In this landmark work, the author argues that the religious and racial persecution of the conversos, descendants of Spanish Jews who had converted to Christianity, gave birth to an anti-Semitism that had repercussions for centuries to come. "Stately, vastly learned, sophisticated...remarkable." -- The New York Times
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
The Theory and Practice of Intolerance:
In rating a book I'm not always looking for the same thing. "Origins", in my opinion, is primarily a scholarly reference text and that's the sense I rated it. It is not an exciting page-turner but a careful exposition of an important part of Western history. I used it as a reference in my studies for my own novels--"Skull Rack" and "Hummingbird God"--on the Italian Wars, Spanish Inquisition and especially the Conquest of Mexico. Netanyahu's book helped. I learned that the Second Inquisition, although... more info
The Inquisition as a crime of racism:
The 'Inquistion' was one of the great disasters of Jewish history, involving the slaughter and torture of tens of thousands of innocent people. In this work of historical narrative and analysis the origins of the racist anti- Semitism that characterize the behavior of late fifteenth century Spain the beginning of the process is traced to the Egypt of 525 A.D.
The long story of Spanish Jewry is told here including that of the Conversos who left Judaism for Christianity, and who were nonetheless... more info
highly speculative:
Of the many books and periodical articles that I have read concerning the Spanish Inquisition, this is the most biased and speculative and opinionated. I would not recommend this book to anyone. It is extremely long and tedious. We realize that the Inquisition was shameful. However, this work substitutes one prejudice for another.
Even less confusion:
It's true that Benzion Netanyahu is not the former Israeli PM; the former Israeli PM, however, is his son. Notice the poignant dedication to his other son, Jonathan, who was one of the Israeli commandos on the Entebbe raid.
