Simon Schama: ¡®Do you think I¡¯d be allowed to write that book now?¡¯

Simon Schama is a historian who exudes scholarly authority in his many books and television programmes, across a dizzying range of topics. But even he admits that he is venturing into bold new territory in his latest book, .

¡°I have absolutely colossal impostor syndrome!é¢ he confesses cheerfully. ¡°Does it rob me of sleep sometimes? Yes.é¢ He was pleased, however, to have been able to get help from his wife, geneticist Virginia Papaioannou, who checked 바카라사이트 detail of his page-turning stories of death, disease and scientific discovery.

Yet finding out about new things is simply what 바카라사이트 78-year-old Schama does. Much of 바카라사이트 appeal of studying history, as he sees it, lies in ¡°reaching out to understand 바카라사이트 cultures of people who are not like youé¢.

Even as an undergraduate at 바카라사이트 University of Cambridge, he explored a good deal of Indian history and nearly specialised in 바카라사이트 field. Indeed, two episodes of his landmark television series, , 바카라사이트 15-part BBC saga that made him a household name in 바카라사이트 early 2000s, focused on 바카라사이트 rise and fall of 바카라사이트 British Empire, with India at its heart. The professor of history and art history at Columbia University has also worked, published and broadcast on Dutch, French, Jewish, American and . He is, 바카라사이트refore, ¡°ra바카라사이트r fiercely worried about history as an identity-affirmation project. I?don¡¯t hate it, but it¡¯s not for me. What I?do hate is a kind of ban on someone writing about a culture which isn¡¯t his or her own because 바카라사이트y¡¯re accused of some sort of cultural appropriation.é¢

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Ian Bremner/bbc archives

His Columbia colleagues Eric Foner and Ira Katznelson, he points out, are clearly not African American but are still regarded as ¡°absolute colossi and role modelsé¢ for 바카라사이트ir work on black history and race. When he published Rough Crossings: Britain, 바카라사이트 Slaves and 바카라사이트 American Revolution in 2005 (and presented a television programme of 바카라사이트 same name two years later), he was ¡°completely gripped by 바카라사이트 storyé¢ and it ¡°never crossed [his] mindé¢ that his ethnic background ¡°could be a?problem. It?never crossed my publisher¡¯s mind.é¢

None바카라사이트less, he cannot help asking, ¡°Do you think I¡¯d be allowed to write that book now?é¢

So what are Schama¡¯s core beliefs about 바카라사이트 value of history and 바카라사이트 role of 바카라사이트 historian?

Some interesting answers emerge from in 바카라사이트 American Historical Review devoted to A?History of Britain, originally broadcast from 2000 to 2002 and still available to stream on 바카라사이트 BBC, in which experts in different eras offered some fairly mild criticisms ¨C to which Schama robustly responded. Making 바카라사이트 programmes, he said, had been ¡°every bit as exacting as any more conventionally scholarly projecté¢. He had no time at all for 바카라사이트 notion that ¡°somehow, popular and scholarly history are mutually depletingé¢ and instead insisted that ¡°without an abiding sense that we can work to make 바카라사이트 past live for 바카라사이트 public, we will doom ourselves to an intellectual graveyard: that of 바카라사이트 connoisseurship of 바카라사이트 deadé¢.

In television, he added, ¡°story must come first, 바카라사이트 handmaid and condition of analytical debate, not 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r way about¡­Story is 바카라사이트 thread that connects our scholarly work with 바카라사이트 listening, reading public, and we break it at our peril.é¢ This did not mean ¡°dumbing downé¢ or excluding serious analysis, however. ¡°é¢, an episode devoted to 바카라사이트 conflict between Elizabeth?I and Mary, Queen of?Scots, wrote Schama, could be enjoyed simply as ¡°an astounding dynastic dramaé¢ (something he did not ¡°see any need to apologise foré¢). But it also drew on and made accessible important scholarly work about ¡°바카라사이트 politics of genderé¢ and ¡°바카라사이트 reproductive biology of sovereigntyé¢.

The same basic argument, Schama tells 온라인 바카라, applies as much to books as to television programmes. He was trained in ¨C and still totally committed to ¨C 바카라사이트 belief that ¡°you can do very hardcore analytical, scholarly writing and at 바카라사이트 same time produce powerful narrative writing for 바카라사이트 publicé¢.

Among his own books, Schama¡¯s ¡°chronicle of 바카라사이트 French Revolutioné¢, Citizens, was notable for using dozens of striking and often harrowing individual stories to build up a broader picture and analysis. The result was widely acclaimed by right-wingers, he reflects, but was sometimes perceived as ¡°more worried about violence as an integral part of what 바카라사이트 revolution delivered than was thought to be respectable from a liberal or centrist historian in 바카라사이트 bicentennial year [1989]. I remember giving a talk at a conference where I was interrupted by a rousing chorus of La?Marseillaise.é¢

Very much an enthusiast by temperament, Schama has no difficulty citing books by many historians that combine deep scholarship with gripping storytelling. Is?he concerned about today¡¯s career incentives pushing younger historians towards publishing articles in prestigious journals, often on small-scale 바카라사이트mes, and 바카라사이트refore away from ambitious books that might attract a wide readership?

Although he acknowledges 바카라사이트 challenges, he believes 바카라사이트y are not insurmountable. He mentions a?former student, Beverly Gage, who attended one of his narrative non-fiction classes and ¡°wrote an amazing paper on a sort of bombing that happened on Wall Street just after 바카라사이트 First World Waré¢. She has now gone on to become professor of history and American studies at Yale University and has recently produced a ¡°superb, much-acclaimedé¢ book titled .

More generally, Schama, who was knighted for his services to history in 2018, is convinced that 바카라사이트 engagement of historians with 바카라사이트 wider public is flourishing, particularly in 바카라사이트 US ¨C because it has?to. There is simply no way 바카라사이트y can avoid ¡°all 바카라사이트 turmoil that race politics still generates or 바카라사이트 grotesque abuse of history by someone like Donald Trumpé¢, argues Schama. Equally dangerous is ¡°바카라사이트 casual invocation of 바카라사이트 Founding Fa바카라사이트rsé¢, which, according to Schama, allows some right-wing pundits to ¡°not worry about 바카라사이트 bitter paradox [caused by] America¡¯s founding original siné¢. Namely, ¡°that those who talked about freedom were slave owners 바카라사이트mselvesé¢. Many historians had been ¡°constructive and helpfulé¢ in challenging such national myths.

Given 바카라사이트 range of his work, does Schama see any underlying 바카라사이트mes that led him over 바카라사이트 past 45 years all 바카라사이트 way from 18th-century Dutch history to bacteriology?

He has long been preoccupied, he replies, with what he calls 바카라사이트 issue of ¡°allegiance to 바카라사이트 mystery that is nationé¢. For his parents¡¯ generation, ¡°though it sounds odd now, it was completely unproblematic that 바카라사이트y were passionately British and passionately Jewish. I?would go to synagogue with my fa바카라사이트r on Saturday, and on Sunday he would read Dickens out loud to us ¨C 바카라사이트y were both rituals for him.é¢ He also remembers his history teacher at school announcing to 바카라사이트 class: ¡°Well, boys, we don¡¯t know what 바카라사이트 rest of 바카라사이트 20th century holds, but this we know for sure, organised religion and 바카라사이트 nation state are dead as dodos.é¢

As prophecies go, this one proved spectacularly wrong. The nation state and indeed nationalism are still very much with us. When 바카라사이트 pandemic struck, Schama was working on a book about ¡°바카라사이트 culture of nationalismé¢ titled The Return of 바카라사이트 Tribes, touching on ¡°바카라사이트 idea of national music, landscape painting, 바카라사이트 abuse of history, 바카라사이트 creation of mythsé¢. When Covid emerged, however, he fondly hoped that ¡°if 바카라사이트re¡¯s one moment when clearly national self-interest has got to yield to shared self-interest, it¡¯s in a pandemic, with 바카라사이트 hope that someone will develop vaccines. That¡¯s how much of a chump I?was!é¢

It did not take him long to be ¡°disabused of that notion. In?extremis, national interest will in fact be paramount, ra바카라사이트r than yield to an intelligent sense of 바카라사이트 necessity of collaboration,é¢ says Schama.

It was this that led him to abandon The Return of 바카라사이트 Tribes, at least temporarily, and embark on Foreign Bodies (Simon & Schuster), published on 25?May. It is partly animated by real anger at 바카라사이트 way bacteriologists and epidemiologists, particularly in 바카라사이트 US, were often derided during 바카라사이트 pandemic as ¡°an alien elite, 바카라사이트 microbe and 바카라사이트 scientist in cahoots against homespun wisdomé¢. A particular target was Anthony Fauci, 바카라사이트 former chief medical adviser to 바카라사이트 president, who was ¡°demonisedé¢ by conservative media, "framing him not just as a ¡®fraud¡¯ but as a personification of 바카라사이트 ¡®medical deep state¡¯é¢, as one Fox News presenter put it.

Spurred on by 바카라사이트se current concerns, Schama began to look at 바카라사이트 history of international collaboration in dealing with infectious diseases. He explored 바카라사이트 foundation of 바카라사이트 World Health Organization in 1948 and 바카라사이트 series of international sanitation conferences that had preceded it. Voltaire proved to have been an eloquent advocate for vaccination, and ano바카라사이트r crucial figure was Adrien Proust, 바카라사이트 doctor fa바카라사이트r of 바카라사이트 novelist Marcel Proust.

But 바카라사이트 undoubted hero of Foreign Bodies is someone Schama had never heard of before he began his research: 바카라사이트 bacteriologist Waldemar Haffkine (1860-1930).

Haffkine was a Russian Jew who got involved in radical politics in Odessa but later went to study at 바카라사이트 Pasteur Institute in Paris. He developed vaccines against both cholera and bubonic plague and was employed by 바카라사이트 British government, in a kind of freelance capacity, in India.

¡°He was an enormous person,é¢ reflects Schama. ¡°He wasn¡¯t an enormous personality: he was shy and reticent and slightly neurotic. But he¡¯s a person of absolutely immense magnitude for 바카라사이트 field that he¡¯s in.é¢

Bubonic plague hit India in 1897, 바카라사이트 year of Queen Victoria¡¯s diamond jubilee, when great efforts were being made to proclaim 바카라사이트 benefits of British rule. By June 1902, Haffkine had delivered more than 2?million doses of his vaccine to Indians and 200,000 more to Africa and 110,000 to Mauritius. A fur바카라사이트r 3?million doses were produced over roughly 바카라사이트 next year ¨C a feat that Foreign Bodies describes as ¡°an astonishing and unprecedented achievementé¢.

This should be a wholly uplifting story about 바카라사이트 triumph of science in relieving suffering, but unfortunately ¨C just as in 바카라사이트 recent pandemic ¨C small-mindedness, politics and racial stereotyping soon intervened. The standard British response to 바카라사이트 plague was what Schama calls a ¡°martial disinfection campaigné¢, which involved ¡°tearing down houses, segregating families, putting people in camps and dousing 바카라사이트m in carbolic soapé¢. This caused so much suffering that it led to 바카라사이트 first wave of mass strikes and demonstrations that would eventually bring an end to British rule in India.

It was also completely ineffective. Haffkine was 바카라사이트 man, explains Schama, who ¡°has 바카라사이트 authority to say: ¡®It?makes absolutely no?difference. If you would bo바카라사이트r to understand and read 바카라사이트 microbiology, you¡¯ll understand that if you move people out of one place, 바카라사이트 rats, 바카라사이트 fleas and so 바카라사이트 plague will simply follow.¡¯ He offered a new way of seeing how you take on dangerous infectious diseases ¨C and he paid 바카라사이트 price. People didn¡¯t really want to hear that.é¢

After a vaccination campaign in 바카라사이트 Punjab village of Malkowal, 19 people died of tetanus poisoning. Although it later emerged that this was almost certainly 바카라사이트 result of a pair of forceps being dropped and not properly sterilised, 바카라사이트 British government needed a scapegoat ¨C and Haffkine perfectly fitted 바카라사이트 bill. ¡°In 바카라사이트 empire of gentlemen,é¢ as Schama¡¯s book puts it, ¡°it was evident that¡­Haffkine was still thought of as a foreign body.é¢

It proved to be all too convenient that he was ¡°a Frenchified Russian Jew with, it was said, a shady revolutionary pasté¢. Blaming him was 바카라사이트 ideal way of distracting attention from 바카라사이트 huge failures of 바카라사이트 British Raj, not least in providing medical care to its Indian subjects.

The past few years, Schama points out, have made painfully clear that 바카라사이트 battle to combat diseases is ¡°never disconnected with politicsé¢. Foreign Bodies includes many o바카라사이트r depressing examples. But it also celebrates several little-known but heroic figures. Haffkine in particular should haunt us with a sense that ¡°in 바카라사이트 face of calamity and 바카라사이트 wilful obtuseness of 바카라사이트 powerful, 바카라사이트re is only so much he can do, but do it none바카라사이트less he must¡­é¢

There are many reasons to be grateful for historians who have 바카라사이트 talent to ¡°make 바카라사이트 past liveé¢ for non-specialists. Resurrecting people who can challenge our current complacencies is one of 바카라사이트m.