Island Stories: Unravelling Britain

by Raphael Samuel

A luminous sequel to the highly acclaimed first volume of Theatres of Memory, Island Stories is an engrossing journey of discovery into the multiple meanings of national myths, their anchorage in daily life and their common sense of a people’s destiny. Raphael Samuel reveals the palimpsest of British national histories, offering a searching yet affectionate account of the heroes and villains, legends and foibles, cherished by the “four nations” that inhabit the British Isles. Samuel is interested by the fact that traditions can disappear no less abruptly than they were invented. How is it, he asks, that the Scots have lost interest in a British narrative of which they were once a central protagonist? Why is the celebration of “Britons” thriving today just as its object has become problematic? Island Stories marvelously conveys the mutability of national conceits. Samuel calls as witness a galaxy of authorities—Bede and Gerald of Barri, Macaulay and Stubbs, Shakespeare and Dickens, Lord Reith and Raymond Williams, Margaret Thatcher and Tony Benn—each of whom sought to renew the sense of national identity by means of an acute sense of the past. Island Stories is a luminous study of the way nations use their past to lend meaning to the present and future. This sequel to the widely acclaimed Theatres of Memory is as passionate, unexpected and enjoyable as its predecessor.

Genres: History

416 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1999

Reviews

[Lynne · Rating 3 out of 5]

An intriguing mix of essays and articles about our understanding of British history and how it is taught in British schools, particularly in the era of the introduction of the National Curriculum (according to which, it seems to me, Britain leapt straight from 1685 to 1837 with nothing happening in between worth mentioning!) The way in which the emphasis and hence our cultural understanding and reference have developed over the 20th century made interesting reading.

The articles are varied, often amusing and brought back mamories of things I had enjoyed but forotten, such as 1066 and All That.
However, Some parts were heavy going; I didn't really enjoy the sections on Margaret Thatcher