A History of Britain

When host, author, and historian Simon Schama points out early on that Viking graffiti on a cave wall suggests (roughly translated) that a particular young lady was "one horny bitch," the audience realizes that we are no longer in the land of Arnold Toynbee or even Will and Ariel Durant, Toto. Chronicling the mother country's history from the earliest known civilization in 3,500 B.C. to the ascension of Queen Elizabeth in 1558 A.D. (in the first 6 of a proposed 16 episodes), writer-narrator Schama delivers high-octane prose and insight with the occasional dash of saucy humor. While some viewers may be disappointed over the singular focus of Schama's attentions (almost entirely political, with little social history, and even less of the arts), A History of Britain excels in recreating both key battles and the turn of events leading up to those bloody clashes. Highlights include the mapping of William the Conqueror's (called William the Bastard, but only, Schama quips, out of earshot) Norman Conquest, culminating in the horrendous Battle of Hastings in 1066 (gruesomely immortalized in the Bayeux Tapestry); Plantagenet King Henry II's struggles with the separation of church and state, in general, and his friend/enemy Thomas Becket (murdered in the cathedral in Canterbury in 1170), in particular; the struggles between Scotland, Ireland, and England (including the story of William Wallace, whose mighty monument depicts "the save-me-Jesus eyes, the hamstrings from hell"); the twin 14th century terrors of the Black Death and the Peasant's Revolt; and Henry VIII's landmark (and wifely-head bestrewn) battle with Catholicism's reluctance to sanction divorce, especially in a barren marriage. Although the amount of detail occasionally seems tedious (with similar kings and conflicts melding in the mind), A History of Britain is notable for its wit, its wisdom, and--above all--its insistence on not writing history down to a 6th-grader's level. Highly recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (R. Pitman)