Emphasizing changes in scientific thought and the social structure, this book discusses Western Europe's rejection of traditional authority, the colonization of America, and the concept of a nation with a national government.

Cymbeline repeats many of Shakespeares plot devices: villainous slander, homicidal jealousy, cross-gender disguise, a deathlike trance, the appearance of Jupiter in a vision, and final repentance, forgiveness, and reunion (Mowat, xiii), all of which result in an improbable story (Mowat, xv). As a romance, the play calls to mind the need for Coleridges willing suspension of disbelief (Biographia Literaria, quoted in Greenblatt, 478). Yet it is still Shakespeare.

Great efforts were required to restore the cathedrals following the return of the monarchy and established church in 1660. In Cathedrals Under Siege, Stanford E. Lehmberg brings together political, social, intellectual, and artistic history into a comprehensive, rounded account of an important institution in English history.