Rating: 
Summary: An entertaining tour of early english history
Review: I really enjoyed this book. I have never watched the TV series but I have read Citizens and Riches as well as the 2nd volume in this series. Em. of Riches was an very very detailed book, which attempted to look at every aspect of dutch society. Citizens attempted to also take a hard look at what was under the surface of the French revolution.
This book does Not take a hard look at anything. It is not meant to. This book is for the pure pleasure of reading. It zips through early english history stopping at specific landmarks and interesting people. Witty commentary, great insight and easy grammer (unlike his previous works) are meant to pander to the lay audience. This is not a scholarly work like Riches. I enjoy all of this mans works as they are all very insightful.
Rating:
Summary: An entertaining tour of early english history
Review: I really enjoyed this book. I have never watched the TV series but I have read Citizens and Riches as well as the 2nd volume in this series. Em. of Riches was an very very detailed book, which attempted to look at every aspect of dutch society. Citizens attempted to also take a hard look at what was under the surface of the French revolution.
This book does Not take a hard look at anything. It is not meant to. This book is for the pure pleasure of reading. It zips through early english history stopping at specific landmarks and interesting people. Witty commentary, great insight and easy grammer (unlike his previous works) are meant to pander to the lay audience. This is not a scholarly work like Riches. I enjoy all of this mans works as they are all very insightful.
Rating:
Summary: Popular History
Review: I saw two episodes and rushed out to buy the video. This is popular history - Schama (& a creative team) bring immediacy and passion to long ago deeds. The power struggles, invasions, wars and alliances are a fascinating tapestry. It isn't about "great men", it's about people with flaws and obsessions, sometimes visions. The time before reason, when (sometimes) faith meant everything. An exhilarating, thoughtful and entertaining adventure. Thank you, Mr Schama!
Rating: 
Summary: If historys firebrand be princes of the realm...
Review: If all of Britains history can be told through the lifelines of it monarchy then this is a truly successful telling of it. Schama glides effortlessly through the trials and tribulations of the royal body politic, from the Roman archetype rounding out with the enlightenment period. Although any effort of this scale has to be by defintion cursory, this one is at the very least quite entertaining. The book on tape version is also a good buy.s_dennis@hotmail.com Long Beach, CA
Rating:
Summary: Fun History of Britain
Review: If history bores you and you enjoy reading, I think Schama intends more to educate through entertainment than to simply educate. This is not the typical history book and is well-written. There are plenty of funny, interesting, and most often brief acounts given that help one understand and provide laughs at times. Schama is not a British historian and has lived in the US for maybe the last 25 years. But on account of being British, a Columbia professor, and--based on reading his three volumes on British history--an excellent writer, he has been encouraged and has writen about British history.
After reading this book I got a good feel of the life at the time, and I think that is largely due to the historical records Schama uses that show the emotions and logic of the times. The beautiful pictures also help in fostering a sense of what Britain is and was like. This book is a very easy and enjoyable read read, and I think this book is perfect for the reader unfamiliar with British history but does not take to history per se.
Rating:
Summary: Fun History of Britain
Review: If history bores you and you enjoy reading, I think Schama intends more to educate through entertainment than to simply educate. This is not the typical history book and is well-written. There are plenty of funny, interesting, and most often brief acounts given that help one understand and provide laughs at times. Schama is not a British historian and has lived in the US for maybe the last 25 years. But on account of being British, a Columbia professor, and--based on reading his three volumes on British history--an excellent writer, he has been encouraged and has writen about British history.
After reading this book I got a good feel of the life at the time, and I think that is largely due to the historical records Schama uses that show the emotions and logic of the times. The beautiful pictures also help in fostering a sense of what Britain is and was like. This book is a very easy and enjoyable read read, and I think this book is perfect for the reader unfamiliar with British history but does not take to history per se.
Rating: 
Summary: not a "Citizen"
Review: If the reader is looking to Schama for another great, such as his landmark work "Citizen", you will be disappointed. This is a book that brushes over 5000 years of history on a couple hundred pages. Sure it has some nice pictures, but if you want an informative work on early English history, look somewere else. "Citizen" is Schama at his most brilliant. "History of Britain" is Schama pandering to his publishers.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderfully illustrated survey
Review: Let me begin by saying that I think some of the other reviewers expected a bit much. If you are an afficianado of documentaries, you will probably not learn anything new. Descriptions are pretty brief and you may recognize some passages verbatim from your favorite British history specials (which were probably narrated or produced by the author). What else could you possibly expect when trying to cover 5103 years in 416 pages?! That said, what I liked most about this book was the color photos. Almost every other page yielded a glorious plate of illuminated manuscripts, Westminster tombs, crumbling castles,etc. Moreover, these weren't usually the tired old photos one usually associates with "survey" books. Of course, the Hans Holbein portraits of the Tudors and their paramours are included (I don't think you can publish a book on British history without them!) However, so are detailed views of Skara Brae, the tombs of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York in Westminster, etc. You may see photos of places which you have, heretofore, only read about. As for the writing, I found it engaging and easy to read. Mr. Schama hits all the high points from the earliest Neolithic settlements in the Orkneys to Elizabeth I's remarkable reign. I was especially pleased with the way he treated the era of the Black Death, succinctly showing the inter-relatedness of decreased population and general insecurity with the political travails that besieged England beginning in the mid-14th century. The only era which I thought was less than fairly covered (and why this book rates four instead of five stars)was the Wars of the Roses - they got only a brief mention at the end of the King Death chapter. I thought Mr. Schama could have more clearly explained how the monarchy went from Lancastrian Henry VI to whatever-he-was Henry VII. I don't even recall a mention of the children in the tower. All in all, I think this is a wonderful addition to any library. Again, don't think of this as a history or referenece book. Rather, I think it's closer to an uncommonly erudite coffee table book.
Rating: 
Summary: cashing in
Review: One understands the temptation. Even a best selling work of serious history doesn't earn the kind of money considered 'serious' in Wall Street terms. Imagine the frustration of teaching class after class of Columbia College students only to watch the little twerps become richer within a few years of graduation than their professor will ever be. Then this television company offers you, like, serious money to lend your name , the name of a serious, distinguished, respected historian, to the enterprise of packaging historical pablum for the semi-literate. Hey, everybody else is cashing in - why not Schama? It's not as though he's done anything truly evil after all. Merely lent his name to a grade B book. I presume that he didn't write the thing, I hope he spent his time writing something substantive. A mind, after all, is a terrible thing to waste.
Rating:
Summary: Coffee-table History
Review: Presumably, there were high expectations for this, coming from a historian of Schama's stature, but I have to agree with many of the reader comments that the book is a vast disappointment. He starts out badly, with the irrelevance (at least to this book, as it covers "Britain" only to 1600) of two pages on the coronation of Elizabeth II. It then proceeds to a chronicle of the monarchy and nobility, with hardly a glance at anyone or anything below them. Schama professes early on (between the coronation and Churchill's funeral apparently) to have been an avid reader of Fernand Braudel, E. P. Thompson, Marc Bloch, and Christopher Hill, but if this work is any indication he has taken nothing from them of their disdain for the "great man" theory of history. It's hard to figure out his intended audience here--certainly not professional historians or students, and even those in need of a nice coffee-table tome will not be very impressed by this somewhat thin volume. Minus the profuse illustrations, there are barely 300 pages of text to cover "Britain" (actually England) to 1600. The book is a TV tie-in with the BBC series (shown here on the History Channel) and it bears all the marks of a commercially-driven product. Schama does write well, but it is clear he is not a specialist in English history. I would think Davies' recent "The Isles" or the older Oxford History of Britain would be a better chioce for most readers.
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