Synopses & Reviews
In the early hours of November 5, 1605, Guy Fawkes, an English Catholic who had served with the Spanish army in Flanders, was discovered in a storeroom under the Palace of Westminster--and with him, thirty-six barrels of gunpowder earmarked to obliterate England's royal family, top officials, and members of Parliament gathered for Parliament's opening day. Had it succeeded, this Gunpowder Plot--a Catholic conspiracy against the recently crowned Protestant King James I and his government--English history would have been shaped by a terrorist act of unprecedented proportions.
Today Guy Fawkes--whose name has long stood for the conspiracy--is among the most notorious figures in English history; and Bonfire Night, observed every November 5th to memorialize the narrowly foiled Gunpowder Plot, is one of the country's most festive occasions. Why has the memory of this act of treason and terrorism persisted for 400 years? In Remember, Remember James Sharpe takes us back to 1605 and teases apart the tangled web of religion and politics that gave rise to the plot. And, with considerable wit, he shows how celebration of that fateful night, and the representation of Guy Fawkes, has changed over the centuries.
James Sharpe's colorfully told story has wide implications. The plot of 1605 has powerful resonances today, in a time of heightened concern about ideological conflict, religious fanaticism, and terrorism. And his account of the festivities marking the momentous event comments on the role of rituals in constructing national histories.
Review
Sharpe's readable little book sheds light on the history, myth and fiction surrounding the conspiracy and its enduring marks in the culture today. John H. Carroll
Review
A reminder that such religiously inspired terrorism is part of the history of the modern West. Catholic News Service
Review
[Sharpe's] lively short book is a compressed cultural history of Guy Fawkes Day...There is plenty of interest in his analysis of the changing character of a major popular festival. Peter Steinfels - New York Times
Review
James Sharpe has written an engaging essay on the changing meaning over the centuries of Guy Fawkes Day, the commemoration on November 5 of England's deliverance from the Gunpowder Plot...Sharpe's enjoyable book traces the different ways in which the date has been celebrated between the seventeenth century and modern times. Eamon Duffy - New York Review of Books
Synopsis
Bonfire Night, observed every year to memorialize the narrowly foiled Gunpowder Plot, is one of England's most festive occasions. Why has the memory of this act of treason and terrorism persisted for 400 years? James Sharpe teases apart the tangled web of religion and politics that gave rise to the plot and wittily shows how celebration of that fateful night has changed over the centuries.
Synopsis
Finalist, 2006 Wayland D. Hand Prize, History and Folklore Section of the American Folklore Society
About the Author
James Sharpe is Professor of History at University of York.
University of York