A Turbulent, Seditious and Factious People

Preacher, Soldier, Rebel: Who was the author of Pilgrim’s Progress, one of the most influential books ever written? John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress is one of the most significant works of English literature. Translated into more than 200 languages, there was a time when almost every household in Britain was more likely to have a copy than the Bible. This classic biography of Bunyan by one of the leading historians of the 17th century offers a reassessment of the man in the context of his times. He is usually studied and remembered as the author of The Pilgrim’s Progress and other Christian literature, but his own consideration of himself would most probably have been as a preacher first and foremost—a man whose nonconformist religion led him into conflict with the Quakers and into years of imprisonment. It was in the service of this religion that his writings were produced, many of them during the nearly twelve years spent in Bedford jail between 1660 and 1672. An extraordinary insight into John Bunyan, one of the towering figures of English literature, this remains the definitive biography.