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| Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean: How a Generation of Swashbuckling Jews Carved Out an Empire in the New World in Their Quest for Treasure, Religious Freedom--and Revenge |  | Author: Edward Kritzler
Publisher: Anchor
Category: Book
List Price: $15.00
Buy New: $10.20
as of 3/20/2010 14:10 CDT details
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Seller: Amazon.com
Rating:  30 reviews
Sales Rank: 9,293
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Pages: 352
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.9
ISBN: 0767919521
Dewey Decimal Number: 909
EAN: 9780767919524
ASIN: 0767919521
Publication Date: November 3, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| | ISBN13: 9780767919524 | | | Condition: NEW | | | Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark. |
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Product Description
In this lively debut work of history, Edward Kritzler tells the tale of an unlikely group of swashbuckling Jews who ransacked the high seas in the aftermath of the Spanish Inquisition. At the end of the fifteenth century, many Jews had to flee Spain and Portugal. The most adventurous among them took to the seas as freewheeling outlaws. In ships bearing names such as the Prophet Samuel, Queen Esther, and Shield of Abraham, they attacked and plundered the Spanish fleet while forming alliances with other European powers to ensure the safety of Jews living in hiding. Filled with high-sea adventures–including encounters with Captain Morgan and other legendary pirates–Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean reveals a hidden chapter in Jewish history as well as the cruelty, terror, and greed that flourished during the Age of Discovery.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 30
 Excellent Book!! March 6, 2010
David in AK
This book fills in a lot of the gaps of traditional history classes. You'll understand the link between Spain, Holland, Barbary, and the New World. It is intensely informative. Highly recommended. David - Bethel, AK
PS - Follow-on recommedation: You must read Michael Oren's "POWER, FAITH and FANTASY - AMERICA in the MIDDLE EAST 1776 to the PRESENT" along with this book. Your understanding of world history for the last few centuries will be very enhanced at the very least. David
Read like a novel February 23, 2010
E. Levy (Beit Horon, Israel)
I just finished this great book in just two days. It read like a novel, and that is always a great way to learn history.
Before reading the book, I attended a lecture series on Portuguese Jews and their journey to Amsterdam. When I read the book, the facts and timeline were the same.
My most favorite part of the book, I just might have found an ancestor - Hernando Alonso. Who knows?
Great Book February 10, 2010
Lynda F. Maduro
I have read it my mother did and now we gave it to some friends wonderful book..
Very readable account of a little-known part of history February 7, 2010
Richard Gibson (Woodland Hills, CA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book explores a fascinating but little-known passage in history: the story of a small group of the Jews of Spain who, after they were expelled from Spain in 1492, became sea-faring traders and adventurers in both the Meditterrean and the Caribbean. What drives the book forward is the chronological narrative of what happened to this group of Jews, as they fought for a place to live and wealth, against the ceaseless attacks of the Spanish Inquisition.
In 1492, the Jews of Spain were given the choice of converting to the Church or being expelled. This book is concerned with the adventures of both those Spanish Jews who left and those who converted, or pretended to convert, in order to stay. As the book explores, many of the Jews who left went to the Islamic world, where a number of them became Barbary Pirates, Islamic sea raiders who continually attacked Spain, Italy and any European boats they could catch. The book is more concerned, however, with the Jews who stayed, and pretended to be Catholic. Many of these conversos or New Christians were very successful traders and sea-farers in the Spanish Empire. Their loyalty, however, was also subject to question.
According to this book, a large number of the voyagers in the Age of Exploration were secret Jews. Columbus himself, this book argues, was part Jewish and had deep emotional ties to the Jewish community. How true this part of the argument is, it is hard to say. "Secret Jews", by definition, were secret, so it speculative to say who was or was not one of this group.
A large part of the story is concerned with the alliance between the Dutch and the Jews, the two enemies of Spain. (The two of them sometimes aligned with Islam, the greatest enemy of Spain.) The author tells a fascinating story of the Jewish role in the short-lived Dutch empire in Brazil.
What really concerns the author, however, is the history of Jamaica. He argues that, while it was Spanish, Jamaica was a haven for secret Jews for two reasons. First, it is was the private property of the Columbus family, which favored Jews, or (at least) kept the Inquisition away. Second, it was not an attractive place to go, at the time, so the crown tolerated colonists of dubious loyalty. As the situation developed, the many secret Jews of Jamaica became concerned that the Spanish would attack them there, as well, so they helped to, first, betray the place to the English, and second, to assist the English in using pirates as a way to harass the Spanish and to defend the island.
I am not sure how much of this is true, or well-balanced historically, but the book is a good read, and an interesting look at a little known part of the past.
How the Inquisition dealt with Jews January 30, 2010
DAW (Austin, TX)
The story Kritzler tells artfully and with humor and grace, is actually quite chilling. Contrary to popular belief, Jewish Conversos were never accepted as anything but marginal citizens of Spain and Portugal while the Inquisition reigned. If some became wealthy, all ultimately were used, plundered and forced to innovate in order to stay alive. Piracy became a useful device for three reasons: it enabled Jews to serve either their captors or their captors' enemies, depending upon circumstances, in return for favors; it provided a means to search for far-off lands which Jews might be allowed to settle and develop in the service of their captors; and it also provided an opportunity for revenge, to some degree. For all the considerable cleverness and great courage of the Jewish adventurers, it was less these qualities than the willngness of the Dutch to accept them as separate but tolerable sojourners for a time, as Holland struggled to establish itself as a world power competitive with Spain, Portugal and England. Ultimately, when the European Catholics and Calvinists needed them no longer, their Jews were abandoned and Jewish piracy came to an end. But for a time it was a thrilling and almost promising enterprise, and in the aftermath the Jewish communities of South America, Mexico and the Caribbean were established with consequences noted by other historians. Kritsler has filled in a fascinating and crucial piece of the tapestry that is the Wandering Jew, and done it with great style.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 30
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