Inquisition: The Reign of Fear [Hardcover]

Toby Green (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 17, 2009

A journey across centuries of religious conflict

Toby Green’s incredible new book brings a vast panorama to life by focusing on the untold stories of individuals from all walks of life and every section of society who were affected by the Inquisition. From witches in Mexico, bigamists in Brazil, Freemasons, Hindus, Jews, Moslems and Protestants, the Inquisition reached every aspect of society. This history, though filled with stories of terror and the unspeakable ways in which human beings can treat one another, is ultimately one of hope, underscoring the resilience of the human spirit. Stretching from the unification of Spain under Ferdinand and Isabella in the fifteenth century to the Napoleanic wars, The Inquisition details this incredible history in all its richness and complexity.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

For this historical exploration of Catholicism’s Inquisition, Green focuses on Spain, Portugal, and their empires. Considerable archival research lies behind the author’s treatment, which is especially evident in his narratives of specific cases and of Inquisitorial vigilance against heretics. This creates an episodic effect, in which the chronology of the Inquisition in Iberia (1478–1834) relaxes before aspects of the Inquisition that Green emphasizes. He grounds the institution in the context of its establishment, the Christian reconquest of Spain and the associated conversion or expulsion of Jews and Muslims. Details of specific investigations prompt Green’s interpretations that factors in addition to theological enforcement brought suspects before the Inquisition: local politics, vengeance, or avarice could doom a victim to an auto-da-fé. This approach accords a social and political complexity to the Inquisition that informs readers of the popular support it received and how its power emanated through the means of fear. A readable choice for those in need of a general history of the Spanish Inquisition. --Gilbert Taylor

About the Author

TOBY GREEN is the author of three previous books, Saddled With Darwin, Meeting of the Invisible Man, and Thomas More’s Magician. He has traveled widely in Africa and Latin America, and now lives with his family in the west of England.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 480 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books; 1 edition (March 17, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312537247
• ISBN-13: 978-0312537241
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #498,073 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Green's Inquisition: Readable and Relevant, February 29, 2008

By 

John Beckham "John W Beckham" (Akron, OH) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Inquisition (Hardcover)

Toby Green turns raw accounts from dusty documents buried in Spanish archives into an entertaining -if not nightmarish view of life under the perverse eye of the Inquisitioner. The book is anecdote rich, showing the Inquisition to be the foreunner of any modern police state's enforcers in terms of motive, rationalization and operation. Its fall heralded political division in Spain that last to this day (Traditional v. Change, Open v. Closed).

Provocative parallels are drawn with today's world, from surveiling the people at the mall for misfits to nationalist movements advocating deporting entire segments of the populace (just replace illegal aliens with moriscos - who did most of Spain's agrarian labor). From the Old World to the New a reign of terror, fear and paranoia permeated all aspects of all classes of society. Starting with the Inquisition's racks and moving along to 20th century Gulags, to 21 century Guantanamos, they all zealously operate in secret using the thinnest of evidence (he had a book - be it a bible or Lutheran samizdat, ergo he is a heretic). Torture abounds, with holy rationalized justifications. Green offers the requisite abundance of at the stake burnings- reading in front of a crackling fireplace in the winter gave this reader an erie feel of camaraderie with both Inquisitor and victim.

The enforcement is depicted as unholy and corrupt - arrest him, I want his house and wife, or he reads French. The most professional aspect of the enforcment was often record maintainance (another lesson: don't). The daily detail is memorable; e.g. serve pork and shell fish tapas as a test. A crypto Moslem or crypto Jew would not touch them, deflating the guise of being a good Catholic. Or a modern day Gladys Kravitz who is thrilled when a heretic family moves in next door (think 60s sitcom Bewitch) giving her gossip mongering eye an Inquisitional legitimacy. And don't overlook the accounts of sex and heresy and witches and satan (who often visited repressed women in the guise of a student - think young repressed male). The censoring of books advocating thought and science compare to the American schools problems in teaching evolution - while the censor's worked they promoted an intellectual stagnation that put Spain at an international economic disadvantage.

My favorite line appears on page 271: As one inquisitor put it in the late 16th century: 'the truth is that the [doctrine of the heretics] is nowhere so much communicated and distributed as through the medium of books, which, as mute teachers, talk continuously; they teach all the time, and in all places. . . the typical adversary and enemy of the Catholic faith has always relied on this efficient and pernicious medium.'"

It's a smooth read. A series of notes that would thrill a librarian, a bibliography that demonstrates extensive research; and a fine index of content by concepts as well as by name. The book, like any history, is full of lessons to be applied . . . . taught centuries ago but still going unheard. An enjoyable and enlightening book on a group devoted to unenlightened torment.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Short Documentary on the Sublect, November 14, 2010

By 

Ruben Blackmon "RABJunior" (Colorado Springs, CO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Inquisition: The Reign of Fear (Hardcover)

This is a very good book that gives an overview of both the medieval and Spanish Inquisitions. Enough detail to make it interesting but not boring.

4 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 'Educational Material", May 9, 2010

By 

albert c. bender (Charleston South Carolina) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Inquisition: The Reign of Fear (Hardcover)

By Albert C. Bender, Author of "YOU ARE FOREVER IN TIME."
"The Inquistion" clearly ampliefied for me, this authors knowledge and intellect on the subject he has written. It provides information that truly moves to the core of the subject matter that the author speaks about.
It is well written and thought-provoking throughout. I recommend it highly to those who's interest lie within. As a child in catholic school, I felt at times that I was also in some kind of an "Inquistion??"