Product Description

Britain's foremost historian comes to a greater understanding of its [America's] present and future. Essential reading'

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4679 in Books
• Published on: 2009-07-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

Review
`a brilliant antidote to anti-Americanism... his prose is unfailingly entertaining'
--Sunday Times

the most readable contemporary historian in the English Language..narrative panache... It's virtuoso stuff --The Scotsman

Review
A more inspiring evocation of the spirit of liberal America - past, present and future - does not exist'

Review
Schama is a genius of storytelling.... A historian who radiates such anticipated pleasure is a rare thing.

Customer Reviews

Excellent read, American history with the red meat on..
This book is for those of you who like history as a sweep of events and with interlocking sections that you have to piece together to get your overall picture. Although this makes reference to the current election I think its only because I think the author sees the two candidates as potentially the Hamilton and Jefferson characters of this age - one quite happy to use American military strength and the other very sey against it. And its this split in the US approach that the four sections of the book address. The four sections cover war, religion , what is an american, and the belief you can have it all if you just try hard enough and while I don;t think you get a full final view I think the observation at the end that the role of government is about making people happy and not to destroy life is hard to argue with.
Apart from the violence of the Civil War which had some horrific parts what these sections bring to vivid life in the internal violence in US history , the programs against the Cherokee, the violence and hatred against the black population as they battled for civil rights, the mis tratment of Chinese and Mexicans and they were killed with impunity and with legal sanction makes for some grim reading. The section on religion makes it very clear why religion plays such a big part in US politics and you can see why as it was and till is a vital way to express a sense of community. The best part for me was the section on multiculturalism where its clear that you can retain a sense of your roots in the US AND still be an American with a fierce committment to the country
It was with a sense of diappointment that I finished this book simply bacause I had not had enough of the American story which is spite of the things done still seems essentially optimistic - and so if Obama wants to use the phase 'Yes we can' then this book will help explain why his audience responds to it

So, it may not be foolish to hope
Simon Schama's American Future opens at what would prove to be the threshold of a new era in US History, as Democrats and Republicans prepare to campaign in the 2008 presidential election which would eventually see Barack Obama victorious. But the journey to this point, as Schama goes on to remind us, has not been easy, and at times things could have turned out very differently.

Schama's sometimes idiosyncratic chronology serves well to make this point, darting backwards and forwards in time to build his themes - nominally the likes of war, plenty and faith - but intercut throughout by the constant presence until remarkably recently of racial segregation, ethnic cleansing and untethered imperialism.

The history lesson begins with Union Civil War Quartermaster General Montgomery Meigs. Meigs's story is particularly apposite, as he not only believed in the Union but also was a strong abolitionist, being the driving force behind the creation of African American regiments participating in the war, and delighting in the irony of former slaves acting as guards at the PoW camps for captured Confederate soldiers. A strong supporter of Lincoln, Meigs was present when the President died following the assassination.

Subsequent to this, Schama conveys well the horrendous turnaround of the 1870s when the federal troops enforcing the Reconstruction of the south were withdrawn by Samuel Tilden and the erstwhile freed slaves suddenly became prey to the depredations of Klansmen as the Reconstruction was abandoned. Ironic that even the sine qua non of imperialism, Great Britain, set a better example, in fact took the lead, in the abolition of the institutions of racial oppression, and he also reminds us that one of the ways Mexico was way ahead of the US, under British influence, was in abolishing slavery, and hints at a point made much more strongly by Robert Kagan in Dangerous Nation: a key driver behind the Texas landgrab was to establish another slaver state to add to the votes against abolition in Washington DC.

Sardonically, Schama covers the Mexican War, which ultimately led to the acquisition not only of Texas but also of New Mexico and California, from the Mexican angle, describing the inflow of undesirables to Texas in much the same language as is used to describe the "wetbacks" flowing in the other direction today.

Interestingly, not all white settlers flew the supremacist flag: drive along I10 between Houston and San Antonio and you see in the place names the evidence of the early German settlers in Texas, and it was they, we are told, who set an example to their Anglo compatriots in opposing slavery and making a point of running cotton plantations on free labour.

The legacy of slavery, segregation and deprivation figure prominently in other recent books: in The Ascent Of Money, Niall Ferguson tells of the difficulties black inhabitants of Detroit's 8 Mile district have in securing mortgages due to creditworthiness boundaries; Michael Lewis's The Blind Side describes the lawlessness and poverty of West Memphis; and in Gang Leader For A Day Sudhir Venkatash describes the daily struggle for life in the projects of Obama's own Chicago. To say that Obama's election carries a level of hope and potential for disappointment comparable to those attendant on Nelson Mandela's ascent to power is almost a truism.

Schama has a wry humour that characterises some of his commentary, as for example where he attests that the result of President McInley's communing with his God over the matter was a three-point manifesto leading to the Spanish War, and secondly with his observation that this same God, in whose protective powers McInley set great store, was on a day off the President was assassinated.

The whole thing is mostly beautifully written and the story so compelling that I often found I had read ten pages almost without realising I'd turned one, though I struggled to forgive the possessive Meigs' rather than the correct Meigs's. I also got the feeling towards the end that the author was struggling for a conclusion.

Nevertheless, this is a well worthwhile read, and holds out the possibility that maybe Obama's message of Hope is not a vain one.

Schama inside history
Having recently read David Reynold's excellent America: Empire of Liberty and Paul Johnson's comprehensive History of the American People - I did not think there was that much anyone could add. But Simon Schama's immense skill as a writer and historian suffuses the subject with freshness and originality. Weaving lived histories with significant events in American history - Schama breathes life into the characters and events, analysing momentus occasions and adding his own considerable insights into a subject he cleary has consummate knowledge of.
Familiar events such as the Civil War and the Civil Rights movement are viewed through the lived histories of characters that were there to witness history unfolding - and Schama brilliantly uses letters and diaries to create a real sense of immanence and urgency - rather than just rehashing other historical accounts.
The causes and effects of these epoch changing events, clearly illustrate how America has been shaped - and Schama frequently jumps to the present to address issues that have been ongoing problems in the country - such as immigration. A question he puts to George W Bush at a Downing Street dinner. That is the strength of this book and the main difference between Schama's work and the others. It is not a linear historical narrative - sometimes the writing has the kind of authority of a witness to the events, and at times reads like a novel.
I think Schama's book is written in a very immaginative way that few writers would have dared attempt - moving backwards and forwards through history and the present. But this style allows you to view the history from a different perspective. I highly recommend The American Future.America, Empire of Liberty: A New HistoryHistory of the American PeopleDivine Magnetic Lands: A Journey in AmericaMade in AmericaThe First Salute: View of the American Revolution