The End of Days: A Story of Tolerance, Tyranny, and the Expulsion of the Jews from Spain (Hardcover)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

YA-Approximately 200 years of Spanish history (1300-1500) are the focus of this book. Paris sketches the medieval history of the Iberian peninsula, stressing the tolerance of most of the Islamic dynasties, the relative amity between the three major religions of the area, and the flourishing culture that this relatively peaceful era nourished. The 14th century brought division within the Catholic Church itself; a plague that killed 25-30% of the population of Europe; and, in Valencia in 1391, a pogrom that gave its Jewish residents the choice of conversion or death. The "end of days" refers to the second coming of Christ, which would happen only if all the Jews were converted. Over half of the Jewish residents of Spain converted in the 14th and 15th centuries. These "conversos" were the primary target of the early Inquisition. Paris describes the early period of the Inquisition, the motives and actions of the inquisitors, and the fate of those accused. The actual expulsion of the Jews (not the conversos) in 1492 and the Moors (who were also given the opportunity to convert) in 1502 mark the climax of the events of this book. Written in lively prose, this book is recommended for general reading and as a resource for reports.
Clodagh Lee, Chantilly Regional Library, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

This focus on the expulsion of the Jews from Spain traces the path of the Spanish Inquisition's lasting effects in the region. Before the reign of terror, Jews, Christians and Moors lived together in Spain in harmony: this title traces the underlying influences upon the decline of a rich and harmonious culture and the chain of events which followed. -- Midwest Book Review

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 327 pages
• Publisher: Prometheus Books; First Thus edition (September 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1573920177
• ISBN-13: 978-1573920179
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,185,961 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars The crimes of the Catholic Church revealed, January 2, 2003

By	Mark Mills (Glen Rose, TX USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I picked up this book when looking for something on Muslim/Christian relations in 15th century Spain.

Here is a summary of the book's theme: The Catholic church, in general, and the Spanish Catholic church, in particular, have been attempting to eradicate the Jews for the last 1400 years (at least). In the year 712, Muslims brought multi-culturalism to Spain. The resulting golden-age of tolerance was ended by Catholic bigotry, lies and murders. The book retells Spanish history in terms of crimes against the Spanish Jewish people (people who practiced the Jewish faith and those whose Spanish ancestors were Jewish but practiced Catholic Christianity themselves). Particular attention is given to the anti-Jewish riots of 1391 and inquisition, but these events are linked to more contemporary Catholic crimes.

I found the details of Spanish history interesting. This period is particularly ugly to our modern sensibility and English speaking historians seem to avoid it. For example, Queen Isabella looks like a good candidate for modern feminist biography. She created one of the first modern states and financed the first European adventures in the Western Hemisphere. Despite this, the Amazon website has only 1 post-1950 biography on her. I suspect her role in establishing the Spanish inquisition seems decidedly un-feminist.

I don't recommend this book. The author naively accepts various first person accounts from the era when they support her case. At one point, she retells the miraculous story of Jewish children having visions of Christian crosses entirely without a modern skepticism. It simply happened. Less sentimental was her naive acceptance of the racist premise that being a 'converso' (Spanish Catholics with a Jewish ancestor) had some sort of biological reality. Somehow, the persecution of these Christians was a crime against the Jewish race because the biological reality of race was more important than the details of faith.

The conventional wisdom on the Spanish Inquisition, (see B. Netanyahu's "The Origins of the Inquisition in Fifteenth-Century Spain") takes the view that the Spanish sovereigns let the 'coversos' be attacked in order to distract the outraged city masses and their leaders from turning against the royal establishment itself. In other words, it was a media campaign to control the 'masses' via propaganda. For example, King Ferdinand himself was a 'converso', but he continually used the inquisition to suppress opposition to his innovations in tax policy.

The 'revisionist' view (see The Spanish Inquisition: A Historical Revision by H.Kamen) suggests the modern understanding of the inquisition is Marxist propaganda of the 20th century. If you can take this perspective for a moment, the fact Paris ignores the 13th century expulsion of Jews from Muslim Spain suggests Paris fits Kamen's critique. For Paris, the only villain is the Catholic Church.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lessons From Old Spain, July 1, 2000

By	myrna kostash (Ottawa, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews

In The End of Days, Erna Paris's quest has taken her into the chronicles and archives of the "astonishing world" of the Moors in Spain - civilized, learned, tolerant - and its dynamic Jewish communities. Of the Holy Reconquest of Spain by Christian armies, of religious fanaticism, wholesale destruction of Jewish and Muslim monuments in an age of grisly plagues and pogroms. Paris is well-served by her material. And she has a powerful message. Our civility as a nation can be measured by our tolerance of minorities. Religious and racial intolerance violently transformed one of the richest pluralistic societies in Europe - Moorish Spain - into a society of savage conformism and fear at the brink of the modern age. That themes of this magnitude for our time arise from a retelling of event from 15th century Spain is a testimony of the powerful and fluent sweep of "The End of Days."

12 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not a history but an apology and a prediction., November 8, 1999

By	"gsrunyan" (Baton Rouge, Louisiana USA) - See all my reviews

Ms. Paris is not a historian. She admits that primary sources are scarce. She has produced an "explanation" of how the Jews of Germany could have been taken in 500 years after the events decribed and how the "fear of the Other" continues today.

This is a hard read as she skips back and forth and from place to place. She details the pogroms but not the accomplishments of the Jewish community. She virtually ignores the events in the rest of Europe and cannot tell us why Spain was different from France or Italy.