Decendents of the original 23 Jewish families who arrived in New York in 1654, the Sephardic Jews began a tradition of wealth, pride and exclusiveness. This is the story over three centuries of power, achievement, scandal and folly, elegant lifestyles and flamboyant personalities.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 3.5 / 5.0
Brought a whole history of people to vivid life:
I didn't know much about the Sephardim, though I have am descended from some. I was fascinated about the Jewish-Moorish links and also, the prominence of so many Jews in Spain, Italy, Portugal, before the Inquisition. The characters virtually sprang off the page, though of course the details available for those of later date were more available than for the Dark Ages. I would have been fascinated to know more about that... It was also interesting to learn about the entangled family trees. To the... more info
A book filled with bias and errors:
In 1971 when Birmingham (who is not Jewish himself) released this book, the Foundation For The Advancement of Sephardic Studies and Culture in New York City put out four formal reviews on Stephen Birmingham's book. The reviews were by people from the academic community WITHIN the very community he wrote about.
The Foundation For The Advancement of Sephardic Studies and Culture wrote: "...Mr. Birmingham addressed a gathering on October 10th, 1968 at Shearith Israel [the very congregation he writes about... more info
fascinating picture of a closed society:
This book does what good histories should do, open up doors to inaccessible places. Well written and incisive, it tracks a part of our history not well known. Especially fascinating were the accounts of how the first 44 came to America, and the story of the Civil War admiral. I'll read more of his books.
