Roger Williams was the first to describe individual liberty in modern terms - a huge influence on men such as Oliver Cromwell, John Milton and John Locke. Influenced by the great jurist Edward Coke and his mortal enemy, Francis Bacon, Williams developed concepts of individual rights and limits on state power as well as an understanding of the world through evidence, rather than belief or predisposition. This book examines how his 'altogether revolutionary' point of view was produced.