The Grandees

Rating:
Summary: This book is not accurate!
Review: In 1971 when this book was written, the Foundation For The Advancement of Sephardic Studies and Culture in New York City put out four formal reviews on Stephen Birmingham's book. The reviews were by people from the academic community WITHIN the very community he wrote about.

One of the reviews was the Rabbi of the very congregation the book is based on "Marc Angel". He wrote: "Birmingham is so eager to show that the "Grandees" are aloof and snobby, that he ignores reality. He interprets things as he wants them to be, not as they are." Rabbi Angel also wrote: "His book is plagued with factual inaccuracies and poor historical perspectives. Unfortunately, many Jews and non-Jews are reading the book and are having their opinions molded by it because they know little or nothing about Sephardim."

The well-respected Sephardic scholar David N. Barocas wrote of the Grandees: "To rely on hearsay information, or to select at random passages from books and then try to weave them into the fabric of one's text or report constitutes in the final analysis a combination of misstatements, incomplete truths and factual omissions tending to present a perverted opinion of an innocent people."

There are many good books out there which are acurate, unfortunatly this is not one of them. It was written by an outsider of the community. It is biased, and does give a good example of the Sephardic community.

Rating:
Summary: This book is not accurate!
Review: In 1971 when this book was written, the Foundation For The Advancement of Sephardic Studies and Culture in New York City put out four formal reviews on Stephen Birmingham's book. The reviews were by people from the academic community WITHIN the very community he wrote about.

One of the reviews was the Rabbi of the very congregation the book is based on "Marc Angel". He wrote: "Birmingham is so eager to show that the "Grandees" are aloof and snobby, that he ignores reality. He interprets things as he wants them to be, not as they are." Rabbi Angel also wrote: "His book is plagued with factual inaccuracies and poor historical perspectives. Unfortunately, many Jews and non-Jews are reading the book and are having their opinions molded by it because they know little or nothing about Sephardim."

The well-respected Sephardic scholar David N. Barocas wrote of the Grandees: "To rely on hearsay information, or to select at random passages from books and then try to weave them into the fabric of one's text or report constitutes in the final analysis a combination of misstatements, incomplete truths and factual omissions tending to present a perverted opinion of an innocent people."

There are many good books out there which are acurate, unfortunatly this is not one of them. It was written by an outsider of the community. It is biased, and does give a good example of the Sephardic community.

Rating:
Summary: Discovering my Ethnicity
Review: Since my father died when I was ten years old, I tried to find out from where his ancestors, my ancestors come from. He never talked about it because in our home country Cuba religion is not allowed at all. My mother always told me my father was a "judio ateo" that in Cuba means a person who does not believe in any religion or a Jew and never let her baptize me when it was still allowed. My father's brother, a man who fought with Castro for the revolution and mysteriously one day for disagreement with the government came home mentally crazy used to tell me that their ancestors come from the Jews of Spain, but I never believed him for his mental condition. When I came to the United State of America I started to read to find out exactly what would be my father's background. A friend of mine called Leonard; a Jewish man from New York City gave me a book title "The Grandees" by Stephen Birmingham as a present to learn more about my heritage. I found this book the best one I have ever read, it explains clearly how the Sephardim Jews lived and suffered the discrimination in Spain, how they helped the Moors to conquer the country hoping a better life and how they had to suffer the barbarian inquisition and the demoralized conversion to Christianity. This book tells how the first Sephardim Jews came to North America escaping from the inquisition created by the Catholic Church and demanded by queen Elizabeth and her husband Ferdinand. Also how they gained a good reputation in the American society in this country contributing to the independence of the United States of America lending money to George Washington to support his soldiers and later on to the country economy. After reading this fascinate book, I could contact my father's brother in Cuba the only one remaining and tell him I am sorry for not believing him and now I know part our background thanks to a book read recently.

Rodolfo Carbonell