A well-written; traditional; and brief narrative of the period from the end of the Mexican War to the conclusion of the Civil War... Shows the value of traditional political history which is too often ignored in our rush to reconstruct the social texture of society. -- Civil War History
#239922 in Books Cornell University Press 1999-06-24Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.47 x .83 x 5.48l; .91 #File Name: 0801485681320 pages
Review
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful. The Marranos of SpainBy Nissim IsraelIt satisfied my curiosity and research. It took me where I needed to go to understand that period of history.2 of 5 people found the following review helpful. Marranos of SpainBy Oldman OscarVery interesting but not what I was looking for. The book entails repetitive arguments from various Rabbi about the spiritual; mental and physical condition of these Jewish people caught in the expulsion and religious change to Christianity in Spain in some cases to avoid the Spanish Inquision. The references are as long as the book itself. A lot of rock throwing to keep the Marrano’s Jewish or not.42 of 47 people found the following review helpful. Christians or Apostates?By DavidThe Marranos of Spain is a landmark study for this period of Spanish history and the Jews of Spain. Its importance lies within the utlized sources; which for the first time in the scholarly research of Marranos; someone is intelligent enough to integrate Hebrew sources; religous as well as secular; in order to have a better picture.However; Netanyahu's analysis leaves much to be desired. The debate about his analysis and contradictions have been discussed in Spanish Academia; and they are mainly due to some of the second or third sources he has utilized which are not reliable. Even his discussion of Jewish jurisprudence falls short when considering he's mixing two Jewish traditions (Spanish and German) in regards to forced converts; traditions that had not been merged in 15th century Europe. He tried to use all that he could to prove his thesis that the forced converts were truly sincere Christians; and in this process he purposely dismissed the psycological and socio-antropological analysis of this period. Basically what Netanyahu did was to find sources that said "black;" and so black it was. He missed much on the complexity of this period.As a pioneering work for the use of Hebrew sources; Netanyahu's work is most excellent; but again; he needs to revise many of his forced conclusions.
