"A pioneering account of Oliver Cromwell—providing a major new interpretation of one of the greatest figures in history. Oliver Cromwell is the only English commoner to become the overall head of state. His character was complex. He was at once courageous and devout, devious and self-serving. As a parliamentarian, he was devoted to his cause; as a soldier, he was ruthless. While Cromwell’s speeches and writings surpass in quantity those of any other ruler of England before Victoria, he should not always be taken at his word. In this remarkable new biography, which follows Cromwell to the end of the first English Civil War and his rise to prominence, Ronald Hutton untangles the facts from the fiction. Cromwell, pursuing his devotion to God and cementing his Puritan support base, quickly transformed from obscure provincial to military victor, and by 1646, he was poised to take power. 'The making of Oliver Cromwell' reveals the statesman to have been both genuine in his faith and deliberate in his dishonesty—and uncovers the inner workings of the man who has puzzled biographers for centuries."-- Taken from book-cover.