"In these lively essays and reportage... Schama... turns his omnivorous erudition and warm prose to a vast array of topics. ... He approaches every subject with gusto and amusement and ... always has smart things to say." - Publishers Weekly

Simon Schama is University Professor of Art History and History at Columbia University in New York. His books have been translated into 15 languages and give an idea of his range: Citizens: a Chronicle of the French Revolution, Landscape and Memory, Rembrandt's Eyes, A History of Britain, The Power of Art, Rough Crossings and, most recently, The American Future: A History. His art columns for the New Yorker won the national magazine Award for criticsim and journalism and his journalism has appeared regularly in the Guardian and Financial Times where he is Contributing Editor. He has written and presented forty films for BBC2 on subjects as diverse as Tolstoy, American politics and John Donne and won an Emmy for The Power of Art. Simon Schama was awarded a CBE in 2001.