Which World Turned Upside Down?

Abstract

This article outlines the context in which Christopher Hill wrote The World Turned Upside Down. Using four examples it examines Hill's method, comparing the sources cited with the arguments made. It demonstrates that Hill worked by accumulating examples culled from varied sources that were then presented in a radically decontextualized way in support of his broader argument. When the sources are more closely examined, and properly contextualized, they frequently fail to support the argument Hill was making. These technical shortcomings explain the deep misgivings most professional historians have about the book. I suggest that this book, despite its popularity, was Hill's least persuasive piece of scholarship, bearing the signs of hurried composition: it is a bad book by a great historian.

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