In his third volume of Simon Schama’s History of Britain, I think that Schama pulled up a bit on this final volume. I thought that the first two were better.
I did like the deep back round on George Orwell and how the changing Britain and Orwell's career shared ties and themes.

I have loved all three volumes of this stunning series and will read all of them again and use them for references. Highlighting key personalities and developing their character within the context of their time period makes the writing personal, intimated and riveting.

I really enjoyed this. First, on a shallow note, the book is gorgeous and has many beautiful reproductions of landscape & history paintings, portraits, and photographs. Secondly, the author Simon Schama picks just a few threads to focus on for his story of Britain so it's not all over the place (it's mainly about the history of social reform, the crap Britain repeatedly pulled in India and Ireland, and the ongoing battle between capitalism and socialism). My only complaint is that 1950-2000 is very much glossed over (he covers 50 years in about 15 pages!).

Brilliant.
In this last volume of his incredible trilogy, Schama expertly wraps up the long petulant story Britain. Throughout he has taken care to mention the prominent figures in the arts and humanities so often ignored in empiric histories. The whole series radiates a certain enthusiastic love for the land and nation it chronicles all the while remaining honest of her shortcomings, and what a lack of applicable vocabulary forces me to label as atrocities. A mixture of exultant patriotism and an honest awareness.

This concluding volume covers the history of Britain from the US revolution to the present. As you might expect, it is a broad survey of themes but that is OK. I have read more detailed accounts. The section on the establishment of the Raj in India was the most interesting part of this book.

This is the most narratively obtuse of the trilogy. I think my expectations were set high by the first volume which I loved. It was narrative, and factual and enjoyable. The narrative in this volume follows certain historical figures within the time period and assumes you know a fair amount of history for the context. The period between 1776 and 2000. Unfortunately WW II was covered in less than a 100 pages with the focus figures being Churchill and George Orwell. I liked it but I could use more context.

friend of a friend brought this back from the UK and I picked it up over a succession of lounge-ings at his house. pretty good quick history read. revolves around things that transport you to another time: exhibitions, historic persons, and especially drew me in with the early 20th century details of H.G. Wells, Orwell, and Churchill.

An interesting take on a large portion of British history, this work focuses not on a truly chronological progression of the empire, but on various figures, many of who are not well known, meandering back and forth along the progression of time to describe both their place and their effect on history. Of particular note was the strong presence of women in the work, not merely the few known entities of the Victorian era, such as the Pankhursts and Florence Nightengale, but also many less-remembered names who nevertheless had a strong impact on their contemporaries and a role in shaping history.

I am so glad to have read all three volumes of Schama’s History of Britain, even though they are very long! What I liked best is that Schama assumes you know the general outlines of history, and then he weaves stories about the people and events. Not an endless series of “and then...and then...and then...”
I highly recommended these books!

As usual, extremely well written, although very rushed after the end of the period of the Second World War.

This should be the curriculum of every British school. Simon Schama captures Britain warts and all.

I'll sum up my review of all three parts to his trilogy in this, the final volume.

The great thing about British history is that there can be and are so many people of so many nationalities and viewpoints who have taken the trouble to research and write about it. This means that unlike many nations we are constantly able to reassess our role in history and see ourselves from both internal and external angles.

Schama takes the history we learned in school and puts some meat on the bony dates and battles. He dispels many myths and shows us that far from being interested in Imperial glory, Britain was far more interested in security and money and getting more of each of them. He is happy to gently debunk all our myths and turn a mirror on ourselves.

I think all countries should have histories like this - would do a lot to reduce some of the chauvinism and bigotry around the world