Oliver Cromwell stands at the gateway of modern history; his resolute Puritanism formative to concepts of political and religious liberty, the development of democracy, and the individual's duty to resist tyranny. In The Lord Protector, Robert S. Paul traces Cromwell's political career, from his early influences and political experience, to the English Civil Wars, his brutal conquest of Ireland and campaigns in Scotland.
Where some historians present Cromwell in extremes, either as a scheming power-hungry tyrant, or as a noble hero, Paul seeks to understand the Lord Protector through the religious context of the seventeenth century, removed from the typical historical readings of his contemporaries. In order to understand Cromwell's career, Paul's investigation focusses his study through the extent to which Cromwell shared the theological beliefs common to his time. This relationship between his religion and political action provides an estimate of Cromwell as a man of faith, statesman and ruler.