- Paperback: 672 pages
- Publisher: Harper Perennial; (Reissue) edition (19 April 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0006863485
- ISBN-13: 978-0006863489
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 16.8 x 4.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
89,486 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #12 in Books > History > Other Historical Subjects > Historians > Schama, Simon
- #45 in Books > History > Reference > Geographical History
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Product Description
Review
‘One of the most intelligent, original, stimulating, self-indulgent, perverse and irresistibly enjoyable books I have ever read.’ Philip Ziegler
‘This is a tour de force of vivid historical writing…It is astonishingly learned, and yet offered with verve, humour and an unflagging sense of delight.’ Michael Ignatieff, IOS
‘Simon Schama is a giant, a great thinking machine and a golden lyricist as well. He takes us beyond geololgy and vegetation into myth and memory, to unravel the ancient connections which bring mountain, forest and river into our soul.’ Brian Masters, MoS
‘Schama long ago established himself as one of the most learned, original and provocative historians in the English speaking world…Unclassifiable, inimitable, fascinating, “Landscape and Memory” will inform and haunt, chasten and enrage. It is that rarest of commodities in our cultural marketplace – a work of genuine originality.’ Anthony Grafton, New Republic
Review
'One of the most intelligent, original, stimulating, self-indulgent, perverse and irresistibly enjoyable books I have ever read.' Philip Ziegler 'This is a tour de force of vivid historical writing!It is astonishingly learned, and yet offered with verve, humour and an unflagging sense of delight.' Michael Ignatieff, IOS 'Simon Schama is a giant, a great thinking machine and a golden lyricist as well. He takes us beyond geololgy and vegetation into myth and memory, to unravel the ancient connections which bring mountain, forest and river into our soul.' Brian Masters, MoS 'Schama long ago established himself as one of the most learned, original and provocative historians in the English speaking world!Unclassifiable, inimitable, fascinating, "Landscape and Memory" will inform and haunt, chasten and enrage. It is that rarest of commodities in our cultural marketplace -- a work of genuine originality.' Anthony Grafton, New Republic
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
64 of 65 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
In a wide sweep of history that encompassess as unlikely a set of figures as Varus, a Roman general responsible for a catastrophic lost battle in the Black Forest and a 19th century French founder of the concept of "eco-rambling", Simon Schama has produced a stunning work that seeks to answer the central question: is our view of nature ruled by the mind, or by magical human interpretations? Woven into this rich,scholarly tapestry of ideas we meet the man who carved Mt. Rushmore and Hermann Goering. How are these people's ideas linked (or not) to Thoreau is just one of the questions answered by Schama.
There are few books that could match this pyrotechnic display of learning and exposition of aesthetic views of nature that have shaped warfare,politics,religion and modern ecology. It is impossible to view today's environmentalism before reading this provocative and insightful book the same way as when one puts it down.
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I enjoy Simon Schama's work very much. I loved his series on The Power of Art, and the book that went with it, and was utterly engrossed in his book on the French Revolution. This however, was an entirely different kettle of fish. In this book about our connection as a people with the landscape that surrounds us, our almost genetically coded ideas about the wilderness and our relationship with the land at an environmental, spiritual and national level I really struggled to connect with the material.
Half the problem was the massive weight of the book. It took me weeks to finish as it was a hardback, large format book coming in at nearly 900 pages, and was just far too big for me to carry around, as I do most books I am reading. This meant that I was confined to reading at home, preferably with a table underneath it to support its substantial weight.
The rest of my difficulties came from the fact that I struggled to find a coherent narrative which held the book together. There was definitely a coherent argument and set of ideas underpinning the material, but the sections of the book were not laid out particularly sympathetically to the reader struggling to find their way through the huge quantities of materials, sources, illustrations and notes.
There were some sections I enjoyed more than others. The section on the Anglo Saxon forests and their appropriation and abuse by the Norman aristocracy were fascinating, as was the section on the romantic idea of the mountains and the gradual touristification of the French Alps and Pyrenees. I struggled more with the sections on the Germanic walds and the American relationship with the wilderness, perhaps because I came to these areas with less prior knowledge of them.
The whole book was scholarly, erudite and lucid, but for me overwhelming as a book to try and read for pleasure. As a text book I imagine it is more useful, or for those with a good framework of existing knowledge on which to hang the material Schama offers in such quantities.
Half the problem was the massive weight of the book. It took me weeks to finish as it was a hardback, large format book coming in at nearly 900 pages, and was just far too big for me to carry around, as I do most books I am reading. This meant that I was confined to reading at home, preferably with a table underneath it to support its substantial weight.
The rest of my difficulties came from the fact that I struggled to find a coherent narrative which held the book together. There was definitely a coherent argument and set of ideas underpinning the material, but the sections of the book were not laid out particularly sympathetically to the reader struggling to find their way through the huge quantities of materials, sources, illustrations and notes.
There were some sections I enjoyed more than others. The section on the Anglo Saxon forests and their appropriation and abuse by the Norman aristocracy were fascinating, as was the section on the romantic idea of the mountains and the gradual touristification of the French Alps and Pyrenees. I struggled more with the sections on the Germanic walds and the American relationship with the wilderness, perhaps because I came to these areas with less prior knowledge of them.
The whole book was scholarly, erudite and lucid, but for me overwhelming as a book to try and read for pleasure. As a text book I imagine it is more useful, or for those with a good framework of existing knowledge on which to hang the material Schama offers in such quantities.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book attempts something so subtle, yet so huge, that it daunts the imagination. Schama looks, in dizzying depth, at the way we exist in the natural world; not through technology, or maps, or as something outside nature acting upon it, but at how our minds and culture are shaped by our experience of the outside and of the natural.
Undoubtedly it is a heavy book, both literally and metaphorically, but it is all "gist". The text is full of wonderful stuff and repays reading slowly and with pauses for consideration. I would hate to have to read this against the clock for study.
"Landscape and Memory" will not appeal to everyone who enjoys Schama's work. It has little to do with traditional "kings and wars" history, and feeds into the study of art at a level so fundamental that many art students won't "get" it. It is most likely to be appreciated by landscape painters, anthropologists, philosophers and cultural historians, especially any with cross-disciplinary interests.
Despite its difficulties, this is a masterpiece. It will change to way you see the world and its effect on the mind will linger long after you have read it. Don't expect to take it on holiday as an erudite alternative to the latest best seller; it needs longer than that and deserves it.
If you have read this, and enjoyed it, I think you will "get" 18 Folgate Street: The Tale of a House in Spitalfields which, though it has a very different subject matter, is related in the way it looks at the world. You could also check out the work of W. G. Sebald
Undoubtedly it is a heavy book, both literally and metaphorically, but it is all "gist". The text is full of wonderful stuff and repays reading slowly and with pauses for consideration. I would hate to have to read this against the clock for study.
"Landscape and Memory" will not appeal to everyone who enjoys Schama's work. It has little to do with traditional "kings and wars" history, and feeds into the study of art at a level so fundamental that many art students won't "get" it. It is most likely to be appreciated by landscape painters, anthropologists, philosophers and cultural historians, especially any with cross-disciplinary interests.
Despite its difficulties, this is a masterpiece. It will change to way you see the world and its effect on the mind will linger long after you have read it. Don't expect to take it on holiday as an erudite alternative to the latest best seller; it needs longer than that and deserves it.
If you have read this, and enjoyed it, I think you will "get" 18 Folgate Street: The Tale of a House in Spitalfields which, though it has a very different subject matter, is related in the way it looks at the world. You could also check out the work of W. G. Sebald
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A dense, 700-page essay
THis is an odd and remarkable book, a tour of history that mixes art criticism, economic analysis, and even gastronomy. Read more
Published 9 months ago by rob crawford
Big, Bad and Re-readable.
Schama's basic thought that we need not think of humanity as destroying or against nature is an admirable one. Read more
Published 10 months ago by D. J. Andrews
Schama's Landscape and Memory
Full of historical information with connections to great artworks and how the artists arrived at their interpretations.
Published 23 months ago by Mrs. Anita L. Davies
A bit of a mess
This is more a collection of interesting stuff than the sort of coherent thing that a book should be. Nevertheless, a lot of the collection of stuff is well worth reading. Read more
Published on 13 Jun 2001 by S. Matthews
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