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A History of Britain: The Complete Collection [DVD]
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Additional DVD options | Edition | Discs | Price | New from | Used from |
DVD
July 29, 2008 "Please retry" | Collector's Edition | 5 |
—
| $71.99 | $10.45 |
Purchase options and add-ons
Format | NTSC, Box set, DVD, Full Screen, Color |
Contributor | Matthew Rhys, Simon Schama, Samuel West, Gerry O'Brien, David Threlfall, Lindsay Duncan, George Anton, Christian Rodska, Anthony Bate, Emilia Fox, Timothy West, Michael Kitchen See more |
Language | English |
Number Of Discs | 5 |
Runtime | 15 hours |
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Product Description
Product Description
From the dawn of civilization to the 20th century, A HISTORY OF BRITAIN re-animates familiar tales and illuminates overlooked aspects of England's past. Written and hosted by historian Simon Schama (the bestselling author of Rembrandt's Eyes and The Embarrassment of Riches), this monumental The History Channel®/BBC co-production has been hailed by critics for its colorful--and controversial--approach, which discards timelines and tiresome lineages for a lively look at the personalities and cultures that infuse British history.
From India to Ireland, the Norman Invasion to the American Revolution, Schama spotlights the epic themes and towering figures that transformed an island "at the edge of the world" into the greatest empire on earth, examining the impact of this extraordinary heritage on the modern nation.
All 15 episodes of the landmark series are available on DVD for the first time in this extraordinary collector's set that belongs in the library of every history buff. Beginnings, Conquest, Dynasty, Nations, King Death, Burning Convictions, The Body of the Queen, The British Wars, Revolutions, Britannia Incorporated, The Wrong Empire, Forces of Nature, Victoria and her Sisters, Empire of Good Intentions, The Two Winstons.
Amazon.com
What do you get when you combine the resources and ethos of the BBC with the literary panache of one of the world's best narrative historians? The answer is Simon Schama's History of Britain television series. In this well-written and thoughtfully crafted survey, Schama, the bestselling author of books on European cultural history such as The Embarrassment of Riches and Citizens, has managed to be both conventional and provocative. He tells the official version of Britain's story--Roman Britain, the Norman Conquest, the struggles of the Henrys and Richards, Elizabeth I, Scottish rebellions and the English Civil Wars, the American Revolution, the growth of the British Empire, Queen Victoria, the industrial age, and Winston Churchill. But while sticking to a script familiar to anyone who sat up and listened during history class, Schama brings it all alive with memorable prose and presence--Simon de Montfort's rebel parliament is described as inaugurating the "union between patriotism and insubordination"; with Henry VIII, Schama says, "you could practically smell the testosterone." Schama is also particularly enlightening on the symbolism of buildings, memorials, language, and ceremonies, and on the complex relations between England and its Celtic and Catholic neighbors. If history must have gloss, then let it be presented like this. --Miles Taylor
Product details
- Is Discontinued By Manufacturer : No
- MPAA rating : Unrated (Not Rated)
- Product Dimensions : 7.25 x 5.75 x 3 inches; 1 Pounds
- Media Format : NTSC, Box set, DVD, Full Screen, Color
- Run time : 15 hours
- Release date : November 26, 2002
- Actors : Simon Schama, Michael Kitchen, Samuel West, Lindsay Duncan, David Threlfall
- Language : English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
- Studio : A&E Home Video
- ASIN : B00006RCKI
- Number of discs : 5
- Best Sellers Rank: #62,161 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
- #1,634 in Documentary (Movies & TV)
- Customer Reviews:
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I'm very satisfied with my purchase, and highly recommend this seller.
Reviewed in the United States on December 14, 2023
I'm very satisfied with my purchase, and highly recommend this seller.
Like his later film on art, Schama's works are at first sight a delight just to watch, the filming is that good, atmospheric, often grand, moody; always appropriate-- as is the accompanying music. The music just moves with the film so well-- drawn out medieval bag pipes(?), looong oboe notes of impending doom, then up and down the scale into quite frightening bits-- time to run for the hills! Snippets of songs of many eras, dances, religious music. That beautiful high-note voice in the theme. Perfect. It all adds so much thickness to the film, and entertainment. I know about Black Death, have a dozen books on it. But during the episode on it, I was aghast and on edge, although I knew very well what happened next. But the music and film work were perfect. The dark, damp hills and bare trees; the man dying alone of plague, on dirty straw in a dirty dark hut, covered with buboes, spitting blood, while a welsh actor recited a contemporary poem about the ravages of plague. Sounds melodramatic, but it honestly isn't. We go back to Schama, the anchor, and move along in the tale.
Now, the filming: the film's makers, camera work, are geniuses. There is a lovely sense of place, quite solid, of Britain, beautiful and awful, and I've been there. The actors, or reenactors, are perfect (they don't speak on camera), and an array of British stars with wonderful voices read letters, quotes, documents and supposed speeches. ( You know, like the Paston letters and stuff )
Then, there's the narration, which is quite good. No talking down, just Schama sharing his ideas, views, knowledge. A few off-key phrases, but its very simon-schama-- he's always quite genuine and down-to-earth, and of course, the history is wonderful. And I like the History he chose to tell. At some point, he and his team had to pick and choose from 1000+ years. No long in-depth episode on Henry VIII and his wives ( one of my favorite subjects, and first I was upset ), but enough information about his reign, and the right information about it, to show where we (britain) were heading. I think Schama provides the right information throughout, so that this particular story of Britain, through show and tell, flows along. It feels right. It looks and sounds gorgeous. It taught me stuff. I re-watch it all, or certain parts, often. Because its fun and wonderful. Its flaw is the length: way too short. If only it had been twice as long...
Now, I've friends who just don't like it. They dislike Schama, his personal take, the lack of in-depth constitutional info. They don't like the atmospherics of the painting-like camera scenes, and the soundtrack. I've had people say that stuff takes away from the history and ask what's wrong with Schama, he jerks, lunges, jumps about. The wrong points were high-lighted, stuff left out, etc. You might think the same. Also, although its about 'Britain', people complain that Scotland and Ireland are not given enough play. That is pretty fair, and a few more episodes would have helped.
But me, I got pulled in.
Simon Schama's series is honest, in that it does not purport to be *the* history of Britain. *A* History of Britain suggests, that this is a selective history - Schama omits major periods, events and personalities, such as Danelaw, the War of the Roses, Richard III and Thomas More. There has been revisionist opinion about Shakespearian villains like MacBeth and Richard III, and I should like to have heard Schama's take on Shakespearian history as a reflection of popular perception or as pandering to received Elizabethan Court History.
Being selective is also being subjective, and Schama's History is certainly subjective. One of the treats here is listening to an erudite scholar opine on those he considers to be his epic's heroes and villians. In fact, I find Schama's "subjective" History to be a delightful complement to that of another "erudite scholar". Kenneth Clark's monumental Civilization series, is subtitled, "A Personal View". Those who have seen both find, that where Schama is rumpled and quirky, Clark is dapper and urbane; where Schama is wry and colloquial, Clark is lyrical and eloquent. Despite these superficial differences, I suspect that Schama is an admirer of Kenneth Clark and that he modelled his History after Clark's Civilization.
I look forward to A History of Britiain, part III.
After you travel this amazing journey through time, you will be sadden that history is not present this way in the schools and we all did not have Schama as our teacher!
Nirvana for British History lovers!