The author of many books, including The Embarrassment of Riches and National Book Critics Circle Award winner Rough Crossings, Simon Schama is a Professor of Art History and History at Columbia University. A cultural essayist for the New Yorker, he has written and presented more than 30 documentaries for the BBC and PBS, including A History of Britain and The Power of Art, winner of an International Emmy Award. Using the 2008 presidential campaign as a launching point, Schama's The American Future (also a BBC documentary) explores America's identity through its military might, religious fervor, complicated relationship with immigration, and staggering abundance.