Oliver Cromwell (Barnes & Noble Digital Library)

Oliver Cromwell (1599–1658) overthrew the English monarchy and turned the nation into a short-lived Commonwealth. The author, who also wrote John Marmaduke, a novel of the invasion of Ireland, brings alive the still-controversial personal history of Cromwell and vividly recreates the man’s political, religious, and military times. Church’s biography is unique, in that it treats Cromwell’s ruthlessness in Ireland with leniency.