The first volume of Schama’s monumental trilogy dealt with two and a half millennia. This middle volume treats of just five centuries, reflecting perhaps not only the vastly greater source material ­available but also the greater popular interest in the early modern and modern periods. Going from the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492 to 1900, just after the ­summoning of the First Zionist Congress by Theodor Herzl, it takes Schama some 700 pages to tell his tale.