Schaffer's training and expertise comes through in the carefully constructed chronological narratives in the individual chapters which he writes. ... The book tells us much about the power of television, the attitudes of the elites who controlled TV and the inherent nature of racism in post-war Britain. It would be impossible to teach a course on contemporary Britain without using The Vision of a Nation. - Contemporary British History
Schaffer's study ... builds on existing work by scholars like Sarita Malik, Stephen Bourne, Karen Ross and Darrell Newton, but adds a good deal that is new, in what is a well-researched, copiously referenced and excellently presented historical account. - European Journal of Communication
The sources used are extensive and impressive. ... [A] very readable and thoroughly researched volume on a complex and often contentious topic. It should be of interest to students and researchers of media and cultural studies together with historians of modern Britain. - Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television