Jews, Slaves, and the Slave Trade: Setting the Record Straight (Reappraisals in Jewish Social and Intellectual History) (Hardcover)

by Eli Faber (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
In response to the outrageous accusations leveled against Jews by Nation of Islam preachers and some other black nationalists, this scrupulously researched book details the actual role Jews played in the Atlantic slave trade. Faber, a professor of history at the City University of New York, has pored over tax records shipping manifests, Royal Naval Office records, and contemporary accounts of Jewish life to discover the unsurprising truth: the majority of Jews in England's Caribbean and North American colonies were merchants and tradesmen, lived in towns rather than on farms or plantations and owned approximately the same number of slaves as their non-Jewish town-dwelling neighbors. The Sephardic Jews' knowledge of languages and their family and religious connections to communities all over the world gave them advantages as traders, but they preferred to import fabrics and silver rather than slaves. While some Jews did engage in the slave trade, and a large number of Jewish households in Jamaica and Barbados owned a few slaves, the tiny number of Jews living in the English colonies at the time made their involvement minimal. The slave trade was run by and for the benefit of non-Jews, and was finally brought to an end by the same people. Packed with statistics (one-half of the book is appendices and footnotes), this isn't easy reading, but Faber's scholarship is stunning. One of the most interesting aspects of the book is the insight it gives into historical research. If those claiming the Jews enslaved millions of Africans can't discover the truth, it's because they don't want to.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
In recent years, allegations by certain black nationalist publications that Jews "dominated" the African slave trade have threatened to become a new blood libel against Jews. Faber, currently professor of history at John Jay College in New York City, has provided a well-written and superbly researched counterpoint to those smears. Although he concentrates on Jews as a factor within the British imperial system, Faber also examines the role of Jews as slave owners and traders within Spanish and Portuguese domains. This is not an easy read, and laymen may find the wealth of data a bit overwhelming. Still, Faber generally handles a complicated and controversial subject with objectivity and fairness; most readers should share his conclusion that, while individual Jews certainly participated in the slave trade, overall Jewish involvement was marginal. Jay Freeman

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 366 pages
• Publisher: NYU Press (August 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814726380
• ISBN-13: 978-0814726389
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,969,703 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not a balanced look at the African slave trade, September 22, 2005

By	Honus Wagner "Bruteslayer" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

The author used only English sources. This severely limits the insights which might be gained by also looking at the Dutch and French involvement in the African slave trade. The Dutch were heavily involved in the early African slave trade with the French and English following.

5 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Muslims were prominent in the slave trade, not Jews, January 3, 2006

By	Uncle Joe (Rhode Island) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jews, Slaves, and the Slave Trade: Setting the Record Straight (Reppraisals in Jewish Social and Intellectual History) (Paperback)

It's pretty nervy for the Nation of Islam to go on about Jewish involvement in the slave trade. Most Jews that participated in the African trade were slaves themselves, either to the Portuguese or the Muslims (the Portuguese called these people the "lançados"), and were usually used to keep the books. The biggest slavers - the people who went into the African interior for centuries to capture slaves for sale, were Muslims. In fact, it's mainly in the Islamic countries that slavery, especially the enslavement of animist Negroes, still takes place.

It's nothing to do with not being able to say something negative about Jews. It's about the claims of the "Nation of Islam" simply not being true. It's just so much anti-Semitism, made especially worse by the fact that the very crimes these pseudo-Muslims accuse the Jews of were perpetrated by the Muslims themselves, over hundreds of years, and are still being perpetrated to this day.

10 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Solid Research and Conclusions, July 13, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Jews, Slaves, and the Slave Trade: Setting the Record Straight (Reppraisals in Jewish Social and Intellectual History) (Paperback)

[....] There was no "black holocaust." That is a myth perpetrated by black race-baiters like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. [...] obviously does not know the meaning of the word "holocaust." Simply put, there was no organized effort by the United States government to exterminate Negro slaves, as was the case with the holocaust in Germany during the 1930s and 1940s. There wasn't even any effort by individuals in the United States to totally eradicate Negroes, whether slave or free. As the reviewer so eloquently stated, he has branded himself anti-Semitic by his rantings.