Simon Schama, "The Story of the Jews, volume: 2"

In the first volume of his magisterial cultural history, which was also a BBC/PBS series, Schama followed the Jewish experience from its ancient roots through the opening of the New World. His eagerly awaited second volume continues the story from 1492 to the end of the nineteenth century, detailing the role of Jews in the Renaissance and Enlightenment, and tracing their expulsion from Spain and emigration to the U.S. Schama, University Professor of Art History and History at Columbia and the author of the similarly sweeping A History of Britain and many other works of culture and history, traces Judaism’s intellectual journey as well as its geographical one, detailing the rise of Hasidism and other sects as well as charting the early stages of Zionism.

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