• A History of Britain: Volume 3

  • By: Simon Schama
  • Narrated by: Stephen Thorne
  • Length: 20 hrs and 38 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (364 ratings)

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A History of Britain: Volume 3  By  cover art

A History of Britain: Volume 3

By: Simon Schama
Narrated by: Stephen Thorne
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Publisher's summary

Timothy West reads the third and concluding volume of award-winning historian Simon Schama's compelling chronicle of the British Isles.

Here he illuminates the period from 1776 to 2000 through a variety of historical themes, including Victorian advances in technology and industry, women's increasing role in society, and the burgeoning British Empire which promised civilisation and material betterment for all. This volume also looks at key characters from the period, including Wordsworth, Burke, Queen Victoria, Churchill, and Orwell, whilst examining some lesser-known lives, such as Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, the first woman doctor, and Mary Seacole, a Jamaican nurse in the Crimea. Finally, Schama reflects on the overwhelming presence of the past in the 20th century, and the struggle of our leaders to find a way of making a different national future.

©2012 Simon Schama (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about A History of Britain: Volume 3

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

An interesting and entertaining final volume

The final volume in the history is as good as the first two. By the time the listener is on the 3rd volume Thorne's voice is like that of an old friend. Actually, when I read the blurb about the 3rd volume it mentioned that the narrator was different and I was taken aback because at that point it would have been weird to switch voices. However, the blurb was thankfully inaccurate. The histories of Queen Victoria and Winston Churchill are two of the highlights of the final volume. The history of British rule in India is also fascinating. I was a bit disappointed with the last bit of the book because post-WWII Britain is basically just skimmed over. The author had forewarned us that this would be the case but I had held out hope that he was exaggerating. Alas, Schama was telling the truth. I would have liked to hear more about how Britain dealt with Ireland becoming independent and how it handled the breakup of its empire. I also wanted to hear a more detailed account of Thatcher's history. My biggest disappointment concerned the history of the crown. I was looking forward to learning what it was that changed the crown from being of chief importance to being a ceremonial relic. I wanted to know how things changed so much in so little time but it was never explained or really even touched on. Queen Victoria's reign ended in the early 1900's and by all accounts she was the supreme ruler of Britain and extremely important (the period is named after her after all). In my lifetime Queen Elizabeth II has been irrelevant to all besides tabloid magazine editors. How did that happen? I never learned this. I don't recall King Edward VIII giving up the crown in order to marry a divorced woman being mentioned at all, and if it was it wasn't discussed at any length. I would have liked to hear more about the 2nd half of the 20th century.

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11 people found this helpful

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closer in time means more opinion less history

very odd selections of events -- and a very one sided portrait of Edmund Burke -- just one example. Not that he was a perfect paragon but he called the French revolution what it was. Minutia overwhelms the flow. Earlier volumes SO MUCH BETTER than this last volume about more modern times.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

The story of a lost Empire

As always from Simon Schama and Stephen Thorne an immaculate narrative so well performed.However I would have preferred more detailed history on British involvement with its Colonial aspirations and subsequent set backs such as the First Great War and the aftermath on the Second.

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Wonderfully detailed!

It is a long book but what would you expect? Britain is old. What I have enjoyed about this series of books is it’s focus, not just in wars but on the people and social forces at work in society. This is a must read for serious history buffs.

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Broken history told through scattered mini-bios

Broken history told through scattered mini-biographies.

The third and final volume of Schama's "A History of Britain" limps to the end with a disjointed 150 year history that isn't really a history at all -- rather it's a series of mini-biographies of personalities that are from the relevant time period but only loosely connected to the events themselves.

The Napoleonic Wars are barely touched on except insofar as we get a little mini-biography of Rousseau. We get an EXTENDED biography of Mary Wolstoncraft (like, way way too long) in what is, I suppose, an attempt to equate her with the travails of women and the gradual rise of proto-feminist/suffrage thought in Britain during the Victorian era -- but it's way too specific to Wolstoncraft herself to be of real utility. We also get short little biographies of John Stuart Mill, and Jeremy Bentham, and (more appropriately) Lloyd George and Churchill. Other figures like Gandhi pass through the narrative, but only a select few get the deep dive biographical treatment from Schama.

The Churchill biography dominates the latter half of the book which is mostly appropriate but it's also frustrating. While Schama warns the reader not to expect a traditional narrative history, his approach of tacking together semi-random biographies that never connect themselves to the actual historical facts/narrative reeks of a somewhat slapdash effort.

Overall, this final volume is the least coherently structured, the least well-argued, and the least satisfying. Much like the Empire it is designed to chronicle, it goes out with a whimper, rather than a bang.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Volume 3 Is an outstanding conclusion to history.

Sailed right through this concluding volume. The narrator brought this scholarship to life. I truly enjoyed it.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Works of great genius

All three volumes of Professor Schama's 'History of Britain' are works of great genius. I rejoice in having listened to this monumental epic in it's entirety.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Making Big History Human

Schama, here as in the earlier volume (II, haven't read I yet), by focusing more on individual stories than massive developments (though they are visible in the background), brings huge history into human scale. This is a useful volume not for being an encyclopedic survey, but a human one. A given historian may not agree with all Schama's conclusions, but can't help but be moved by his observations on people as diverse as Victoria and Albert and George Orwell. He reminds us that history is made by and effects individuals, which makes it especially valuable.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Brilliant insights

Readable witty and easy to follow in audible form. Original tales on Churchill Orwell and monarchy

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Illuminating

Very detailed, as the author puts it, selectively so. Good selections, better accounts. If the subject is of your interest, then by all means, this is the book. Great Britain at its greatest.

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