[londonteacher]

looking at previous articles and skimming through the podcasts, it seems that BBC history is just as addicted to the minute details of the British in WW2 as film and programme makers, publishers and school curriculum writers. Every year another anniversary is commemorated, and rightly so, but world and european history is so fascinating, yet so unexplored, it would be incredibly refreshing to hear about different periods and different countries.
It seems that the whole of european history is now given less space in bookshops than the world war two shelves, which can only lead to ignorance of other topics, a hostile attitude to Britains enemies in the world wars and a focus on relatively insignificant details which really do not merit being chewed over yet again.

Does anyone agree?

[George]

I totally agree, and suggest that at the least we should hear and read more about how English/British monarchs and governments in the past have been thoroughly plugged in to European politics. For instance, I have just finished reading Lisa Jardine's "Going Dutch" and perhaps there are other countries with which our island history has been thoroughly entangled. We are never told much at school or elsewhere, for example, about the political and historical context from which the Hanoverians came, before and after they took over the British throne.

[bathb0y]

Hi.
I see LondonTeacher's point! As a person who is struggling to attain a degree in History (which is a long way off yet) with the OU, my (rather bland) point is that World wars are easily accessible material for authors and the like, and perhaps are seen as more ""action-packed"" and a good read. There is so much History to explore out there, but (because these wars are recent and footage and books and people and battlefields are still easy to attain) then it is a rich (but again easily accessible) area to consider. Still the BBC this week are starting their ""The Normans"" series of programme's, which should be great.

[the reiver]

i agree with the comments. its not just bookshops which seem obsessed with this topic , in particular the second world war but also libraries. i visit several in the area and their history sections are at least 80% WW2. i would like to see far more history from earlier periods and for this to be linked to what was taking place else where in Europe. one other point please stop using metric measurements. the Legal measurement for distance in this country is imperial and it is what everyone uses.