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History of Britain (Vol 3): The Fate of the Empire: 1776-2000

Simon Schama

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Published by BBC Books, part of Ebury Publishing

Format: Paperback

£14.99

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Details

EAN: 9780563487197
Published: 1 May 2003

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About the book

Synopsis

'While Britain was losing an empire, it was finding itself...' The compelling opening words to this volume, The Fate of the Empire, set the tone and agenda for the final stage of Simon Schama's epic voyage around Britain, her people and her past. Spanning two centuries, crossing the breadth of the empire and covering a vast expanse of topics - from the birth of feminism to the fate of freedom - he explores the forces that shaped British culture and character from 1776 to 2000.

The story opens on the eve of a bloody revolution, but not a British one. The French Revolution's spirit of fiery defiance and Romantic idealism sparked off a round of radical revolts and reforms that gathered momentum over the coming century - from the Irish Rebellion to the Chartist Petition. How could the world's first industrial society come through its growing pains without falling apart in social and political conflict? Would the machine age destroy or strengthen the institutions that held Britain together? And if the British Empire helped to make Britain stable and rich, did it live up to its promise to help the ruled as well as the rulers? Amidst the military and economic shocks and traumas of the 20th century, and through the voices of Churchill, Orwell and H. G. Wells, The Fate of the Empire asks the question that is still with us - is the immense weight of our history a blessing or a curse, a gift or a millstone around the neck of our future?

It is a vast, compelling epic, made more so by the lively storytelling and big, bold characters at the heart of the action. Schama also exposes the grand illusions that cost untold lives when India's viceroys let millions of starving Indians die. Why? What went wrong with the liberal dream? The answers emerge in The Fate of Empire, which reveals the living ideals of Britain's long history, 'a history that tied together social justice with bloody-minded liberty'.

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What the critics say

Schama has a masterly ability to conjure up character and vivify conflict.
- Financial Times

He remains a master storyteller, admirably and sceptically well read in current revisionist histories, and a wonderful guide to a new history of Britain.
- The Times

A History of Britain, its text supplemented by wonderful illustrations, affords the rare joy of witnessing a scholar at the peak of his powers convincing the reader that he has a cracking good tale to tell and that he is loving every minute of the telling.
- Literary Review

Popular history at its finest.
- Sunday Express

Simon Schama's A History of Britain is far more than the book of the TV series... The book is far richer and fuller, covering a huge span so economically that there is room for plenty of arresting detail... It is the sort of vivid history that keeps you awake.
- Daily Mail

About the Author

Simon Schama is University Professor of Art History and History at Columbia University in New York. His publications include Patriots and Liberators, which won the 1989 Yorkshire Post Award for Non-Fiction, Dead Certainties, Landscape Eyes and the History of Britain series. Simon Schama was art critic for the New Yorker from 1995 to 1998, and was awarded a C.B.E. in the 2001 New Year's Honours List. His most recent book, Simon Schama's Power of Art was published to critical acclaim in 2006.

Simon Schama

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