This work investigates the political and religious identity of the Tory party in England during the critical transition period following the Glorious Revolution. G. V. Bennett, a noted historian of the period, examines the complex interplay between the Church of England and the state apparatus. By analyzing the career of Francis Atterbury and his contemporaries, the author argues that the Tory crisis was not merely a political failure but a fundamental struggle to define the relationship between ecclesiastical authority and secular governance in a post-1688 landscape.

Historians frequently cite this work as a definitive study on the internal mechanics of the Tory party during the early eighteenth century. Scholars note the academic density of the prose and the rigorous archival research that underpins Bennett's analysis of church-state relations.