Welcome to 1789...

Here's the interview - 'Citizens' is discussed halfway-and-a-bit down the page. It confirms what I'd heard and long suspected - that it was written as a speedy commission, to cash in on the bicentennary, and not born out of any burning desire on Schama's part to write about the period (David Starkey, another right-wing, highly paid TV historian, is absolutely steeped in and adores 'his' period). Even more bizarre, he says (for his 'research') he didn't just want to read books writen in the last 10 years (!!),but had the amazing idea of reading stuff written in 19thc histories, too (!!!!!!). And there was I, thinking a historian's first point of research would be primary documents from the archives, letters and memoirs...http://www.barnesandnoble.com/bn-review/note.asp?note=22343680