 conspiracy theory logic
This was an intriguing topic in history and one I had never heard of before, but I was unable to finish the book (almost a first for me). In the first 3 chapters I became disgusted with the authors logic, or more specifically the radical jumps in logic. Unfortunately for the author I acutally looked up a few of the references that where used.
This is a sample of my interpertation of the logic used.
Many of the sailors on Columbuses 4th voyage did not agree with him and mutinied. Of those that supported him a few were known to be Conversos (or Jews that converted to escape the pressures of the inquisition). Therefore Columbus must be a jew or the Converso's would not have supported him.
The author tries to state that most of the supporting crew was Jewish, but the reference quoted states that only a FEW are known to be Conversos. And while most converso's were jewish some came from other faiths which is never considered. Even assuming that all of the crew supporting Columbus was jewish there may have been other reasons for them to support Columbus as opposed to the mutineers besides Columbus being jewish. In the portion of the book i completed, there was no further suport in favor of Columbus being Jewish.
After finding several other broad assumptions that were extrapolated beyond what the refereces and facts would support, I gave up reading this book entirely.
There is a lot of interesting and mostly untold history in this book but I was not willing to dance through the minefield of erronious logic to discover it.
If you are looking for alternative views on history i recomend 1421 a book about how the Chinese circumnavigated the world before they became isolationists that includes supporting evidence for his new ideas.1421: The Year China Discovered America (P.S.)
Where's the swashbuckling??!!
Boring, boring, boring!! I was after an exciting read, about (as the subtitle suggests) swashbuckling and revenge. But the first pirate doesn't appear until page 59 (he doesn't swashbuckle). I made it through the first 100 pages, which were filled with all sorts of bits of history often unrelated to stories of Jewish pirates (page after page of the realpolitik challenges of the Holy Roman Emperor, for example). Now this may be very good and interesting reading, and there may be some swashbuckling coming up in the second half of the book, but it's not what I expected and it's not what the title promises.
Had I been in the mood for a history book, or had the title been more along the lines of "How Jews and Conversos Dreated a New Life in the New World (and did a bit of pirating while they were at it)" I would have given this a stronger review.
I also was struck (as a former student and teacher of history) by some very strong assertions of fact that didn't seem to be born by evidence. Over and again, Kritzler attributes motive and intention to his subjects. Had this been one of my (or my student's) papers, it would have been covered in red ink.
Lastly, as several others have noted, this is a dry, dull read.
 Eye on our Past
Who could have imagined, Jewish Pirates? Ed Kritzler spent 40 years researching this book of history, our history, and a history of the development of the America's. So many divergent areas of history came into focus. The "rulers" of the world, France, Spain, Portugal, Britain, brought their languages, lusts, and governance. I finally found a way to tie it together, and this book was instrumental. It peaked an interest in the history of the Americas. It was a world changing period of time. Spain, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Inquisition drove Jews into the sea, and onto ships headed to the new world. It was a way to escape conversion or death. Buy the book. It will fascinate and surprise you!
 Yo ho . . .Who???
The title of this book sounds like the punchline to a "Name the shortest book in the world" joke, but this is actually a readable and fascinating glimpse into another side of the Great Age of Piracy.
Jews have been central to Caribbean history since the beginning of European exploration. Even if we dismiss the idea that Christopher Columbus the Spanish/Italian Catholic Admiral of the Ocean Sea was in truth Salvador Fernandes Zarco the Portuguese Jewish discoverer of the New World, Columbus still had many Converso Jews among his crew. Luis de Torres, Columbus's translator, was a Converso who settled in Cuba and cultivated tobacco.
Given that the Jews of Spain (once the largest and most successful Jewish community on earth, numbering over one million in the 1100s) had been subjected to more than a century of increasingly vicious persecution at the hands of the Inquisition, and that at least one hundred thousand had converted (for form or substance) prior to the forcible expulsion of the rest from Spain in 1492 (on the very day Columbus sailed), the idea that Jews would make up a large percentage of potential colonists is not hard to understand. It is instructive to remember that Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and other Caribbean lands were first colonized by fleeing Jews. Their descendants left a mark on history. At least one is immortalized on American currency; Alexander Hamilton's father was a British Christian. His mother was a Jew from Barbados.
It is easy to appreciate and grasp is the fact that the outlawed Jews would work their vengeance against the Spanish Empire by becoming true outlaws. Jews not only sailed the Spanish Main under the Jolly Roger, they acted as spies for other European powers, fenced booty, fought as mercenaries, and funded privateers. Disenfranchised nice Jewish boys from Toledo became some of the most feared swashbucklers in history and occupied Tortuga. Perhaps Captain Jack Sparrow was really Captain Jack Shapiro. The fact that many of them, like Jean Lafitte, were Jewish has become lost in time. Knowing the root of this enmity, the fact that the Spaniards and the pirates showed each other no quarter is understandable.
This is a fascinating and enjoyable book that throws new light on a popular era in history.
Fascinating, astonishing book!
This book is extremely informative and the seller sent it very promptly and in excellent condition.
|
