The Rise and Fall of Merry England, by Ronald Hutton (Oxford Paperbacks, Oxford University Press ISBN 0-19-285327-9
			eview by Deward Hastings The author appears to have examined every parish ledger, court record, household account, or other document which survives from Tudor England, as well as the rants of every offended cleric. The result is alternately tedious and fascinating. He chronicles the onset of Puritanism in England, and the bulk of the references are 16th century. His recounting of the "church ales" and "May poles" of early Tudor times leaves them sounding a lot like the "kegger" parties we know and love, and the denunciations have a timeless air about them too. -back to the bookliste-