AHR Forum: “Simon Schama’s A History of Britain”

Interestingly, the AHR Forum on “Simon Schama’s A History of Britain,” like the Roundtable, “Historians and Biography,” also deals with a genre of historical representation about which historians are somewhat ambivalent. Though it also appeared as a three-volume publication, Schama’s A History of Britain is most widely known as a BBC production in 15 episodes. We asked three historians to consider this popular program, as well as the book. Miri Rubin looks at it from the perspective of a medieval historian; Linda Levy Peck as a specialist in the early modern period; and Peter Stansky as a historian of Modern Britain. In his Comment, Schama discusses how he conceived and wrote the series and offers as well some thoughts on the medium of television for the presentation of history to a wider public.