The hobby of historical re-enactment and ''living history'' in Britain owes its birth to the ''Sealed Knot'', the largest historical re-enactment society in Europe, founded in 1968 on the initiative of the late Brigadier Peter Young. In this book, two professional photographers record the English Civil War re-enactment scene - the often eerily convincing clashes on the battlefield, with blocks of hundreds of infantry, cavalry charges, muskateers and artillery batteries in action, soldiers and their families in camp and on the march, on and off duty, and close-ups of some of the finest reconstructed 17th-century costumes, armour and weapons. The text includes an account of the historical background to the battles as well as text from today's re-enactment groups.