The American Future: A History

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.