The American Future: A History | Seminary Co-Operative Bookstore, Inc.

The American Future: A History (Paperback)

$15.99

Seminary Co-Operative Bookstore, Inc.
1 on hand, as of Feb 8 11:28am (History: United States)

On Our Shelves Now

Description

Nothing that has happened since the inauguration of Barack Obama has dispelled the sense that the election of 2008 was the kind of moment of truth in American politics and history that seldom comes along. Simon Schama, the acclaimed historian and award-winning critic, followed the campaign, but unlike other accounts, The American Future looks at that contemporary moment through the window of time. In four areas critical to the fate of the American republic—war; the place of religion in politics and culture; immigration; and the tenacious grip of expectations of permanent abundance—Schama looks back to see more clearly into the future. Full of lost insights and spellbinding tales, discovering men and women who have been forgotten in the big record, The American Future showcases Schama's unique gift of storytelling, ensuring these eloquent voices will be heard again as the nation moves forward into an uncertain moment in its history.

About the Author

Simon Schama is University Professor of Art History and History at Columbia University in New York. His award-winning books include The American Future: A History; Rough Crossings; The Power of Art; The Embarrassment of Riches: An Interpretation of Dutch Culture in the Golden Age; Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution; Dead Certainties (Unwarranted Speculations); Landscape and Memory; Rembrandt's Eyes; and the History of Britain trilogy. He has written and presented forty television documentary films for the BBC, PBS, and The History Channel—including the Emmy-winning Power of Art—on subjects that range from John Donne to Tolstoy.

Praise for The American Future: A History…

“Schama is a masterful stylist and storyteller.”
-Boston Globe

“It has its own particular charm . . . a fabulous jumble-sale, full of old treasures and recent acquisitions. Anyone interested in America will find in it something to their fancy.”
-The Economist

“A lively meditation on American history . . . Schama’s wide-ranging narratives wander between contemporary reportage . . . and fluent, richly literate history.”
-Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“His specialty is finding interesting midlevel characters from the buried mounds of history and telling their stories. In the first great chunk of the book, he tells the stories of the Meigses...gripping portraits...Simon Schama the outstanding historian still survives.”
-David Brooks, New York Times Book Review

“With eloquence, wit, passion and irony, The American Future traces the history of an idea: that of our national destiny. . . . Schama’s is a book of beautiful writing, peppered with wisecracks, slashed with rapier thrusts.”
-Philadelphia Inquirer

“His historical narrative is excellent. . . . [Schama] writes beautifully about Americans of the past.”
-Miami Herald

“It is a tribute to Mr. Schama’s talent that he is able to make this work sound exciting, even inspiring. . . . The American Future is a success because Mr. Schama knows how to entwine past and present into a meaningful, continuous whole.”
-New York Times

“I hope Obama will have this book on his bedside table. A more inspiring evocation of the spirit of liberal America—past, present and future—does not exist.”
-Niall Ferguson

“Schama is a genius of storytelling. . . . A historian who radiates such anticipated pleasure is a rare thing. We are lucky to have him.”
-The Times (London)

“As a literary endeavor, The American Future does live up to the author’s lofty standards. Schama is, among other things, a nimble biographer...[and] a writer of gorgeous prose.”
-Washington Post