In recognition of his distinguished career as a scholar and teacher of history and art history who has made major contributions in his research fields; of his enthusiastically assuming the role of thought-provoking guide to the general public in the instructive journey offered by history, thus bridging the gap between academia and the public and, thereby, brilliantly illuminating age-old, yet pressing, questions concerning national identity, cultural pluralism, and civic tolerance; and of his elegant and distinctive blend of expansive knowledge and eloquent articulation of complex issues, all of which are reflected in his work in print and on screen.
Prof. Simon Michael Schama, CBE is a professor of history and art history at Columbia University and the author of 16 books that have been widely translated, as well as 50 documentaries on art, history, and literature. His work juxtaposes a rich array of sources from different places, including standard chronicles, legal documents, artwork, craft items, fiction, private letters, and architecture, and suggests an interpretation with a wide view of the society he is studying. The fascinating result invariably presents the audience with relevant insight into modern-day society.
Schama was born in London in 1945 into a Jewish family. Both sets of grandparents fled persecution; immigration, movement, and cultural collision are part of his experience and are central themes in his work. He studied history at Christ's College, Cambridge, graduating with particular distinction in 1966 and earning an MA in 1969. He was a lecturer in history at Cambridge and at Oxford, where he specialized in the French Revolution. In 1980, Schama moved to the U.S. and became professor of history and art history at Harvard (1980-1993), before moving to Columbia University.
His oeuvre, original in content and diverse in form, includes Patriots and Liberators (1977) on the effect of the Patriot revolution in the Netherlands and its aftermath, which won the Wolfson History Prize; Two Rothschilds and the Land of Israel (1978), a study of the Zionist aims of Edmond James de Rothschild and James Armand de Rothschild; and The Embarrassment of Riches: An Interpretation of Dutch Culture in the Golden Age (1987), again focused on Dutch history. He came to popular public attention with Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution (1989), which won the 1990 NCR Book Award. Additional works are Rembrandt's Eyes (1999), which contrasts the biographies of Rembrandt van Rijn and Peter Paul Rubens; the A History of Britain trilogy (2000-2002); Rough Crossings: Britain, the Slaves and the American Revolution (2005), which won the National Book Critics Circle Award, and others.
His award-winning television work as writerpresenter stretches over two decades and includes the monumental 15-part A History of Britain (2000), the Emmy-winning Simon Schama's Power of Art (2006), and The American Future: A History (2008), which won the Broadcast Critics Guild awards. His latest project is The Story of the Jews (2013), which follows him as he travels from Russia and the Ukraine to Egypt, Israel, and Spain, exploring the imprint that Jewish culture has made on the world and the drama of suffering, resilience, and rebirth that has gone with it. This five-part epic is, at the same time, a personal journey for Schama, who has been immersed in Jewish history since his postwar childhood in London.