ABSTRACT
Christopher Hill's picture of radical Puritanism as revolutionary in The World Turned Upside Down: Radical Ideas During the English Revolution is a classic piece of scholarship, and still inspires research today. David Loewenstein tries to take seriously the radical beliefs that he outlines; this owes much to The World Turned Upside Down, and other work by Hill, especially in the way it prioritizes printed and literary sources. Using the same method of study as Hill, Loewenstein shows the potential of the heretical beliefs he talks about, and the effect these heresies had on those heresy-hunters who occupied positions of power. Hill’s book is both a classic work of history and a text that scholars engage with as part of debates over Puritanism and revolution. The World Turned Upside Down was instrumental in bringing the debate over the nature and extent of English radicalism back to the table.
