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Summary: A little mistake
Review: -By orders of their principal leader, they took by force a little 6 years old boy away from his parents and hid him in a far away city. They raised the kid in a new religion, and they washed away his brains, so well that he, not only bacame a minister of that new religion but, when the ocassion came, 12 years latter, he didn't accept to see or talk with his parents or brothers. Finally, to avoid further contacts with his family, he was seized away to another country.-Are you talking of a satanic sect? -No, or perhaps yes. I refer to the Roman Catholic Church and to their that time leader Pope Pius IX, who supported the kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara in 1858.
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Summary: The outrageous Catholic Papal acts upon the Jews.
Review: A very remarkable work, by a true scholar. Even the notes should be carefully read. A detailed true story of a single instance of the power of Popes over the family life of Jews living under Catholicism. There were many such instances throughout Jewish history, but this is one that led to major historical changes in Papal power. Should be assigned reading in college courses on The History of Christianity, religious history, political science and power of The Catholic Church, the thinking of Popes, etc.
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Summary: Putting the case Elian Gonzalez into perspective
Review: Bravo! If you are tired of the superficial coverage of the Elian Gonzalez case, and would like to enter a realm where it is possible to examine what seems like a sensational personal story of another era in light of history, religion, global politics, 19th century journalistic excesses, and family rights, read this book. The other customer and editorial reviews explain quite well what the facts of the book are. So I'll just add my voice to the others here and say that it is an amazing book, one that combines incredible historic detail with literary interest. It's uncanny how, in the midst of the Gonzalez drama, I accidentally discovered this book about an Italian Jewish boy, kidnapped by the Catholic Church in 1858 at the age of six. Read it for itself, or for the opportunity it provides to think deeply about current events. A page turner.
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Summary: Wonderful Research, Exciting Story, Horrifying Incident
Review: David I. Kertzer has written a wonderful account of a pivotal event in Italian, Jewish and Catholic history. The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara tells the story of the 1858 kidnapping of a six year old Jewish boy secretly baptized while a baby by a Catholic servant in the home. From this horrifying personal incident for this Jewish family the panorama of the story grows very large indeed, taking into account the Pope, the governments of Europe, and the forces for the unification of Italy. The author does a superb job of making all of this understandable to the reader. He also never allows the epic scope of the book to overwhelm the family as the centre of all of this controversy. The Mortaras hold a special place in this tragedy as they deserve and the lives lived by Jewish families, such as theirs, in Italy is vividly presented. It is a shocking book, yet very illuminating and well written. Highly recommended.
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Summary: Wonderful Research, Exciting Story, Horrifying Incident
Review: David I. Kertzer has written a wonderful account of a pivotal event in Italian, Jewish and Catholic history. The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara tells the story of the 1858 kidnapping of a six year old Jewish boy secretly baptized while a baby by a Catholic servant in the home. From this horrifying personal incident for this Jewish family the panorama of the story grows very large indeed, taking into account the Pope, the governments of Europe, and the forces for the unification of Italy. The author does a superb job of making all of this understandable to the reader. He also never allows the epic scope of the book to overwhelm the family as the centre of all of this controversy. The Mortaras hold a special place in this tragedy as they deserve and the lives lived by Jewish families, such as theirs, in Italy is vividly presented. It is a shocking book, yet very illuminating and well written. Highly recommended.
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Summary: Insightful, Balanced Account of Event in Italian History
Review: David Keretz is an American historian of Italy, who also happens to be Jewish and the son of an American army chaplain who helped liberate Italy during World War II. He presents one of the most sensationalistically portrayed events of the mid-19th century in Italy--the kidnapping of a 6-year-old Jewish boy from his parents by agents of the then temporal as well as spiritual leader of much of Italy, Pope Pius IX--an event which divided Catholics, Protestants, and Jews around the world as well traditionalists and nationalist-liberals in Italy. He recounts and analyzes the story in a remarkably balanced fashion, helping the reader appreciate each side of the controversy. Yet he also presents the Mortara family, whose suffering was not limited to the kidnapping and the failure to ever retrieve their son and sibling Edgardo from the Catholic Church, in a way that is evocative of the book of Job. The book uses the Mortara incident as a prism through which to view the Italian Risorgiomento, the ultra-conservative philosophy of Pius IX, and the emerging forces of liberalism in Western Europe. One of the author's central theses is that the Mortara kidnapping was a major factor in the demise of the Pope's political power and the unification of Italy. One of the many fascinating aspects of the book is how Italian anti-Semitism contrasted with that in France and Germany; the Italians seem to have preferred that the Jews convert and be assimilated, and had no belief in the racist and Volkisch ideologies that best the French and the Germans.
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Summary: Balanced Account of Event in Italian History!
Review: Imagine having your son stolen from you by a church. It happened over and over again in the Catholic Church. This non-fiction book reads like a mystery novel. As a Catholic, this book opened by eyes to something I had never heard of before.
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Summary: The Mechanics of Envy
Review: It's hard to believe that nearly 2 milleniums of envy and persistence in converting the Jewish people actually led to the downfall of Papal control over most of Italy. This book has a lesson to it, which even today is still not heeded. Brilliant historical account of a minor "round up the usual suspects" scenario which backfires.
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Summary: An entertaining work on an important person.
Review: Kertzer treats us to a very readable and lively story that includes passages rising even to the level of situation comedy and detective thriller. As an experienced author of anthropological history, the author knows his audience and craft well, and includes fascinating details of life in Italy during the 19th century. The controversy of the Mortara child was created when Pope Pius IX steadfastly refused to return a boy that had been taken by local police from his family at the direction of the church. While the Pope held fast to ecclesiastical doctrine, diplomatic support for the Papal States collapsed worldwide and the Italian lands governed directly by the Vatican were soon swept into the unified nation of Italy. An important theme throughout the work is the role of the newspapers in their coverage of the episode. Numerous, conflicting accounts of events appeared worldwide and precipitated the spread of the controversy into lands far removed from Italy. The temptation to exploit the controversy continued well after the unification of Italy and the death of Pius IX. In a closing chapter we learn of an erroneous report that the child's mother had, upon her deathbed, converted from Judaism to Christianity. To see someone's life exploited for religious, monetary, or political gain should certainly raise readers' ire today even more than it did when she died. The report of Marianna Mortara's conversion was quickly corrected in the newspapers by a person who understood what it was to play the pawn, and about whom we still know almost nothing about: Father Pio.
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Summary: BUY IT NOW
Review: Rarely have i read a book that moved me as much as this one. Kertzer's account of the kidnapping of a jewish child from his family by the church is told with an eloquence and sensitivity that is truly extraordinary. This is a sad story. What could be worse than having your child stolen from you and there being absolutely nothing you can do about it. I felt a real anger that only progressed as the book went on. Kertzer brings forth the pain of Edgardo's father as he tries in vain to save his son. There is no excuse for what happened to Edgardo, but his was not a solitary or isolated story. It is important for people to know that this happened, jews, catholics, everyone. I highly reccomend this book.
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