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Nonetheless, this Anglo-centric approach is understandable - this is not a specialised history and the over-riding influence of the English on the History of the British Isles cannot be ignored.
Schama's target audience is well served by this work, despite it's simplicity and occasional ... Read review
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What do you get when you combine the resources and ethos of the BBC with the literary
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panache of one of the world's best narrative historians? The answer is Simon Schama'sHistory of Britain, the first volume of which accompanies the BBC television seri...
panache of one of the world's best narrative historians? The answer is Simon Schama'sHistory of Britain, the first volume of which accompanies the BBC television seri...
panache of one of the world's best narrative historians? The answer is Simon Schama'sHistory of Britain, the first volume of which accompanies the BBC television series of the same name.In a beautifully written and thoughtfully crafted book, studded with striking portraits, pictures and maps, Schama, the bestselling author of books on European cultural history such asThe Embarrassment of RichesandCitizens, as well as 1999'sRembrandt's Eyes, has managed to be both conventional and provocative. He tells the official version of Britain's island story--from Roman Britain, through the Norman conquest, the struggles of the Henrys and Richards with their bolshie barons and cautious clerics, Edward I and the subjugation of Wales, King Death (the plague), and on to the Henrician reformation, before closing with the remarkable reign of the virgin queen, Elizabeth I.While sticking to a script familiar to anyone who sat up and listened in history lessons at school, Schama brings it all alive, with memorable prose--Simon de Montfort's rebel parliament is described as inaugurating the "union between patriotism and insubordination"; with Henry VIII, Schama says, "you could practically smell the testosterone". And with fine sensitivity too, particularly on the symbolism of buildings, memorials, language and ceremonies, and on the complex relations between England and her Celtic and Catholic neighbours. If history must have gloss, then let it be written and presented like this. --Miles Taylor
panache of one of the world's best narrative historians? The answer is Simon Schama'sHistory of Britain, the first volume of which accompanies the BBC television series of the same name.In a beautifully written and thoughtfully crafted book, studded with striking portraits, pictures and maps, Schama, the bestselling author of books on European cultural history such asThe Embarrassment of RichesandCitizens, as well as 1999'sRembrandt's Eyes, has managed to be both conventional and provocative. He tells the official version of Britain's island story--from Roman Britain, through the Norman conquest, the struggles of the Henrys and Richards with their bolshie barons and cautious clerics, Edward I and the subjugation of Wales, King Death (the plague), and on to the Henrician reformation, before closing with the remarkable reign of the virgin queen, Elizabeth I.While sticking to a script familiar to anyone who sat up and listened in history lessons at school, Schama brings it all alive, with memorable prose--Simon de Montfort's rebel parliament is described as inaugurating the "union between patriotism and insubordination"; with Henry VIII, Schama says, "you could practically smell the testosterone". And with fine sensitivity too, particularly on the symbolism of buildings, memorials, language and ceremonies, and on the complex relations between England and her Celtic and Catholic neighbours. If history must have gloss, then let it be written and presented like this. --Miles Taylor
Well worth it... Review ofA History of Britain 1 - Simon Schamaby
Adereterial
Advantages: Accessible Disadvantages: Simplistic & Inaccurate in places
...will not find this book a disappointment. However, those who seek to find a true 'History of Britain' in these pages will suffer disappointment - this book, essentially, is a History of England, with Wales, Scotland and Ireland being left somewhat to the passing statement to contrast or confirm the English experience.
Nonetheless, this Anglo-centric approach is understandable - this is not a specialised history and the over-riding influence of the ... ...should be recommended to pre-GCSE age children, who may come under Cleo's thrall, and hopefully develop their interest in a subject which suffers from a lack of talent at British universities. Books such as these show, if nothing else, that History can be both accessible, exciting, and above all, sexy. ...
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18.05.2004
simon says Review ofA History of Britain 1 - Simon Schamaby
oclumhain
Advantages: ????? I didn't have to pay for it. Disadvantages: errors
I'm always a bit sceptical of books that get hyped a lot and this was no exception. So rather than buy the thing I decided I would read it in stages in bookshops. To be honest I am glad I didn't buy it.
It never ceases to amaze me that historians can get such basics facts wrong about their nearest neighbours and still be lauded. When I read through this book I of course looked at the maps. I was fascinated to discover the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms that ... ...been descended from the Vikings, thus giving a tenuous link to this error, there weren't Anglo-Saxon.
Unfortunately errors of this nature are not uncommon by British historians. Given the inability to get such basic facts in the book it makes me somewhat suspicious of the rest of the content. ...
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