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The American Future

A History

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About this listen

 Award-winning historian Simon Schama's landmark exploration of how America's past influences its future 'I can tell you exactly when American democracy came back from the dead, because I was there . . .'

Simon Schama's different kind of history of the USA begins in the middle of an Iowa caucus. There he witnesses first-hand the exciting, chaotic crush as ordinary Americans - grannies, students, businesswomen and doctors - decide who should become the 44th President of the United States.

He meets Muslim Chuck (Khalil) Alaman, the 'Chicken Club' immigrants and even retired generals, with their take on American history, as they all face the future. Schama delves into America's past to reveal a fascinating collection of stories - of heroes and villains - that capture the spirit of a country built on migration and war: Fannie Lou, sharecropper turned civil rights campaigner, General Montgomery Meigs, founder of the first war cemetery at Arlington, and many more. Simon Schama has lived in America half his life. Here, he shows how the echoes of the past live on in the land of freedom and opportunity.

©2008 Simon Shama (P)2014 Audible, Inc. Americas Politics & Government United States World American History Latin American War Imperialism War of 1812 Africa Social justice Socialism

Critic reviews

"In this elegantly written history, Schama elucidates America's present and the 'end of plenty' through an examination of her past." ( The Observer)
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I like Simon Schama’s books. This is not a bad book, it is describing USA around Obama’s election with reflections on its past. It describes different aspects of USA history. The reason why I am disappointed is that it is too superficial.

General observations

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Excellent writing by Schama (host trilogy about The History of Britain is even better). I wondered why I couldn't get into it straight away, until I speeded up the narration to 1.25x (!!) then I finished the book

You'll have to speed the narration up!

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have listened to other Scharma books, but this one I could not get into at all, did not finish.

could not finish

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I bought this when buying the Kindle version, and didn't notice that it was just the abridged version, and not the full-length audio book.

WARNING - This is the abridged version!

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