HISTORY OF BRITAIN At the Edge of the World? 3500 B.C.-1603 A.D.

Timothy West has an elegant English voice, and although this is straight narrative, he performs with passion. The text has been shortened and also made even more colloquial than the book. Thus, Anne Boleyn's beheading is "a tonic" for Henry VIII in the book and is "pure Viagra" here. Clio, history's muse, is too often regarded as a "doty aunt in eccentric dress, smelling a bit of mothballs," writes Schama. Not here. The men and women in this story are potent and compelling. Even in extremity, they read their lines with force. "I hear the executioner is very good," said Anne Boleyn, "and I have a little neck." B.H.C. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/MAY 01]