This is the second and final part of an intellectual biography of the English republican, Algernon Sidney.

This book completes the study of the life and political thought of Algernon Sidney (1623-1688), which began with Algernon Sidney and the English Republic, 1623-1677 (1988). In the process it offers a reinterpretation of the major political crisis of Charles II's reign, and of its European and seventeenth-century contexts. Like its predecessor, the book spans the disciplines of intellectual and political history. Its twin focus is the last six years of Sidney's life, which culminated in the famous public drama of his trial and execution for treason in 1683, and in his major political work, the Discourses Concerning Government, which was used as evidence against him at the trial. This intertwining of events and ideas calls for an examination of the relationship between the practical and intellectual aspects of the crisis of 1678-1683 in general.

Preface
Acknowledgments
Part I. The Restoration Crisis: 1. The shape of the future
2. The shadow of the past
3. The crisis of parliaments
4. Retrospect
Part II. The Shadow Of The Past: 5. Family politics 1677-83
6. European politics 1678-80
7. Domestic politics 1678-9
8. The mutinous city 1679-81
9. The Vindication of parliaments 1681-3
Part III. The Old Cause: 10. Discourses (1) first principles
11. Discourses (2) rebellion, tumult and war
12. The self-defence of protestants
13. The tower
14. The reckoning
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index.