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Simon Schama's The American Future: A History

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Simon Schama has repeatedly proven himself a profound student of history, offering clear-eyed looks at the past in his books and on television programs such as this one. Citizens, his history of the French Revolution, is one of the finest ever written on the subject. His books on Rembrandt and the 17th Century Dutch golden age wear their analytical depth lightly: Schama is always sensitive to the human story that is often obscured behind the marmoreal nature of most art history. It is the unabashedly emotional aspect Schama often exhibits in his personal views of history that is most attractive. History devoid of humanity lacks dimension and Schama knows this instinctively. He brings that humanity to this video gloss of the American past, present and future, its contradictions and its hopes, its broken promises and its deferred dreams, and reveals the underlying American truths that constitute the marrow of its greatness as a nation.

His view of the American past - especially its treatment of its Asian, African and Latino minorities - is clear-eyed and often heartbreaking with its carefully researched and simply elucidated tales of cruelty, abuse and neglect. But with every new sorrow he balances his sadness with tales of brilliance, courage, honesty and truth from the likes of Thomas Jefferson, Montgomery Meigs (Quartermaster General under Lincoln) and John Wesley Powell, the geologist-explorer of the Colorado River and Grand Canyon. It is through these tales of moral courage and intellectual honesty that the true greatness of the unfinished American experiment reveals itself and in which its future hopes reside. Schama examines the difficult immigrant experience and as an immigrant himself he embodies all of its poignant dreams for a better future. But it is a future challenged by our ever-increasing panoply of problems. This unique moment in history, symbolized by the election of Barack Obama as President, is a profound shift in the American landscape. For Schama it is an example of the transformative possibilities that are inherent in the framework of liberty as constructed by Jefferson as early as 1779 in his Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. It is in the genius of its construction that all of Schama's hopes for the American future reside. This documentary is brilliant in its presentation of a complex story and Mr. Schama is equally brilliant in its presentation. Strongly recommended.

Mike Birman

I don't know what documentary the disappointed reviewer was watching but the Simon Schama "The American Future" I saw was anything but America-hating. It was realistic about America's very ambivalent past concerning racism, immigration and immigrants, depletion of natural resources, war, religion and the American dream but its basic message was almost invariably positive (maybe a tad too much so) in its conclusion. For example, the segment on natural resources ends with him talking about the resourcefulness of the American people when times get tough, and the one on the American dream ends with him talking about why he became an American citizen.Even the segment on America and war is designed to puncture European myths about the U.S. being a militaristic country. His take on the 2008 election which is a theme that runs through all the segments is both even-handed and uplifting. The series, as its title suggests, also has an uncanny knack for taking up contemporary and future American problems and issues and taking us on an interesting tour how the issue has been dealt with (poorly or well) through our past. Schama is one of the most insightful and intelligent of historians whether he turns his attention to art, British, or American history and discusses the latter with a down-to-earth, insightful, and wise eye for the evil as well as the great dimensions of the American character. Highly recommended.

I disagree with one of the other reviewers here who seems to take great offense at some of Schama's observations about America. As a non-native born American citizen, and as a European-born Jew, he has some sober assessments of our society. But in the main, I found him to be mostly singing our praises and getting at the real heart of what makes this country great, despite its contradictions and sometimes ugly past. It's that perspective that makes the series so refreshing and good, and most importantly, thought-provoking.

This short, four episode look at America is an insightful reflection done by historian Simon Schama, a British man who has spent more than half his life in America. If one is familiar with Schama's other works, including his excellent written texts (e.g., his volume on the French Revolution and his critically acclaimed text on The Netherlands during its wealthy period of the 17th century), this series will remond one of the similarities in thinking which make Schama such an insightful and reflective reviewer of history. While I cannot say this series, made by the BBC during the 2008 American election cycle which saw the rise of the Obama presidency, rises to the level of Schama's previous series (e.g., Simon Schama: A History of Britain (Special Edition)), it nevertheless is a window on Schama's thoughts as he watched this historic election and reflected on what it might portent for America's future. And if one approaches this series with that in mind - that this is a reflection on a historic election and what it might mean for the future of America - then one should not be disappointed.

The four episodes are a bit uneven, with the stronger episodes being the last. Where the show may falter a bit is in the attempt to pull together what is an extensive and multi-faceted history of a large country into a short episode of only about an hour. This is essentially an impossible task, and when the series attempts to do so in one of the earlier episodes, anyone familiar with some of the details of American history will immediately see the issues in attempting to do so. But as in most of all Schama's works, the strength of the episodes lies in Schama's approach of taking a theme and then working the narrative around the theme to draw out both large and also more nuanced conclusions, leaving the observer to ponder some of the unanswered questions surrounding the theme.

If you are a Schama fan, there is the added benefit of watching a British man who has invested so much of his life in (and about America) coming to the conclusion that, in spite of the difficulties, America's future does indeed look bright, and perhaps can be even brighter with the right amount of effort and a correct approach towards moving forward. There are moments when it is truly touching to see Schama's feelings show forth on this most interesting of experiments, America.

Here's some Schama works not to be missed:
Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution
Landscape And Memory
Simon Schama's Power of Art
A History of Britain - The Complete Collection
The Embarrassment of Riches: An Interpretation of Dutch Culture in the Golden Age
Landscape And Memory

The central idea in this series -- as in his book, which I actually read first -- is that if you want to gain insight into America's future, look at its past.

We today are struggling with division on religious matters, on racial issues, on the notion of what it means to be an American, on the use of our national resources, and when and why we go to war as a nation. On each of these matters, Schama examines our past, sees that we have struggles with these things before, and suggests the national resources that we've employed to deal with them in the past.

Schama shows how we have deeply ingrained national suspicions of other races, not merely blacks and Hispanics, but the Chinese and others. He also shows our amazing resilience in assimilating new ethnic and racial groups, and how this has perpetually enriched us and empowered us as a nation.

Schama examines the roles that religion has played in American life both as a liberalizing and reactionary force. I was especially happy about this, because as a religious person who is also very liberal in my politics, I'm proud of the way that evangelical religion has historically been at the forefront of progressive, liberal causes, only moving to the right in the past generation. Religion played a major role in denouncing and eliminating slavery, and later in promoting civil rights and racial equality. (Schama could have likewise have explored the role of religion in the furthering of public health, women's rights, public education, and ethnic tolerance.)

The role of the military and the militarization of national policy has been one of the most disturbing changes in American life since WW II and it remains the one area of American culture that I remain most concerned about. The truth is that if we were able to reduce the size of the military and the amount of military spending to a level that reflects our actual national needs, we would have enough money in the national budget to take care of a complete reformation of our national health programs, fix social security funding (which is not in fact in all that much trouble), and even establish a greatly needed national pension system (needed primarily because most corporations no longer offer pensions), all while reducing federal spending and dramatically lowering the national debt. That we don't take this necessary step is a result of the role that Eisenhower's military-industrial complex has come to play in American life. In the book version of this series, Schama shows how this vision of America as a martial society was very much that of Hamilton, and was one of the major sources of contention between him and Jefferson. I hope that America can rediscover its nonmilitaristic roots. While I'm optimistic that we will be able to deal with many of our other major national problems, such as immigration, natural resources, and the role of religion in our nation, I'm not so optimistic about our immense need to reduce the role of military solutions in national policy.

OK, book versus DVD series. Which do I prefer? The book, definitely. There are two reasons for this. First, the book covers far more issues than the show can even remotely hope to. There is just more stuff in the book. Second, the show has a perplexing number of shots of Simon Schama for no apparent reason. Schama driving his car, Schama standing and listening to a speaker, Schama filling his car at a gas station, Schama gazing about at a memorial of one sort or another. I saw no real reason for this. But perhaps someone doesn't want to read a book. In that case, I don't discourage someone from watching the show. Neither do I discourage someone from watching the TV series as well. But the book is in my opinion the better of the two forms THE AMERICAN FUTURE takes.

Once again, Simon Schama does what he does best: tell a good story in an engrossing, firm way that makes you pay attention to what he's saying. And the story he's telling is the story of America; where it's been and where it's likely to go. Although he doesn't say these words, I believe the point he is trying to make in this BBC documentary can best be summed up with this old saying.

What is past is prologue.

They lost the sale for me the minute I read in the synopsis that Barack Obama is America's best hope for restoring the world's faith in our government. Fraudulent nobel prize, failure in the Israel/Palestine deal that he never should have gotten involved in, escalation in Afganistan after promising withdrawal, loss of a longstanding ally (Egypt), failure to deal with nuclear proliferation in Iran, questionable actions in Libya and gross economic incompetence...this is our best hope? And to think that I generally look to BBC as the alternative to shoddy yellow American journalism. Sorry, no sale.

I was surprised that I enjoyed this DVD as much as I did. It was great. The reason I bought it is that my son's band has a small part in it so of course I bought it for that but then when we watched it it was great.
Vickie Dalton

Simon Schama's The American Future: A History

The item was delivered in a timely manner and in good condition.

While presented as a "history of the american future", this work in reality is little more than strong political advocacy. Simon Schama has gradually regressed from a historian into an editorialist using the cover of history to somehow lend academic weight to what amount to his opinions.

The work starts with the premise that america is a Democracy when the correct people with the correct politics are elected. When the wrong people are elected, the country is something else. This starting premise sets the stage for the entire work. Schama sees the world as divided between angels and demons based on his own political views. There is no middle ground or shades of grey.

The key points of the work are:

1) The history of America is the history of racism and racial hatred. Following up on his book "rough crossings" in which he presented the American revolution as being a racist revolution against the enlightened British administration, he continues and broadens the attack on American history in this work.

2) The only hope for America is to dismiss the idea of any sort of national identity and embrace multiculturalism/identity politics. There are no "americans". There are only communities of people in America who need to be organized by their race and religion. In the same way, there is no "american" history. History is rather the story of past victimization and grevances which are to bind the racial and relgious communities together.

3) The American Dream is essentially false and needs to be done away with. The American middle class is living a lifestyle it does not deserve and needs to be economically put in its place. While left unsaid, the great vision for the future would seem to be the common american stuffed into urban coldwater flats being shuttled to work everyday in mass transit to do "useful" work like pounding metal with hammers. When you roll back the suburbs, the cars, the education and the living standards, thats what we are left with.

4) When Jimmy Carter looked into the Camera in 1979 and blamed the American people for the problems of the country, he was right. The vast majority of the American people are the enemy and need to be put in their place.

Like most political screeds, the work at its base is one of profound ignorance. Schama looks down on America from Fortress Colombia in Manhattan. While he travels America to get at the racism of the little people in faraway places, he never asks about the well-protected life of priviledge he lives at Colombia. He certainly never talks about the racial issues involved in Colombia's dealings with the neighborhoods that surround it.

The last chapter in the work is by far the worst. He uses the issue of the colorado river and its water to draw overaching conclusions about the country as a whole. But the United States is not Las Vegas and neither is the American Dream. The Colorado river being unable to support limitless growth in Nevada is not a sign of the end of the world.

But to Schama, it is the end of the world. The message at the end is clear. The standard of living in America is simply too high and it must be reduced. Ala Jimmy Carter decades ago, to save America it must be destroyed. The majority must be driven into a lower standard of living.

Schama is selling the bleak view that for the good of the future, Americans must somehow buy into the idea that the only possible future for themselves is a poorer and more miserable future. And that their children's future will be even worse. And in exchange for misery the people making the sacrifice are to gain.....nothing at all!

In the end, as in the 1970s, this philosophy is self-defeating. The kind of self-loathing and hopelessness that Schama deals in only breeds apathy. It doesn't inspire anyone to do anything. It doesn't provide a vision that can motivate people.