing in Merry Olde England, December 15, 2008

By 

Lance S. Edwards - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Gunpowder Plot (Hardcover)

A great book for those wanting more information about an important historical event and, at the same time, gain a little insight into the old adage about one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. Religious persecution, political intrigue, conflicting agendas, murder and mayhem--What else is new? Well written.

13 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Guy Fawkes is a Jolly Good Hero, January 15, 2006

By 

Robert A. Williams "libertarian" (Oberlin, OH United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Gunpowder Plot (Hardcover)

In 1605, a landed gentry comprising less than 2% of England's population ruled over the other 98% by denying them the vote. Thus Parliament consisted of elite representatives who were elites themselves. In addition to the despotic rule of an elitist Parliament, King James I dovetailed Parliament to create a tyrannical government that outlawed the Catholic faith along with many Protestant groups labelled as Dissenters and Nonconformists. But it was the Catholics that felt the ire of the Church of England and its parent - the State, which executed their priests and persecuted the faithful.

The gunpowder plot was direct action rightly organized by a group of provincial English Catholic victims led by Guy Fawkes to stop Parliament from waging ethnic cleansing and trampling on their freedom of speech and religion. The freedom fighters had then planned to wage a revolution in the Midlands against the British government.

But Guy Fawkes had warned a friend to stay away from Parliament on the night, and that friend alerted the authorities who captured the resistance fighters in the act of placing barrels of gunpowder in the basement. The Catholic insurgents were subsequently hanged, disembowelled (drawn), and quartered; then their 4 body parts and their head were put on stakes around town to terrify any remaining Catholics who entertained taking back Parliament from attempting to do so.

Williamson's 300-page account of the Gunpowder Plot summons up analogy to the later 1774 incident in which an English tea ship was burned in an American harbor. The Catholic insurgents of 1605 were right to take direct action against a government of elites who were in rebellion against the people. Parliament's acts against Catholics were seditious, plain and simple.

Therefore it is ironic that on Bonfire Night every year on Nov 5th that English people burn effigies of Guy Fawkes, rather than celebrating Guy Fawkes for trying to stop the elitist Parliament from its sedition against the rights of the English people. It is even stranger when Indian-British, such as Punjabis, Mirpuris, Gujeratis, and Bengalis from the religions of Sikh, Hindu, and Muslim join in burning the effigies. If any effigy should be burned on Bonfire Night, it should be of an elitist Parliament that no one would or should tolerate today. Guy Fawkes was an important figure in the early history of libertarian thought whose ideas continue to deserve countenance.