'Peace, Print and Protestantism' brilliantly re-interprets a period of English history for too long disguised by simplified expressions like 'medieval' and 'modern'. in 1450, England, defeated in its attempt to conquer France, was sliding into the abyss of civil war. By 1558, the Elizabethan period was dawning and England had enjoyed seventy years of peace at home. She was more united than ever before, Wales was incorporated into the kingdom and the Tudors were bringing Ireland firmly – and bloodily – under English domination. Other changes were being wrought. Trade had expanded. English ships were sailing to America, Russia and Africa. The printing press was transforming people's knowledge of the world. Protestantism, boosted by Henry VIII's quarrel with Rome, was beginning to establish itself. But some things seemed immutable. The poor were getting poorer, and a fiery peasant revolt was an ever-present prospect. The country remained conservative: Queen Mary's attempt to re-establish Catholicism had a good chance of success. The accent throughout 'Peace, print and Protestantism' is on politics and the importance of personality. The Wars of the Roses are seen as due to Henry VI's inadequacies, not deep-seated structural weaknesses. This perspective helps to explain the subsequent recovery. Peace was precarious – and the developments leading to Elizabethan England were anything but inevitable.