71 of 72 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean, November 19, 2008
This review is from: 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 (Hardcover)
It is true that some famous pirates such as Jean Lafitte and Sinan were Jewish, but did you ever imagine there would be a serious, non-fiction book with such a title? Although the title is perhaps a bit "Hollywoodesque", this is a well-researched and well-written account of a chapter in history that continues to fascinate. Perhaps an equally playful title could have been "Raising Cain in the New World" as early Jewish settlers became heavily involved in sugar cane production and export and some of them did cause trouble--especially for Spain. Furthermore, to a certain extent, they survived and were successful because they were their brother's keepers, and remained faithful in their own communities.
There were pirates of the Caribbean, some of whom were Jews and there truly was a Port Royal in Jamaica, but don't expect Long Jonathan Silvermans or Captain Jacob Sparrowsteins to come careening across the deck or fling themselves from the rigging with cutlass in one hand shouting "Ahoy Vey". You will find some swashbuckling adventurein Ed Kritzler's account, which took place in the time when Spain and her rivals began to explore and settle in the Caribbean and the New World.
After centuries of a relatively fruitful existence in Iberia, hundreds of thousands if not millions of Jews found themselves in a precarious situation as the Catholic Empire reunited and re-established itself over the Moors. Jews were forced to convert or leave and many were tortured or murdered through the Inquisition. Columbus was likely a Jew and his three ships left the day of expulsion, headed to the New World and what eventually became a haven for the oppressed Jews and other people of Europe.
In those turbulent days of discovery, conquest and exploitation, the Spanish and Portuguese Jews used their linguistic, financial and trading skills, along with their associations with co-religionists in other ports to establish footholds in the new colonies, and especially in Jamaica, which is the fulcrum of this book. They were investors, ship owners, sailors and even soldiers and spies for the enemies of Spain, whether they were Dutch or British. Some of these adventurous Jews, including the larger-than-life Samuel Pallache, a rabbi and leader of Amsterdam's thriving Jewish community, did capture Spanish ships and treasure.
As for the beautiful and well situated island of Jamaica, it was originally deeded to the heirs of Columbus and fell in and out of favor with the Spanish and then the English. During the heyday of the pirates, as fictionally portrayed in the hit movie and the popular Disney ride, Port Royal was also home to many Jews. We learn that the popularized and fictionalized accounts of this raucous town as a cauldron of pirates, wenches, unbridled trading and rum may actually not have been far from the mark.
Major historical figures including Oliver Cromwell, Peter Stuyvesant, Captain Henry Morgan, King Charles of England and King Phillip of Spain enter into this story, sometimes in surprising, important and even crucial ways.
I think that as interest grows in the history of piracy and the early history of Jews in American, more will be written about the seafaring and port-histories of Jews in this period. Without spoiling anything, readers may wish to know that aside from the treasures of historical research and documentation that Kritzler brings to light, there just might even be a lost treasure of gold still waiting to be unearthed. You'll have to read the book to find out more.
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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Who Knew?, January 3, 2009
I really enjoyed this book. I have read many histories of the period (16th and 17th centuries), and the Jews generally get an historical footnote, if anything at all. What fun to read this previously unknown history of an important period in the development of Jewish identify and independence, and how the actions of a significant group of heroic Jews eventually led to full acceptance and legal recognition of the Jewish people in both the old and new worlds. Of course, it's a source of pride to learn of the important role my fellow religionists played in the development of the western hemisphere's culture and economy. You don't learn this stuff in school, and every person of a particular ethnic persuasion looks for "heroes" to look up to. So this was not only an informative and fun read, but has contributed to my sense of ethnic pride.
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27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Hidden History, April 3, 2009
This review is from: 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 (Hardcover)
Edward Kritzler has dug up historical facts about the treatment of the Jews in the 15th - 17th centuries that for most of us lay people has amounted to a sentence or two in our high school history books indicating that "Jews were persecuted during the Spanish Inquisition". His stories of actual Jewish people and their situations and the extent of their revenge makes for very informative reading, and helps explain the remnants of the Sephardic Jewish presence still in Latin America and in the Southwestern United States. His writing style is not that great; he is difficult to follow because of his lack of continuity in the various episodes. It is more of a "brain dump" of factual information, but the facts he does present overcomes his poor style.
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