Simon Schama

Roy Hattersley, In Search of England.; Simon Hoggart; David Horspool, The English Rebel: One Thousand Years of Trouble-making from the Normans to the Nineties.; Lisa Jardine; Simon Schama, The American Future: A History.

In his famous essay, Politics and the English Language, George Orwell adds that all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists, try to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. Is this still true in the era of e-democracy elections? For the motion: Simon Hoggart, parliamentary sketch writer for the Guardian, author and broadcaster. David Horspool, History editor of the TLS and author of The English Rebel. Against the motion: Roy Hattersley, elected to Parliament in 1964, was Deputy Leader of the Labour Party. In Search of England is his latest book. Simon Schama, Columbia University Professor, presenter of TV history, art and politics programmes, is author of The American Future. Lisa Jardine (Chair), is Professor of Renaissance Studies, Chair of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority and a writer. (DeadGoodBooks)… (more)

Simon Schama; Daniel Kehlmann; Margo Lanagan

Writing about history takes many forms, some fictional, some fact, and many somewhere in between. Simon Schama is an historian whose hugely imaginative narratives have won him legions of fans, whether he is talking about A History of Britain or The American Future. Daniel Kehlmann's epic novel about the explorer Alexander von Humboldt, and the mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss, is a fictional account of the very different worlds of two real Enlightenment thinkers. In Margo Lanagan's bitter folktale Tender Morsels the writer creates a future for her characters by imagining a past. All of these writers are storytellers and each has a unique way of engaging with the historical. Join these writers in conversation with Lydia Wevers as they talk about the relationship between narrative and history. Together they discuss the ways writing the future can be a form of history, and discover if writing about the past is, in some ways, a fiction. (dakvid)… (more)

Simon Schama

One of the world's most renowned historians, Simon Schama is University Professor of Art History and History at Columbia University, and writer and broadcaster for BBC television. His many books include Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution, Landscape and Memory, Rembrandt's Eyes, A History of Britain trilogy (2000-2002), Rough Crossings: Britain, the Slaves and the AmericanRevolution, and most recently The American Future: A History. Renowned for revealing the complexities of our past in a way which appeals to historians and non-historians alike, Schama's work includes the BBC documentaries: A History of Britain, Rough Crossings: Britain, the Slaves and the American Revolution, and the Power of Art. Pricing: GA $25.00 FR $22.00 CP $22.00 (trackbianca)… (more)