The American Future: A History - Hardcover

"Schama is a masterful stylist and storyteller." -- Boston Globe

"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

"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)

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

"Schama is a masterful stylist and storyteller."--Boston Globe

"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

"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

"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

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

Schama is a genius of storytelling.... A historian who radiates such anticipated pleasure is a rare thing.