Simon Schama

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Sir Simon Schama

Eighteenth century
  • French Revolution
  • Patriottentijd
  • Dutch Golden Age
    • Institutions
    Simon Schama's voice
    Recorded December 2013 from the BBC Radio 4 programme Start the Week

    Sir Simon Michael Schama

    French history.[1] He is a Professor of History and Art History at Columbia University.[2]

    Schama first came to public attention with his history of the

    A History of Britain (2000—2002),[3][4] as well as other documentary series such as The American Future: A History (2008) and The Story of the Jews
    (2013).

    Schama was

    2018 Queen's Birthday Honours List.[5]

    Early life and education

    Schama was born on 13 February 1945 in

    Sephardi Jewish background (from Smyrna, present-day İzmir in Turkey), later moving through Moldova and Romania.[7][8]

    In the mid-1940s, the family moved to

    Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School in Cricklewood (from 1961 Elstree, Hertfordshire). He then studied history at Christ's College, Cambridge, where he was taught by John H. Plumb. He graduated from the University of Cambridge with a Starred First in 1966.[1]

    Career

    From 1966 to 1976, Schama was a

    School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS) in Paris
    .

    At this time, Schama wrote his first book, Patriots and Liberators, which won the Wolfson History Prize. The book was originally intended as a study of the French Revolution, but as published in 1977, it focused on the effect of the Patriottentijd revolution of the 1780s in the Netherlands, and its aftermath.[10][11]

    His second book, Two Rothschilds and the Land of Israel (1978), is a study of the

    James Rothschild
    .

    In the United States

    In 1980, Schama took up a chair at Harvard University as Mellon Professor of History.[9] His next book, The Embarrassment of Riches (1987), again focused on Dutch history.[12] Schama interpreted the ambivalences that informed the Dutch Golden Age of the 17th century, held in balance between the conflicting imperatives, to live richly and with power, or to live a godly life. The iconographic evidence that Schama draws upon, in 317 illustrations, of emblems and propaganda that defined Dutch character, prefigured his expansion in the 1990s as a commentator on art and visual culture.[13]

    External videos
    video icon Booknotes interview with Schama, July 14, 1989, C-SPAN

    Citizens (1989), written at speed to a publisher's commission, saw the publication of his long-awaited study of the French Revolution, and won the 1990 NCR Book Award. Its view that the violence of the Terror was inherent from the start of the Revolution, however, has received serious negative criticism.[1][14]

    Schama appeared as an on-screen expert in Michael Wood's 1989 PBS series Art of the Western World ("Realms of Light: The Baroque") as a presenting art historian, commenting on paintings by Diego Velázquez, Rembrandt, and Johannes Vermeer.[15]

    In 1991, he published Dead Certainties (Unwarranted Speculations),[16] a relatively slender work of unusual structure and point-of-view in that it looked at two widely reported deaths a hundred years apart, that of British Army General James Wolfe in 1759 – and the famous 1770 painting depicting the event by Benjamin West – and that of George Parkman, murdered uncle of the better known 19th-century American historian Francis Parkman.[17][18]

    Schama mooted some possible (invented) connections between the two cases, exploring the historian's inability "ever to reconstruct a dead world in its completeness however thorough or revealing the documentation", and speculatively bridging "the teasing gap separating a lived event and its subsequent narration." Not all readers absorbed the nuance of the title: it received a very mixed critical and academic reception. Traditional historians in particular denounced Schama's integration of fact and conjecture to produce a seamless narrative,[19] but later assessments took a more relaxed view of the experiment.[20]

    It was an approach soon taken up by such historical writers as

    Richard Holmes.[21]

    Schama's next book, Landscape and Memory (1995), focused on the relationship between physical environment and folk memory, separating the components of landscape as wood, water and rock, enmeshed in the cultural consciousness of collective "memory" embodied in myths, which Schama finds to be expressed outwardly in ceremony and text. More personal and idiosyncratic than Dead Certainties, this book was more traditionally structured and better-defined in its approach. Despite mixed reviews, the book was a commercial success and won numerous prizes.[22][23]

    Plaudits came from the art world rather than from traditional academia. Schama became

    Rembrandt van Rijn and Peter Paul Rubens.[25]

    BBC

    External videos
    video icon Presentation by Schama on A History of Britain: 3500 B.C. - 1603 A.D., December 5, 2000, C-SPAN

    Schama returned to the UK in 2000, having been commissioned by the BBC to produce a series of television documentary programmes on British history as part of their Millennium celebrations, under the title

    History Channel.[28]

    External videos
    video icon After Words interview with Schama on Rough Crossings, July 22, 2006, C-SPAN
    video icon Presentation by Schama on Rough Crossings, June 26, 2006, C-SPAN

    In 2001, Schama received a

    Lord Dunmore offering slaves from rebel plantations freedom in return for service to the crown.[30]

    In 2006, the BBC broadcast a new TV series,

    Guernica and Mark Rothko's Seagram murals.[31] It was also shown on PBS in the United States.[32]

    External videos
    video icon Presentation by Schama on The American Future: A History, May 19, 2009, C-SPAN
    video icon Presentation by Schama on The American Future: A History, September 26, 2009, C-SPAN
    Schama at New York City's Strand Bookstore in 2006.

    In October 2008, on the eve of the presidential election won by Barack Obama, the BBC broadcast a four-part television series called The American Future: A History presented and written by Schama. In March 2009, Schama presented a BBC Radio 4 show entitled Baseball and Me, both exploring the history of the game and describing his own personal support of the Boston Red Sox.[33]

    In 2010, Schama presented a series of ten talks for the BBC Radio 4 series A Point of View.[34]

    External videos
    video icon Presentation by Schama on The Story of the Jews, March 27, 2014, C-SPAN

    In 2011, the BBC commissioned Simon Schama to write and present a five-part series called A History of the Jews for BBC Two, for transmission in 2012,[35] The title became The Story of the Jews and broadcast was delayed until September 2013.[36] Writing in The Observer, Andrew Anthony called the series "an astonishing achievement, a TV landmark."[37]

    In 2018, Simon Schama wrote and presented five of the nine episodes of Civilisations, a reboot of the 1969 series by Kenneth Clark.[38]

    Personal life

    Schama is Jewish. He is married to Virginia Papaioannou, a geneticist from

    Tottenham Hotspur supporter.[41]

    Politics

    In 2010, Schama was a financial donor to Oona King's unsuccessful campaign to become Mayor of London.[42]

    In August 2014, Schama was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian expressing their hope that Scotland would vote to remain part of the United Kingdom in September's referendum on that issue.[43]

    In November 2017, Schama joined

    antisemitism in the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership, with particular reference to a growth in Anti-Zionism and its purported "antisemitic characteristics". Schama and Sebag Montefiore have both written historical works about Israel, while Jacobson has written regularly about Israel and the UK Jewish community in his newspaper columns.[44] Schama made a further criticism of the party in July 2019, when he joined other leading Jewish figures in saying, in a letter to The Guardian, that the crisis was "a taint of international and historic shame" and that trust in the party was "fractured beyond repair".[45]

    Israel

    Schama was critical of British art critic John Berger's support for the Palestinian call for an academic boycott of Israel. Writing in The Guardian in a 2006 article co-authored with Anthony Julius, Schama compared the open letter written by Berger and signed by 92 other leading artists to Nazi Germany, saying: "This is not the first boycott call directed at Jews. On 1 April 1933, only weeks after he came to power, Hitler ordered a boycott of Jewish shops, banks, offices and department stores."[46]

    In 2006 on the BBC, Schama debated with Vivienne Westwood the morality of Israel's actions in the Israel-Lebanon War.[47] He described Israel's bombing of Lebanese city centres as unhelpful to Israel's attempt to "get rid of" Hezbollah.[47] He said: "Of course the spectacle and suffering makes us grieve. Who wouldn't grieve? But it's not enough to do that. We've got to understand. You've even got to understand Israel's point of view."[47]

    United States

    Schama was a supporter of President Barack Obama[48] and a critic of George W. Bush.[49] He appeared on the BBC's coverage of the 2008 US presidential election, clashing with John Bolton.[50]

    Reception and appraisal

    Niall Ferguson praised Schama, "Amongst [historians] currently writing, Simon Schama stands out as the Dickens of modern historiography: bewilderingly erudite and prolific, passionate in his enthusiasms and armed with the complete contents of the thesaurus."[51]

    Prizes and other honours

    Honours

    Commonwealth honours

    Commonwealth honours
    Country Date Appointment Post-nominal letters
     United Kingdom 2001 – Present Commander of the Order of the British Empire CBE
     United Kingdom 2018 – Present Knight Bachelor Kt

    Scholastic

    University degrees
    Location Date School Degree
     England 1966 Christ's College, Cambridge Starred First Bachelor of Arts (BA) in History
    Chancellor, visitor, governor, rector and fellowships
    Location Date School Position
     England 1995 – Present Christ's College, Cambridge Honorary Fellow[61]
     England 12 December 2012–Present Queen Mary University of London Honorary Fellow[62][63]
     England 2015 – 2016 Trinity College, Oxford Visiting Professor of Historiography[64]
     England Brasenose College, Oxford Fellow[65]
    Honorary degrees
    Location Date School Degree Gave Commencement Address
     New York 20 May 1990 Adelphi University Doctor of Humane Letters (DHL)[66]
     England 5 November 1999 University of Greenwich Doctor of Letters (D.Litt)[67]
     Newfoundland and Labrador October 2002 Memorial University of Newfoundland Doctor of Letters (D.Litt)[68]
     New York 24 May 2003 Bard College Doctorate[69]
     England 21 July 2006 University of Essex
    Doctor of the University (D.Univ)[70]
     England 2007 Anglia Ruskin University
    Doctor of the University (D.Univ)[71]
     Pennsylvania 2009 Gettysburg College Doctorate[72]
     England 2010 Royal College of Art Doctorate[73]
     England 19 May 2011 Royal Holloway, University of London Doctor of Literature (D.Litt)[74][75]
     Israel 29 March 2015 Weizmann Institute of Science Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D)[76] Yes[76]

    Memberships and Fellowships

    Location Date Organisation Position
     United Kingdom 2015 – Present British Academy Fellow (FBA)[77]
     United Kingdom 2017 – Present Royal Society of Literature Fellow (FRSL)[60]

    Awards

    Location Date Institution Award
     District of Columbia 1977 The American Historical Association The Leo Gershoy Award
    • For his Book "Patriots and Liberators: Revolution in the Netherlands 1780–1813"
    • [78]
     England 1977 The Wolfson Foundation The Wolfson History Prize
    • For his Book "Patriots and Liberators: Revolution in the Netherlands 1780–1813"
    • [79]
     New York 1992 The American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature
     England 2002 The Historical Association The Medlicott Medal
     Italy 2015 The Accademia dei Lincei The Feltrinelli Prize for History

    Bibliography

    Books
    Television documentaries

    References

    1. ^
      doi:10.1007/978-0-230-59997-0_24 (inactive 31 January 2024).{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of January 2024 (link
      )
    2. ^ "Columbia student reviews of Schama's teaching". CULPA. 2005. Archived from the original on 6 July 2017. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
    3. ^ "BBC Two – A History of Britain by Simon Schama – Episode guide". BBC. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
    4. ^ McCrum, Robert (30 September 2000). "Observer review: A History of Britain by Simon Schama". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
    5. ^ "Honours list". www.thegazette.co.uk. 2018.
    6. ^ Silverstone, Ben. "Schama's art of making history". The Jewish Chronicle. Archived from the original on 5 October 2011. Retrieved 23 July 2006.
    7. ^ Wachmann, Doreen (2013). "Profile: Biblical Tales Gave Schama his First Taste for History". Jewish Telegraph. Jewishtelegraph.com. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
    8. ^ "Simon Schama Interview | The Jewish Chronicle". Thejc.com. 12 October 2013. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
    9. ^
      Who's Who 2024
      . Oxford University Press. 1 December 2023. Retrieved 10 December 2023.
    10. ^ "Patriots and Liberators by Simon Schama – Paperback | HarperCollins". HarperCollins UK. Archived from the original on 16 September 2018. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
    11. ^ Moss, Stephen (16 October 1999). "History, his way". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 October 2021.
    12. ^ Daniel, M., and S. Steinberg. "Simon Schama." Publishers Weekly 238, No. 22 (17 May 1991): 46. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed 30 April 2009).
    13. doi:10.2307/2073570
    14. ^ Notably in Timothy Tackett, "Interpreting the Terror" French Historical Studies 24.4 (Autumn 2001:569–578); Tackett's view of swiftly evolving revolution in his prosopography of the deputies, Becoming a Revolutionary: The Deputies of the French National Assembly and the Emergence of a Revolutionary Culture, 1789–1790 (Princeton University Press) 1996, was not fundamentally at variance with Schama.
    15. ^ Art of the Western World (TV Series 1989– ), retrieved 16 September 2018
    16. JSTOR 2080071
      .
    17. ^ Schama, Simon (12 April 2013). "Simon Schama on Dead Certainties: 'Historians shouldn't make it up, but I did'". The Independent. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
    18. ^ Bernstein, Richard (15 May 1991). "A Historian Enters Fiction's Shadowy Domain". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
    19. ISBN 1-893554-12-0
      . [...] drawing absolute conclusions from [...] fragments of evidence
    20. ISBN 0-252-06536-0
      . "a fascinating experiment in historical writing".
    21. ISBN 0-674-00451-5
      .
    22. ^
      JSTOR 2564086.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of January 2024 (link
      )
    23. ^ Gussow, Mel (5 June 1995). "Into Arcadia with Simon Schama". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
    24. ^ Hang-Ups, Essays on Painting (Mostly) by Simon Schama. www.penguin.co.uk. 8 September 2005. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
    25. ^ Schama, Simon (6 November 2004). "Hang Ups by Simon Schama". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
    26. ^ "Simon Schama Antidote". History News Network. Archived from the original on 18 June 2006. Retrieved 28 March 2007.
    27. ^ "A History of Britain". IMDb. Retrieved 28 March 2007.
    28. ^ a b c Cooper, Barbara Roisman. "A Wild Ride" Through A History of Britain With Simon Schama. British Heritage 23, no. 6 (November 2002): 48. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed 30 April 2009)
    29. ^ Walvin, James (3 September 2005). "Review: Rough Crossings by Simon Schama". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
    30. ^ Butterworth, Alex (24 September 2005). "Observer review: Rough Crossings by Simon Schama". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
    31. ^ "Simon Schama's Power of Art". BBC Two. BBC. Retrieved 28 March 2007.
    32. ^ a b Nalley, Richard. "Simon Schama's Power of Art." Forbes 180 (18 September 2007): 165–165. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed 30 April 2009).
    33. ^ "BBC Radio 4 Extra – Simon Schama – Baseball and Me – Episode guide". BBC. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
    34. ^ "A welcome slice of American pie, A Point of View – BBC Radio 4". BBC. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
    35. ^ "Simon Schama to present The History of the Jews on BBC Two". BBC. 2 February 2011.
    36. BBC Programmes
      . BBC Two. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
    37. ^ Anthony, Andrew (28 September 2013). "Simon Schama: a man always making history". The Observer. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
    38. ^ "Civilisations: Masterworks of beauty and ingenuity". BBC. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
    39. ^ "Simon Schama: Could I have multiple personality disorder?". The Telegraph. 28 July 2010. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 15 February 2017.
    40. ^ Lombroso, Linda (24 March 2014). "Briarcliff historian tells PBS' 'The Story of the Jews'". The Journal News. Retrieved 2 September 2014.
    41. ^ Schama, Simon (20 September 2013). "The Yid Army's chants turn anti-semitism into kitsch banter". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 10 December 2022.
    42. ^ White, Michael (13 August 2010). "David Miliband hits it rich in leadership race as stars back Burnham and Balls". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 3 October 2021.
    43. ^ "Celebrities' open letter to Scotland – full text and list of signatories". The Guardian. London. 7 August 2014. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
    44. ^ Sugarman, Daniel (6 November 2017). "Schama, Sebag-Montefiore and Jacobson unite to condemn Labour antisemitism". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
    45. ^ Boscia, Stefan (14 July 2019). "Jewish figures rail against Labour's handling of antisemitism charges". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
    46. ^ Simon Schama; Anthony Julius (22 December 2006). "John Berger is wrong". The Guardian.
    47. ^
      This Week
      . BBC. 24 July 2006.
    48. ^ Schama, Simon (30 August 2008). "In its severity and fury, this was Obama at his most powerful and moving". The Guardian. London. p. 34. Retrieved 5 November 2008.
    49. ^ Schama, Simon (3 November 2008). "Nowhere man: a farewell to Dubya, all-time loser in presidential history". The Guardian. London. pp. 1–2. Retrieved 5 November 2008.
    50. The Evening Times. 5 November 2008. Archived from the original
      on 8 November 2008. Retrieved 5 November 2008.
    51. ^ "Niall Ferguson: By the Book". The New York Times. 11 January 2018. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
    52. ^ "Saint Louis Literary Award – Saint Louis University". www.slu.edu. Archived from the original on 23 August 2016. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
    53. ^ Saint Louis University Library Associates. "Saint Louis University Library Associates Announce Winner of 2001 Literary Award". Retrieved 25 July 2016.
    54. ^ "BAFTA Awards". British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Retrieved 12 November 2013.
    55. ^ "Simon Schama – Awards". IMDb. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
    56. ^ Bosman, Julie. "National Briefing | Arts: National Book Critics Circle Winners", New York Times (9 March 2007): 20. Academic Search Premier; accessed 1 May 2009.
    57. ^ "Professor Schama Wins International Emmy for Power of Art". Retrieved 22 January 2019.
    58. ^ "Kenyon Review for Literary Achievement". kenyonreview.org. 4 October 2011. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
    59. ^ "British Academy Fellowship reaches 1,000 as 42 new UK Fellows are welcomed". 16 July 2015. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
    60. ^ a b Onwuemezi, Natasha (7 June 2017). "Rankin, McDermid and Levy named new RSL fellows", The Bookseller. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
    61. ^ "Honorary Fellows | Christs College Cambridge". www.christs.cam.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 27 September 2020. Retrieved 11 July 2020.
    62. ^ "PR – Queen Mary honours Simon Schama, Sarah Waters and Marcus du Sautoy – Queen Mary University of London". www.qmul.ac.uk. 12 December 2012.
    63. ^ "Fellows – Queen Mary University of London". www.qmul.ac.uk.
    64. ^ "Simon Schama in Oxford". Trinity College. 29 April 2016.
    65. ^ "Simon Schama@Brasenose – Brasenose College, Oxford". www.bnc.ox.ac.uk.
    66. ^ "Commencement at Adelphi University". Commencement.
    67. ^ "Honorary Graduates". University of Greenwich.
    68. ^ https://www.mun.ca/senate/honorary/honorary-degrees-by-last-name.pdf [bare URL PDF]
    69. ^ Relations, Bard Public. "BARD COLLEGE TO HOLD ONE HUNDRED FORTY-THIRD COMMENCEMENT ON SATURDAY, MAY 24, 2003 Civil Rights Champion and Harvard Law Professor Lani Guinier to Deliver Commencement Address | Bard College Public Relations". www.bard.edu.
    70. ^ "Honorary Graduates – Honorary Graduates – University of Essex". www1.essex.ac.uk.
    71. ^ "Professor Simon Schama – ARU". aru.ac.uk.
    72. ^ "Honorary degree recipients - Gettysburg.edu". www.gettysburg.edu.
    73. ^ "Honorary Doctors". Royal College of Art. Archived from the original on 22 October 2020. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
    74. ^ https://intranet.royalholloway.ac.uk/iquad/documents/pdf/principal/hononaryfellowsprog.pdf [bare URL PDF]
    75. ^ "Honorary awards". www.royalholloway.ac.uk.
    76. ^ a b "An historian's tale | Prof. Simon Schama, PhD honoris causa keynote speaker | WeizmannCompass". Weizmann.ac.il. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
    77. ^ "RHS Statement on Council Resolution | RHS". royalhistsoc.org. Archived from the original on 5 August 2020. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
    78. ^ "Leo Gershoy Award Recipients | AHA".
    79. ^ "The 1977 Wolfson History Prize Winners".
    80. ^ "Awards – American Academy of Arts and Letters".
    81. ^ "The Medlicott Medal". 18 April 2016.
    82. ^
      JSTOR 3051386
      .
    83. ^ Johnson, Paul (21 September 2013). "The Story of the Jews, by Simon Schama – review". The Spectator. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
    84. ^ Freedland, Jonathan (6 October 2017). "Simon Schama: finding the light in the darkness of the Jewish story – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
    85. ^ "BBC Two - the Romantics and Us with Simon Schama - Episode guide".
    86. ^ "BBC Two - Simon Schama's History of Now - Episode guide".

    External links

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