could be better

I wouldn't recommend it as the first book to read if you know little or nothing about how the reign of Charles I was ended and what gruesome alternative came next (the best books for these are "The White King" by Leanda de Lisle and "Restless Republic" by Anna Keay). The terms such as "presbyterians", "fifth Monarchists", "millenarians" that are mentioned here are explained in more detail in Anna Keay's book, and more information on the characters such as Bulstrode Whitelocke, Hazelrigg, Henry Vane etc would be welcome. However it is a valuable contribution to understanding this complex period and the challenges the architects of the republican regime had.

It covers topics such as the first theatre performances and opera, scientific experiments, Quakers and their prosecution, the fate of the royal palaces, as well as colonialism of the "Godly republic" and crushing of its Scottish and Irish rebels. It's written with interest and some sympathy towards the republic but without uncritical adoration. However, as I still know very little about it, I cannot tell if some incidents or important events are not mentioned and therefore the picture is somewhat skewed. Didn't they actually execute one woman for adultery in that time? I would have liked to know more about how the military rule of Major-Generals in each county went on, as they were a kind of morality police.

The ambitious method - to write a "biography" of a time period, rather than a person, - doesn't help, in my view, as it has people and events piled up into chapters for each year, and strangely, as a result of that, one struggles to remember what happened when, especially after listening for the first time. And for a biography it has little biographical information about the main protagonists.
In short the book lacks depth and personal details but covers topics the other books don't.

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