Reviews of Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean,
#1 pick of 116 books by
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leading digital book distributor to libraries.
Jewish Pirates of the
Caribbean(On-sale 11/18/2008; 978-0-385-51398-2)
Selection of History Book Club and Military Book Club
Booklist:
"……entertaining and surprising
book….yes, there really were Jewish pirates who ran amok,
sort of, on the Spanish Main in the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries. Most of them were Sephardic Jews whose ancestors
had been expelled from Spain and Portugal, and revenge was
certainly a motivation for some. Their natural allies were
England and the Dutch Republic, and the major characters
were less freewheeling buccaneers than paid privateers. This
is a wide-ranging saga filled with attractive and repellant
personalities, including a warrior rabbi, a shady arms
dealer, and loathsome Spanish inquisitors. Pirates and their
exploits lend themselves to over-the-top romantic fantasies.
In fact, the navel warfare in the Caribbean was frequently
brutal, with no "hint" of pirate honor. Kritzler captures
the spirit of that violent, lawless epoch and combines it
with an interesting ethnic perspective."
Library Journal:
"….these pirates were Jewish merchants
and adventurers who had escaped the Spanish Inquisitions at
the dawn of the age of exploration in the 1500 and 1600s. In
the New World, they could assume many new identities. They
soon became aligned with the Dutch and other enemies of the
Spanish in the Caribbean and lived off plunder. One of the
more famous Jewish pirates was the Moroccan-born Rabbi
Samuel Palache; another eventually founded the first openly
Jewish settlement in the New World. Kritzler, a historian
and former USA Today reporter who lives in Jamaica, has
produced a breezy historical tale ……of swashbuckling
exploits……………… he has a journalist’s eye for detail.".
Kirkus Review: Jewish
Pirates of the Caribbean
The little-known history of
some unintended consequences of the Spanish Inquisition.
At the dawn of the
Age of Discovery, writes Jamaica-based historian Kritzler in
his debut, Jews had been compelled by the Inquisition to
convert to Christianity or suffer the auto-da-fé, but many
of these conversos secretly maintained their ancient faith.
By the 17th century, some headstrong descendants of the Jews
banished by Spain in 1492 emerged as navigators, corsairs
and pirates. These adventuresome Hebrews were an interesting
lot. They were politicians, international adventurers and
licensed privateers in geopolitical competition as much as
mere robbers on the high seas. Covert Jews who never really
converted, code-named "Portugals" by those with whom they
dealt, sailed with Columbus and da Gama and plundered with
Cortés and Pizarro. Under Barbarossa, a Portugal named Sinan
commanded a fleet of 100 ships. Rabbi Palache kept a kosher
cuisine aboard his privateer. Seafaring Jews operated from
Holland in its Golden Age and practiced international
intrigue from Jamaica, where religion was of no consequence.
They settled in Curaçao and New Amsterdam (to the
consternation of Peter Stuyvesant. Portugal conquistadores
looted Mexico, and converso traders connived with Cromwell
and the King of Spain at the same time. Cutlasses at the
ready together with the occasional holy text, they traded in
the sugar of Brazil and the silver of Peru, with some
intentions noble and other motives base. Kritzler ….believes
that the fabled gold mine of Columbus is actually on the
island of Jamaica, and he and a sponsor have already staked
a preemptive mining claim.
Surprising adventures on the high seas with some rogues of
the Diaspora.
…………………………
Professor Jack Davis, author
of The Pirates Laffite:
In recent years the
study of Caribbean piracy has become an increasingly
noteworthy field of endeavor, with new chapters opening
constantly. None will be quite so revelatory as Edward
Kritzler's JEWISH PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN, for in it he
details the story of a small group of Jewish merchants and
adventurers who pioneered in the Jamaican pirate trade, and
helped to create an outpost of religious freedom at the same
time. A wonderful story, never before told."
........................................
Jay Neugeboren, author of
1940, The Stolen Jew:
"Jewish Pirates of the
Caribbean is a wonderfully informed book of
maritime history. Edward
Kritzler is a splendid guide on a voyage through a dark and
fascinating era of Jewish history."
................................................
Professor Gail Selinger,
pirate historian and author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to
Pirates:
"Ed Kritzler's book unlocks the long buried Jewish heritage
of many famous pirates and their fascinating long forgotten
empire building activities. This book is a must read for
pirate lovers and history buffs alike."
.....................................................
Robert H. Patton, author of
Patriot Pirates and The Pattons:
A Personal History of
An American Family:
"Pirate rabbis? Warrior Jews? Sephardic seafarers
escaping the fires of Inquisition in quest of gold and
freedom in the New World? If, like mine, your knowledge of
Europe's fabled Age of Discovery
hasn't featured these colorful and, as Edward Kritzler's
diligent scholarship demonstrates, historically influential
pioneers, then Jewish Pirates of
the Caribbean presents a tale as essential as it is
entertaining."
.................................................................
Bernard Diederich, author of
Trujillo: Death of a Goat:
"What a treasure! Ed Kritzler
has literally dived the depth of the
Caribbean to bring us a well
documented book on a hitherto forgotten role of Jews and
their involvement in a most unusual occupation in the New
World: Piracy."
..................................................................
Andree Aelion Brooks, author
of The Woman Who Defied Kings and Out of
Spain:
"Kritzler helps us understand
why the pirate era occurred and how the Jews fitted into
Caribbean history at that time. He also brings insights to
little-understood historical facts, such as what really
happened to that famous boatload of
Jewish refugees that sailed from Recife to
New Amsterdam in 1654; why
Jamaica became a haven for Jewish merchants and how this
morphed into its development as a center of the pirate
trade; as well as the origin of the boucaniers, later known
as buccaneers.
.........................................................
STAFF PICKS (www.overdrive.com)
Edward
Kritzler
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
As
the Inquisition took hold in Spain, many Jews were forced to
flee. This book profiles the group
of
improbable Jews who chose to live as outlaws on the high
seas.
978-0-385-51398-2 | $24.95/$27.95C | Doubleday | HC |
November
...........................................
Read
more reviews here:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/31/RVCP13MAU9.DTL&feed=rss.books
Contact
edkritzler@yahoo.com or
876-302-0527.
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