Thursday, January 7, 2010

Even Simon Schama has budget cuts this year....

One of the more amusing parts of history is, in fact, how it is presented. After nearly a year of blog posts, it has probably come to your attention, Gentle Reader, that the Amateur Historian has a certain sympathy for the French Revolution, and thus, a certain amusement with British historiography on said Revolution.

One of the chief offenders, in the Amateur Historian's POV, is Simon Schama, a conservative historian who likes to make slightly bizarre programs on history for the BBC, where he demonstrates his inability to keep still or speak in anything but a monotone more than any actual grasp of history. The Amateur Historian thus would like to present this parody of Simon Schama, just to start off the New Year with a few laughs at historiography, and not just history itself:

5 comments:

  1. But he wrote such a good book on the Dutch Golden Age!

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  2. Oh, haven't read that one. His "Citizens" had me enraged, though, and I can't quite sit through one of his programs. I'm sure he's a fab historian once one keeps him away from France.

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  3. Which book or books do you recommend on the French Revolution? I tried -- I really did -- to read Citizens, but it was so dry, and Mr S kept veering off into cul-de-sacs, where I'd get lost. Any ideas are appreciated. Katherine Louise PS Your blog is excellent and entertaining!

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  4. Katherine Louise- think you! In my position as Amateur Historian, pointing out the absurdities of history, I would recommend Mark Steele's Vive la Revolution, which not only provides a good overview of important historical events, but also points out some of the funnier bits (i.e. Robespierre and Danton being of such opposing personalities they might as well have been in a buddy-buddy movie called "Max and Georges' Wild Weekend in Paris").

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  5. Thank you -- I'll look for Steele's book -- sounds interesting! K. L.

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