London in Flames: Apocalypse 1666

By James D. Rietveld

James D. Rietveld's delightful, essay-length study of the great London fire investigates and illuminates the so-called 'apocalypse' of 1666. He sets out not to unravel all the opinions concerning this cataclysmic event that were then present within the vast tapestry of English popular culture; instead the tact he opts for is an examination of how groups used the great fire as a rhetorical tool. From the pulpit, the podium and in print, the phenomenon of the fire was fashioned into a tool to bring about moral reform, a return to church fellowship, Parliamentary tolerance of religious diversity, or even as an exhortation to mobilize against the forces of Catholicism. He goes on to describe how the fire of 1666 erupted so dramatically in the manner of 'a thief in the night' upon Londoners that all the repressed feelings of suspicion, of anger, and of discontent within the popular imagination those thoughts usually kept in check either by fear of the authorities or for personal advantage immediately rose to the surface and found a voice in a variety of ways.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0985310243
• ISBN13: 9780985310240
• Release Date: August 2012
• Publisher: Highland Loch Press
• Length: 40 Pages
• Weight: 0.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 0.1" x 5.5"