Few decades are as significant in British history as the 1680s. The Stuart multiple monarchy came perilously close to embracing a new absolutist style of government and to reversing the Reformation, only to be overthrown by a reluctant revolution which set in motion immense social and political transformations. At the heart of this turmoil was religion: the whirligig of persecution and toleration disoriented followers of every denomination at one point or another. Yet only in the last generation have the 1680s received the kind of scholarly attention that can really disclose the texture of these anxious years. Study of the decade is now further advanced by a collection of essays, ably edited and introduced by Jason McElligott, which showcases the work of younger scholars as well as established authorities. Collectively these essays round out our picture of the decade and transcend their origin as papers delivered at a conference on the world of Roger Morrice, the Presbyterian go-between and chronicler, whose manuscript ‘Entring book’ of public events between 1677 and 1691 has recently been published under the general editorship of Mark Goldie. In McElligott's collection the cultural ramifications of religion and politics are a prominent theme. The story is taken down to the grassroots of parish squabbles and cheap print, into the heart of the Whig party's conviviality and female support, and into the networks of news, gossip and information. The presence of Huguenot refugees was a grim warning of what French-style absolutism might portend for England, as is expertly demonstrated by Robin Gwynn, a progenitor of the current Morrice edition. Religious nerves were stretched to breaking point: the 1681 furore around an ‘idolatrous’ statue of St Michael in All Hallows', London, is brought to life by Clare Haynes; in an acute comparison of Heylyn and Burnet on the Reformation, Andrew Starkie discusses the meanings of ‘popery’; and David Wykes's vivid reconstruction of Ralph Thoresby's historical interests affords further evidence of how contemporaries, struggling to make sense of their experience, turned to the uncomfortable lessons of the recent past. Kate Loveman's enthralling essay on the popular rogue narratives that sustained the Popish Plot reveals the tendency of political propaganda to descend into sheer entertainment. Geoff Kemp's chapter on L'Estrange is that rare thing, a genuinely helpful contribution to the public sphere debate and Mark Knights reveals the mechanics of gathering, filtering and judging the ‘news’. The richer ‘social politics’ that we now expect from historians is exemplified here by Melinda Zook's essay on the women who ‘nursed’ the Whig cause and by Newton Key's incisive attack, using evidence of the Association and Whig feasting, on prevalent interpretations of the Exclusion crisis. Gary De Krey extends the arguments of his recent monograph up to the late 1680s in an essay that reveals just how much Dissent might hope to gain from James ii's toleration. Exploring the mysterious absence of violence in December 1688, Charles Levillain finds explanations in the behaviour of the Dutch army and the preoccupations of Louis xiv. There are no duds in this collection: inevitably some authors ride particular hobbyhorses, but none of the essays are less than original, scholarly and lucid. Each of these essays will find a distinct audience, but the whole collection will be required reading for any serious student of the 1680s.