Simon Schama

"Populist tribal nationalism, with all of its visceral emotional force, is absolutely rampant right now," says British writer, broadcaster, and historian Simon Schama.

Simon Schama details the story of the Jewish experience, tracing it across three millennia, from their beginnings as an ancient tribal people to the opening of the New World in 1492. His book The Story of the Jews: Finding the Words 1000 BC–1492 AD spans the millennia and the continents—from India to Andalusia and from the bazaars of Cairo to the streets of Oxford. It’s a story of a Jewish world immersed in and imprinted by the peoples among whom they have dwelled, from the Egyptians to the Greeks, from the Arabs to the Christians.

Historian and social commentator Simon Schama discusses writing about a diverse range of subjects: from food and family to Winston Churchill, from Martin Scorsese to Rembrandt, from his travels in Brazil and Amsterdam to New Orleans. His collection Scribble, Scribble: Writing on Politics, Ice Cream, Churchill, and My Mother shows him to be a keen observer with a critical eye.

Guests today include: 

• Benjamin Barber, Distinguished Senior Fellow at the New York think tank Demos and Walt Whitman Professor of Political Science Emeritus at Rutgers University; 
• Gideon Rose, editor of Foreign Affairs magazine and former National Security Council official in the Clinton administration; 
• Simon Schama, University Professor of art history and history at Columbia whose work focuses on revolutions; 
• Mona Eltahawy, Egyptian New Yorker and columnist and public speaker on Arab and Muslim issues; 
• Jeff Goodwin, professor of sociology at NYU and author of No Other Way Out: States and Revolutionary Movements, 1945-1991;
• Youssef M. Ibrahim, an Egyptian and a former New York Times Middle East and European correspondent who served as the paper's Tehran bureau chief in 1978-1979; 

As well as Shinasi A. Rama, deputy director of the NYU Alexander Hamilton Center for Political Economy and one of the leaders of the Albanian student movement; Suketu Mehta, New York City-based journalist, professor of journalism at NYU, and author of Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found; Neferti Tadiar, professor and chair of women's studies at Barnard College; Anne Nelson, adjunct associate professor of international and public affairs at Columbia University who's covered revolutions as a journalist in Central America; Omar Cheta, PhD candidate in the departments of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies and History at NYU; Shiva Sarram, who was eight years old during the 1979 revolution in Iran and the founder of the Blossom Hill Foundation, which works with children affected by conflict.; Gladys Carbo-Flower, recording artist and witness to Cuba's revolution; Didi Ogude, a recent NYU graduate who was ten years old during South Africa's regime change in the nineties; Hesham El-Meligy, a Muslim-American community organizer from Staten Island; and Ali Al Sayed, Egyptian New Yorker and owner of Kabab Café in Little Egypt, Astoria, Queens.

Historian Simon Schama looks at four themes in American history as they played out in the lives of historical figures—like Civil War general Montgomery Meigs—in his book The American Future.

Event: Simon Schama will be reading and signing books
Wednesday, May 20, at 7:00 pm
Barnes & Noble, ...

"Great art has dreadful manners," according to Simon Schama. He says that his PBS Series, Power of Art, "is not a series about...decor or prettiness. It is a series about the force, the need, the passion of art...the power of art."

Simon Schama on his new book Rough Crossings.

Kurt Andersen and historian Simon Schama talk about the explosive year of 1848 and the birth of modern culture.

Simon Schama is University Professor at Columbia University. He is a writer/presenter of documentaries for BBC Television and his books include Landscape and Memory, The Citizens, and the History of Britain.

When newcomers arrived in America they brought their music with them. Refugees from the Irish famine, which started in 1845, carried over some of the songs that we think of today as American standards, but when the tunes hit American soil, they changed. Fiddle player Paul Woodiel, Chris Layer, a ...

Kurt Andersen and historian Simon Schama navigate the two-dimensional universe of maps. Schama is University Professor of Art History and History at Columbia University. He is a writer and presenter of documentaries for BBC Television and his books include Landscape and Memory, Citizens, and most recently, A History of Britain, Volume II: The ...

Kurt Andersen and historian Simon Schama navigate the two-dimensional universe of maps.

Schama is University Professor of Art History and History at Columbia University. He is a writer and presenter of documentaries for BBC Television and his books include Landscape and Memory, Citizens, and most recently, A History of Britain, Volume ...