A History of Britain: Volume 1 Audiobook By Simon Schama cover art

A History of Britain: Volume 1

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A History of Britain: Volume 1

By: Simon Schama
Narrated by: Stephen Thorne
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The story of Britain from the earliest settlements in 3000 BC to the death of Elizabeth I in 1603. To look back at the past is to understand the present. In this vivid account of over 4,000 years of British history, Simon Schama takes us on an epic journey which encompasses the very beginnings of the nation's identity, when the first settlers landed on Orkney.

From the successes and failures of the monarchy to the daily life of a Roman soldier stationed on Hadrian's Wall, Schama gives a vivid, fascinating account of the many different stories and struggles that lie behind the growth of our island nation. Simon Schama's major BBC2 series has shown him to be one of our most original and exciting historians.

©2012 Simon Schama (P)2014 Audible, Inc. Europe Great Britain Ireland England Royalty
Engaging Narrative • Witty Writing • Captivating Storytelling • Rich Detail • Insightful Analysis • Perfect Voice
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I new that the early history of England was more complicated than I thought but boy was I wrong. man what a History.
This is a well written Book.

The real history of England

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Do, to answer many questions I had about British history (from watching all those PBS Masterpiece shows), I added this to my list. ... and it’s great so far. Yes, there are gaps (like the cursory treatment of the Wars of the Roses, which I knew little about and learned little more), but overall it’s fascinating. Lots on pre-Norman invasion (Roman Britain was quite a thing!), and the rise of the Tudor’s. Fun stuff. BUT, on top of the content, the style of the prose, and the way it was read was wonderful. Dang, those Brits are educated! Reminds me of the various times I’ve had to deal with graduates of British universities in my working career, where sometimes I felt like applauding after one of them just made an extemporaneous talk about an obscure point of history or technology.

Good history, fantastic reading

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Would you listen to A History of Britain: Volume 1 again? Why?

Yes. The information is so packed in there. I finished this a few months ago, and I am afraid I have retained probably less than a 10th of the information.

Who was your favorite character and why?

King Alfred the Great. Brilliant.

Any additional comments?

Probably written for a British audience. Had the feeling that I was pretending to know what was happening half the time because I got disoriented in time and eras.

Intriguing introduction

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narration was good, well written history, but, and this may be an issue with me, an American, I had a tough time caring about the leaders, who pretty much seemed to jerks across the board. Glad I didn't live back then.

dense but interesting

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easy to listen to. relaxing book. told in vignettes that make the content very digestible

great story

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there are times when this is amazing, there are other times where it just skips ahead wildly.. especially the war of the roses era.

great reader, story jumps around

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The History of Britain is well explained, in an honest manner, dirty secrets and all, but the true pleasure of listening to these 3 books is the outstanding writing of Simon Schama. The words flow like poetry and I find myself just enjoying the performance, sentence grammar, and perfect style. These 3 books are definitely the best English writing I have ever had the pleasure of listening to. I will listen to these books many times again just for the quality of the writing. I can't compliment him enough, and the narrator has a wonderful delivery. I'm so glad I discovered these books.

Schama is one of the great English wordsmiths

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This is the first volume of A History of Britain and takes us from the the earliest civilization on the islands to the end of the reign of Elizabeth I. It includes the 300 years of the Roman Empire in Britain and shows how the remnants of Roman culture played a part in molding the history for centuries later. The time period also includes the Norman Conquest, the Black Plague (which reduced the population of Europe by nearly half), the reign of Edward I, the various intrigues of the Tudors, and the continuing clash between Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots. It was made into a TV series on the History Channel as well. 

Professor Schama deserves kudos for making history interesting, even in this non-TV version. Though this starts out in prehistoric times of the beginning of civilization, that portion of the book is covered quite briefly. He slows down and goes into more detail when the Romans arrived, naturally, since there are written records from that time period. Those 300 years seem to be a relatively peaceful time and certainly the great building boom bears that out. The later arrival of the Vikings, the Anglo-Saxons, and finally the Normans was much more violent when the land seemed to be the focal point of conflict between various foreign forces and peoples. He does a good job of explaining the development of the history, particularly from a political, i.e. royal perspective. Though it also attempts to help us understand the life of the “civilian” population at times, that may be its weakest area, though it may have made the book much too long to deal with the lives of ordinary people. And one may also criticize its focus on England at the expense of Scotland, Wales, and Ireland since it calls itself “A History of Britain.” 

Although at the end of this first book, there was still no united Britain,  one of the themes is the events that laid the foundations for the formation of a nation state in the next century. 

Much more time was spent on the era after the arrival of the Normans, particularly of the Plantagenet kings (1145 – 1485) and the Tudors (1485 – 1603), a very violent time, at least for royals and other nobles, when the Tower would have quickly filled to capacity were it not for the many beheadings, hangings, and quartering (look that up) that seemed to be the equivalent or reality TV for the middle ages.

But, some of those excesses also set the stage for the evolution of Britain into a constitutional monarchy (over many more centuries) and eventually the experiment in a constitutional democratic republic in the independent American colonies. The Magna Carta (1215) was signed by King John of England to solve a political crisis of his own making and was later ignored many times but kept coming back in modified form to limit the power of the monarchy. 

One thing that is ofen ignored in history is the recurrence of anti-Semitism and Professor Schama does not ignore this part of history. He recounts its prevalence in various incidents in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries including massacres in York in 1190 and the Edict of Expulsion issued by Edward I in 1290. 

If you have any interest in History, this is a good one to read. I suspect that it won’t offer any new revelations to a scholar, but for someone who just wants to understand without being bored, this is a good start.

Good political history for most of us

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Schama is a talented writer, and his narrative flows easily, but it is really just a popular history of the English Monarchy from William the Conqueror through Elizabeth 1. Even then, while he hits on all of the major points of that time frame, he obviously felt that there were really only a few Monarchs who deserved more than a cursory mention, leaving this very much a book in the Great Man of History tradition.

William I, Edward I, Henry II and Beckett, Henry III and Eleanor and the Tudors all get lots of press. Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Chaucer, Shakespeare, the War of the Roses, Richard III, the Crusades and many other aspects of British history are given scant mention.

Thorne does a fine job as narrator, and it is a well written book, with a sly wit, but the subtitle is a bit misleading.

A History of the English Monarchy from 1066-1603

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This book gives an excellent overview of British history through Queen Elizabeth I. The writing is careful, engaging, and learned. It is difficult to read a book like this in an engaging way, and, indeed, the reading is not completely engrossing, but it is interesting enough.

Excellent history, read surprisingly well.

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