Volume 2 of 'The Story of the Jews' epic tells the stories of many who seldom figure in Jewish histories: not just the rabbis and the philosophers but a poetess in the ghetto of Venice; a general in Ming China; a boxer in Georgian England, a Bible showman in Amsterdam; a teacher of the deaf in eighteenth-century France, an opera composer in nineteenth-century Germany. The story unfolds in Kerala and Mantua, the starlit hills of Galilee, the rivers of Colombia, the kitchens of Istanbul, the taverns of Ukraine and the mining camps of California. It sails in caravels, rides the stage coaches and the railways; trudges the dawn streets of London with a packload of old clothes, hobbles along with the remnant of Napoleon’s ruined army.

Through Schama's passionate and intelligent telling, a story emerges of the Jewish people that feels as though it is the story of everyone, of humanity – packed with detail, this second chronicle in an epic tale will shed new light on a crucial period of history.