Rating: 
Summary: Fine Starter for Bewildering Period
Review: I own a reprint of Kamen's original book of this title and the revised history book and they are superb starters for the period in question. Previous histories of the Spanish Inquisition focused on the more salacious anecdotal evidence. Lea's masterful book, long the standard, is terribly flawed because of his research. Lea's sources were largely English and French. England was a Protestant country that was at war with Catholic Spain and France, an emerging (Catholic) power was envious of Spain and needed to drive it down for colonial purposes in the new world. Therefore, Lea's sources were largely based on the propaganda of rivals. A previous review recommended books by Jean Plaidy, but Plaidy (aka Victoria Holt, etc) is a novelist. I have not read Plaidy's works so cannot assess them. I don't even know if they are novels. And in the past novelists have written servicable histories. But a novelist will still have his eye on the salacious, trying to shape raw facts into a story (if they use primary sources at all). There is no conflict of interest in using Vatican sources for the Inquisition as the Spanish Inquisition was Catholic, although a case may be made that it was guided more by "secular" governmental authorities (Torquemada was the confessor of Isabella of Aragon before being head of the inquisition). It's always hard to find that things one always believed are incorrect, and Kamen's presentation of the Spanish Inquisition may shatter long-held illusions. (I'm surprised the reviewer who recommended the Plaidy book didn't say Kamen was wrong because he didn't say Inquisitors had to be clad in red, wear flight goggles, and that Kamen never mentioned the dreaded Comfy Chair. Kamen presents a Spanish Inquisition Nobody Expects!
Rating: 
Summary: Crimes of faith
Review: I read this book about six months ago and as I recall it was very informative. However I should say it is important to not base one's beliefes on just one source. The inquistion is serious subject that deserves indepth research. This book source I felt was more to do with appologetics than showing how religious dogma can be used to justify crimes against humanity.
Rating:
Summary: best introduction to the Spanish Inquisition available
Review: Kamen admirably doesn't attempt to answer all of the many questions that the Spanish Inquisition brings up. Neither does he attempt to reduce it to a simple explanation. Instead he shows us many aspects of the complicated history of the most famous tribunal in the world. Kamen's work is even handed and attempts to understand the Spanish Inquisition on a historical rather than polemic basis.Kamen's book does fall down in two ways however. At times his arguments seem weak. For instance, in his discussion of inquisitorial censoring and its affect on Spanish literature he uses book sellers in Barcelona in an attempt to show that it the index of banned books had little effect. However, in other parts of the book he repeatedly points out in Catalan in general and Barcelona in specific the Inquisition had little power. Kamen also fails to give any kind of comparison of Spanish literary output before and after the index. Kamen's second weakness is his failure to put the Spanish Inquisition in context. To a certain extent this is understandable. The book is already over 300 pages, not counting end notes, and a line needs to be drawn somewhere. However, it leaves out any details of the medieval inquisitions that were the basis for the Spanish Inquisition. It also doesn't do a very good job of comparing the Inquisition to other tribunals and judicial systems. It also would have been nice if Kamen's final chapter "Inventing the Inquisition" had done a better job of explaining how the mythology of the Inquisition grew to be. For what it's worth, Edward Peters' Inquisition delves into many of these issues in more detail. One note regarding the reader below from Florida. He recommends Jean Plaidy's Spanish Inquisition. It is worth noting that Plaidy's books are 40 years out of date and includes none of the wave of research that was came out in the 70s. For instance, Plaidy contends that the Isabella and Ferdinand "were determined to have a unified country, and they did not believe this ambition could be achieved unless all their subjects accepted one religion." This contention is hard to support given that Ferdinand and Isabella allowed Muslims to exist in their kingdom for 20 years after they forced Jews to convert or be exiled. It wasn't until the rule of Charles V that Muslims were given the choice between baptism and exile.
Rating: 
Summary: "A Very Objective Examination of the Spanish Inquisition"
Review: Kamen's Spanish Inquistion is a good objective primer on the origins and nature of the Inquisition. He devotes several chapters on explaining the historical context in which the Inquistion was implemented without the typical anti-Spanish/anti-Catholic hostility some writers have employed. While some aspects of the Inquistion will always be condemened, Kamen explains accurately who was actually affected by the Inquistion and to what extent: Of course this means refuting some of the exagerations regarding the Inquisition that have multiplied over the past 500 years. If you're interested in early modern Spain this book is a must buy.
Rating:
Summary: Second best book on Spanish Inquisition in print
Review: Kamen, who began researching the Spanish Inquisition as a graduate student nearly forty years ago, came out with this book in April of 1998 to correct many misrepresentations concerning the Spanish Inquisition that even he had once believed. Although the book is not as well written as it could be it is still deserving of five stars because of Kamen's excellent research into the inquisition itself as well as the myths surrounding it. This book is best read along side the pioneering work of Edward Peters' INQUISITION. Peters is a canon law expert and oversees the Henry Charle Lea library at the University of Pennsylvania. I WOULD LIKE TO MAKE ONE PARTICULAR POINT. SOME PEOPLE, BLINDED BY BIGOTRY WILL NOT TRUST KAMEN'S FINDINGS NO MATTER WHAT. There are many such people out there. Just look at the review posted by the guy from Panama. If he had a clue about what he was talking about he would know that NOBODY was burned at Salem. Those who were executed for witchcraft were hanged. This may seem like a tiny point, but this notice how this loser accuses Kamen of trying too hard to overturn myths and yet he promotes them himself!
Rating:
Summary: Trash compared to another work!
Review: The definitive book on the Inquisition is B. Netanyahu's The Origins of the Inquisition. This work goes back to the 6th century BCE and traces the destructive path of anti-Semitism and xenophobia all the way to Spain. The main point of this book is stating how most of the Conversos were good Christians and not heretics. This book also makes known how most of the hatred for Jews and new Christians came from the lowest classes who felt socially, politically, religiously, and most importantly economically threatened by these supposedly alien peoples. Netanyahu also shows how Morranos and Jews were caught in the middle of the power struggle between monarchic supremacy and nobiliar and aristocratic independence. This work is worth your time and will add to your edification.
Rating:
Summary: An avid researcher of true facts on past history
Review: The Spanish Inqusition is one of the frightening stories that everyone hears as they grow. Henry Kamen, through some vicious research, finally disspells many of the myths and legends associated with it. Methodically showing what the Spanish Inqusition really was and how it was not nearly as bad as it has been played out to be, Kamen does an excellent job of putting together a book full of first hand accounts of what went on, who the accussers and accussed were and who really went to be burned at the stake. However, the book does fall short it its attempts to be for the general reader. Where Kamen's research excels, his writting seems to suffer as information is not as well organized as it should be and some information is repeated quite often when it shouldn't. This makes it hard to trudge through and leaves it to be a wonderful resourse for professional historians, not for the everyday reader. However, if one is daring to learn more about what really happened during this time, this is a wonderful book to start with. Just a rule of advice: Follow the rule of the historian and view things objectively and don't apply todays moral standards to yesterdays events. To many other readers (as can be seen in the reviews) try to do this and come up with a very negative opinion of the book. One has to realize that the time period being looked at differed greatly from ours today and that disciplining was much harsher than it is now (This was a period where one could be executed for running in the street naked). With this in mind, enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: Finally getting to the bone of History
Review: The Spanish Inqusition is one of the frightening stories that everyone hears as they grow. Henry Kamen, through some vicious research, finally disspells many of the myths and legends associated with it. Methodically showing what the Spanish Inqusition really was and how it was not nearly as bad as it has been played out to be, Kamen does an excellent job of putting together a book full of first hand accounts of what went on, who the accussers and accussed were and who really went to be burned at the stake. However, the book does fall short it its attempts to be for the general reader. Where Kamen's research excels, his writting seems to suffer as information is not as well organized as it should be and some information is repeated quite often when it shouldn't. This makes it hard to trudge through and leaves it to be a wonderful resourse for professional historians, not for the everyday reader. However, if one is daring to learn more about what really happened during this time, this is a wonderful book to start with. Just a rule of advice: Follow the rule of the historian and view things objectively and don't apply todays moral standards to yesterdays events. To many other readers (as can be seen in the reviews) try to do this and come up with a very negative opinion of the book. One has to realize that the time period being looked at differed greatly from ours today and that disciplining was much harsher than it is now (This was a period where one could be executed for running in the street naked). With this in mind, enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: A difficult Reconquest
Review: This book is extremely well documented on the subject. It shows how this Inquisition was the result of the reconquest of Spain on the Moslems and the policy of converting the Jews and the Moslems to christianity. Later on it was ordered for those to leave the country. To purify the conversions and to impose strict obedience to the church, the Inquisition was invented. It did not prevent protestantism which never had a deep influence, but it developed a particular type of faith that is extremely submissive to religious authorities and the King. It was a long and slow process over two centuries. But all this history gives depth and flesh to Goya's paintings and satire, without which it would only be gruesome art. It also gives some density to Don Quixote by making the windmills look like the goals of the Inquisition. But Don Quixote is crazy and more or less inoffensive whereas the Inquisition is perfectly sane and definitely offensive. The author yet is very careful to put his data into perspective with other courts and other countries : Spain is certainly not the worst case of systematic miscarriage of justice and of cruelty. Far from it. Dr Jacques COULARDEAU
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Research; Pedestrian Writing
Review: This is an effort to produce an unbiased description and analysis of the Spanish Inquisition. Based on Kamen's remarkably thorough knowledge of early modern Spain, Kamen takes pains to present the Spanish Inquisition as neither the Black Legend of liberal 19th century historians or the needed force of Catholic apologists. As shown by Kamen, the Spanish Inquisition was not nearly as powerful or inhumane as its critics allege. He demonstrates that many of its most unsavory features were not products of a particularly brutal regime but in fact conventional for early modern europe. This book contains a wealth of interesting detail and Kamen meets his primary goal, that of presenting the inquisition in an objective fashion. This book has a major defect, which is its poor organization. Kamen presents this study in a series of topical essays with some overlapping and redundant narrative in each chapter. This often obscures the sequence in which important events occurred. In addition, important material for understanding the whole inquisition, such as its organization and methods, is not presented until well into the book, obscuring understanding of material in the earlier chapters. Despite Kamen's intent to produce a book for general readers, the organization of the book is really suited best for professional historians seeking information on controversial topics. This book is also limited in the sense that Kaman cannot, ultimately, account for the emergence of the Inquisition in Spain though one has the impression that it has a somewhat accidental character, and that it might have been a transient institution without the occurrence of the Reformation.
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