The Story of the Jews Volume One: Finding the Words 1000 BC-1492 AD

In this magnificently illustrated cultural history—the tie-in to the PBS and BBC series The Story of the Jews—Simon Schama details the story of the Jewish experience, from their beginnings as an ancient tribal people to the opening of the New World in 1492.

It is a story like no other: an epic of endurance against destruction, of creativity in oppression, joy amidst grief, the affirmation of life against the steepest of odds.

This epic of world history spans the millennia and the continents—from India to Andalusia and from the bazaars of Cairo to the streets of Oxford. It takes you to unimagined places: to a Jewish kingdom in the mountains of southern Arabia; a Syrian synagogue glowing with radiant wall paintings; the palm groves of the Jewish dead in the Roman catacombs. And its voices ring loud and clear, from the severities and ecstasies of the Bible writers to the love poems of wine bibbers in a garden in Muslim Spain.

In The Story of the Jews, the Talmud burns in the streets of Paris, massed gibbets hang over the streets of medieval London, a Majorcan illuminator redraws the world; candles are lit, chants are sung, mules are packed, ships loaded with spice and gems founder at sea.

And a great story of Jewish history unfolds. Not—as often imagined—of a culture apart, but 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.

Which makes the story of the Jews everyone’s story, too.

• Ancient and Medieval History: From a surprising Jewish kingdom in the mountains of southern Arabia to the burning of the Talmud in the streets of Paris.
• Art and Culture: Discover a Syrian synagogue glowing with radiant wall paintings, love poems from Muslim Spain, and the work of a Majorcan illuminator who redrew the world.
• Stories of Resilience: An epic of endurance against destruction, of joy amidst grief, and the affirmation of life against the steepest of odds.
• Companion to the PBS/BBC Series: Go deeper into the magnificently illustrated cultural history seen in the acclaimed documentary series, The Story of the Jews.

“Award-winning Columbia University historian Schama . . . brings to bear his gift for synthesizing mountains of information into a well-crafted, accessible narrative in this impressive volume that spans nearly 2,500 years and serves as a companion volume to a PBS series.” - Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Mr. Schama’s The Story of the Jews is exemplary popular history. It’s engaged, literate, alert to recent scholarship and, at moments, winningly personal.” - New York Times

“In his brilliant new history of the Jews, the unconventional scholar somehow manages to be simultaneously sentimental and subversive, consensual and contrarian - and we readers are the beneficiaries.” - Haaretz (English edition)

“Mr. Schama’s history flashes by with entertaining velocity…” - Wall Street Journal

“An energetic cascade of prose and erudition, rife with pointillist detail and witty colloquialisms…” - Chicago Tribune, Printers Row

“Schama has written an unconventional but masterful and deeply felt history of his people…” - Booklist (starred review)

“Schama writes history from below, and from the middle and other unexpected angles, resurrecting the unrecorded and long-forgotten, and analyzing the social and cultural forces that shaped his subjects’ lives… [he] has pulled it off with opinionated flair and literary grace.” - New York Times Book Review

“Stirring and fascinating” - Los Angeles Times

“Schama is a historian of prodigious and varied gifts. He can take a specific subject and drill deep; he can take a wide-angled view of many countries over long periods of time. He does both in this excellent first volume… Revealing and moving.” - San Francisco Chronicle

“Reading Schama is like sitting across from the world’s most dazzling dinner party guest…” - Seattle Times

“A multifaceted story artfully woven by an expert historian.” - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“The story that Schama tells is wide-ranging, well documented, delightful, amusing, personal, and inspring…” - New York Review of Books