History of Britain Vol 2 1604 - 1776: British Wars 1603-1776 Vol 2

Unlike the generally straightforward chronological approach of the first two volumes, though, Schama has taken a rather more thematic approach to history in Volume 3 - the clear sense of ongoing narrative has been subsumed into rather more background and rather more focus on individual details. This makes Vol 3 feel rather different to its predecessors and I for one preferred the more narrative approach Schama initially adopted.

Schama's writing is as crisp and powerful as ever - just the right blend of colloquialism, precision and description. This History of Britain has been far more than a "book of the TV series"; it is a compelling literary work that stands proudly alone too.

The only book on British history to come close to Schama's efforts in terms of readability and scope is Norman Davies' "The Isles: A History".


The Last and the Best   December 30, 2002
 12 out of 13 found this review helpful

Volume 3 of Schama's History of Britain is outstanding in its lucidity, honesty and insight. Schama's ability to convey the feel and texture of the past is nowhere better brought out than in his final instalment of his History of Britain.

Schama has also been alive and aware of the inevitability of giving us his History, as the title says, it is 'A History'. This is not a definitive, detailed all-inclusive history because Professor Schama no doubt knows that this is not possible and probably asethetically not desirable anyway. No, Schama instead continues to tell this History as a story, with a sense of truth that is not "always and forever" but that is sensitive toward what can reasonably told.

Schama's interests tend towards the cultural and the social and this is complimented not just by the astonishing weight of such material that is to be found in the modern and post modern eras, but also recent trends in writing cultural history. So the Great Exhibition becomes a symbol of Victorian Britain, the Romantic poets a key to unlocking post Revolutionary Britain whilst his weaving of the fate of Empire through the lives of Churchill and Orwell is a rich and demanding example of a historian in command of his work.

His skill is his ability to waltz from the parochial to the national and international, from the voiceless to the powerful and from the image to the text whilst all the while preserving clarity of thought and direction. His startling trait of providing insight through comparison and difference and his ability to play with imagination, memory and text all add toward a book remarkable in its breadth of knowledge.

On top of that, Schama's Britain, his idea of what to be Britain and British is, of what Britain's past means to it and how it forms Britain, is joyously subtle whilst essential giving meaning to the past without sentimentalising it to the point of parody. Perhaps his greatest attribute is his ability to convey the sense of someone who knows that he is telling you a truly fascinating story, full of complexities, emotion and humanity. This book is one of style, fascination and erudition- history as it ought to be.


Shimmering Schama   November 26, 2002
 58 out of 63 found this review helpful

Let me start off this review by saying that I am a great admirer of Mr. Schama. I have read "Citizens", "Landscape And Memory" and "Rembrandt's Eyes" and thought they were all wonderful. I would give all of those books a 5 star rating. So, what happened here? I think what happened was that Mr. Schama was being pulled in 2 different directions. This book is meant to accompany the television programs that the author is hosting for the BBC. Instead of just writing whatever book he might ordinarily have written, I think Mr. Schama was hindered by the restrictions the TV format placed on him. For the TV shows he had to come up with various "hooks", a few well-known personalities that would help him illustrate whatever point or points he was trying to make at that place in the narrative. Additionally, the television format required Mr. Schama to be ruthlessly selective in what he chose to include or exclude. There just isn't the time to put in everything that you'd like to. These requirements distort the writing process. Mr. Schama is aware of the problem and addresses it in the preface to the book. But this "preemptive strike", this acknowledgement by the author that he is aware of the problem, doesn't make the problem go away. The author is such a good historian, and such a good writer, that this book is still well-worth reading. Mr. Schama has pulled out, like rabbits from a hat, some interesting tales of little-known historical figures. Here we have Thomas Day, a great believer in the theories of Jean-Jacques Rousseau: "...Day...believed in the inter-connectedness of all created life and was therefore a vegetarian...Would he want to treat all creatures with the same consideration, asked a sardonic lawyer friend, even spiders? Would he not want to kill them? 'No,' answered Day, 'I don't know that I have a right. Suppose that a superior being said to a companion- "Kill that lawyer." How should you like it? And a lawyer is more noxious to most people than a spider.'....(Day's) peculiar life ended abruptly in September 1789 in his 42nd year, during an experiment to test his pet theories about taming horses with gentleness rather than breaking them. An unbroken colt he was riding failed to respond to the tender touch, and threw Day on his head." The book is filled with nice touches like this. There are many entertaining anecdotes about the well-known, such as Wordsworth, Coleridge, Queen Victoria, George Orwell, Winston Churchill, etc.....and the not-so-well-known, such as Mr. Day. This provides a counterbalance to the heavyweight material....for example, the intricacies of British politics (Pitt vs. Fox; Gladstone vs. Disraeli; Labour vs. Liberal vs. Conservative); the big-issues (home-rule for Ireland, Scotland and Wales; women's suffrage; the Raj; industrialization; the gap between rich and poor, etc.). But, despite the quality of both Mr. Schama's thinking and writing, in the end we feel strangely unsatisfied. There are flashes of brilliance but also many areas of darkness. Too much has been left out. Despite what you might have anticipated by the book starting with 1776, there is nothing here concerning the American Revolution; a handful of pages concerning the 20 year struggle against Napoleonic France; no mention of the War Of 1812; virtually nothing on the Crimean and Boer Wars, or WWI; nothing on the relationship between Britain and South Africa, or Britain and Canada, or Britain and Australia/New Zealand, etc.; and, surprisingly, considering Mr. Schama's wide-ranging interests, except for mentioning some writers, there is very little cultural history contained in these pages- nothing about art, music, dance, architecture, etc.; and almost no mention of scientific and technological achievements. So, if you are a fan of Mr. Schama, read this book for the beautiful prose and for the author's always interesting insights concerning the areas he has chosen to cover. But, if you are looking for a detailed, all-inclusive history of Great Britain- you will need to look elsewhere.


Master Storyteller   November 7, 2002
 33 out of 38 found this review helpful

Schama breathes life into British History, with vivid accounts of the key events from 1776-Present Day, through the eyes of the famous, but more importantly, through the eyes and lives of the ordinary people of Britain and it's Empire. His text and the accompanying photographs will hold you spellbound. His account of Churchill's speech to his Cabinet on 28 May 1940 is masterful. A book that every British person should read. A book that makes you proud of our heritage. Highly recommended.


Historical Weight-Training   October 25, 2002
 61 out of 63 found this review helpful

I don't like glossy coffee-table books because of their physical nature. If you like to read lying down they are a bind: lie on your back and they make your arms sore in a way no paperback does; lie on your side and their waxy pages catch and reflect the light. *And* you have to swap sides every time you turn the page.

But for Simon Schama I'll make an exception. This is not just a paperback text with glossy pictures stuck on and a tenner added to the price. It is - please forgive the terrible nineties expression - an 'experience'.

This particular period of history is not, perhaps, as interesting as the centuries covered in the earlier volumes. After the excitement of the Napoleonic wars and their aftermath the narrative becomes less incident-packed and more focussed on social history. That I find this less interesting than the battles and religious strife that went before says more about me than it does about Schama. His prose pleasantly complements the photos and illustrations. He might not thank me for saying it, but he gives history a pleasing sense of narrative such as we non-academic dabblers need to keep us entertained.

So, a good purchase, especially if you're buying someone a present, or you're after a handsome volume to sit on your living room bookshelf. If you actually want to learn about the period this is a good introduction. However Schama is generally uncontroversial and readers already familiar with the material won't find much that's new.

Just be prepared to sit at a table to read it. Or maybe you want to beef up those biceps?