Review by Choice Review
The expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492 and Portugal in 1497 forced members of largely separate communities to take up residence outside of Iberia in both Christian and Islamic lands, where subsequent Jewish emigrants joined them. Ray (Jewish studies, Georgetown) argues that these refugees initially lacked an identifiable Hispano-Jewish identity, but carried cultural characteristics that enabled several generations of exiles that included poor artisans and petty lenders as well as "court Jews" to develop during the 16th century a distinct, transnational Sephardic society with a collective identity. After examining the Jews and their converso relatives before the expulsion from Spain, historian Ray considers conditions associated with their exile and the importance of frontier regions for the emigrants. He analyzes conflict within and among Jewish communities, the importance of networks of merchants and rabbis, rabbinic and popular Judaism in the 16th-century Mediterranean world, and the slow emergence of the idea of Iberia as a common homeland. This valuable and readable scholarly work will attract academics, as well as earlier readers of Dolores Sloan's more popular The Sephardic Jews of Spain and Portugal (CH, Feb'10, 47-3413). Summing Up: Recommended. Academic and public libraries, all levels. M. A. Burkholder University of Missouri--St. Louis
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
