The Jews in the Caribbean /

The status of Sephardim who migrated to the Caribbean in the age of empire differed from island to island, depending on the calculations of their imperial overlords. Merchants of the "Portuguese Jewish nation" were useful in the transatlantic trade because of kinship links with distant Jewish and Christian relatives that enabled them to overcome barriers between Catholic and Protestant states. Within the parameters of international trade and official licensing, they negotiated spaces in which they were able to live as Jews. Editor Gerber has assembled the broadest spectrum of scholars and scholarship on this subject since the 1993 publication of Sephardim in the Americas (Martin A. Cohen and Abraham J. Peck, eds.), expanding that book's US-centered focus with a global perspective. The current volume presents recent works by such established scholars as Gerard Nahon, on Amsterdam as "expeditor" of Sephardim to the Caribbean, and introduces new scholars, including Aviva Ben-Ur on Eurafrican Jews and Stanley Mirvis on concubinage and the Sephardi family. Eli Faber proposes redefining colonial North American Jewish history to embrace the Caribbean, the Canaries and Madeira, Suriname, Amsterdam, and London because of the Jews' familial and financial ties. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. J. L. Elkin independent scholar