Jonathan Healey, The Blazing World: A New History of Revolutionary England, 1603–1689. The final segment covers the reign of James II, whose open Catholicism and attempts to bypass Parliament alienated his natural Tory supporters. This tension birthed England's first political parties: the Whigs and the Tories. When James had a son, raising the prospect of a perpetual Catholic dynasty, seven leaders invited William of Orange to intervene. William landed in 1688, and James II fled, resulting in the Glorious Revolution. The era concluded with William and Mary as Protestant regents, establishing a constitutional framework that profoundly influenced the founding fathers of America. (8)
1655
