The Story of the Jews (TV series)

In a review for The Daily Telegraph, Neil Midgley described the first episode as a "resounding success", saying: "Schama told the story efficiently and evocatively – and deftly picked out stories that would illustrate his overarching thesis about how Judaism managed to survive...In Schama’s view, to be a Jew is to be verbal....By the end of this first episode, Schama had given the title of his programme an intriguing double meaning. Over its four remaining parts, The Story of the Jews promises to be not only a chronological history, but also a common narrative of what unifies and fortifies Jewish people".^[7]

For The Guardian, critic Arifa Akbar said: "Simon Schama's story was as much an investigation into identity as it was the beginning of a difficult history".^[8]

Writing in The Observer, Andrew Anthony called it "an astonishing achievement, a TV landmark".^[9]

David Hinckley, reviewing for the New York Daily News, said: "Schama doesn’t downplay the persecution and martyrdom of Jews throughout history. Neither does he let this interfere with his clear mission of portraying Jewish history as a tale of triumph and celebration".^[10]

Robert Lloyd, TV critic for the Los Angeles Times, said that Schama "has produced a series that is at once informative, entertaining, thought-provoking, heart-wrenching and, in its final episode, in which he confronts the paradoxes of modern Israel, more than a little maddening. Like the religion and the culture that surrounds it, each of which loves an argument, it is inconclusive and open to discussion".^[11]

• The Story of the Jews at BBC Online