Description
In this lively debut work of history, Edward Kritzler tells the tale of an unlikely group of swashbuckling Jews who ransacked the high seas in the aftermath of the Spanish Inquisition. At the end of the fifteenth century, many Jews had to flee Spain and Portugal. The most adventurous among them took to the seas as freewheeling outlaws. In ships bearing names such as the "Prophet Samuel, Queen Esther, " and "Shield of Abraham, " they attacked and plundered the Spanish fleet while forming alliances with other European powers to ensure the safety of Jews living in hiding. Filled with high-sea adventures-including encounters with Captain Morgan and other legendary pirates-"Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean" reveals a hidden chapter in Jewish history as well as the cruelty, terror, and greed that flourished during the Age of Discovery.
At the end of the fifteenth century, the Spanish Inquisition forced many Jews to flee the country. The most adventurous among them took to the high seas as freewheeling outlaws. In ships bearing names such as the Prophet Samuel, Queen Esther, and Shield of Abraham, they attacked and plundered the Spanish fleet while forming alliances with other European powers to ensure the safety of Jews living in hiding.
JEWISH PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN is the entertaining saga of a hidden chapter in Jewish history and of the cruelty, terror, and greed that flourished during the Age of Discovery. Readers will meet such daring figures as the Great Jewish Pirate Sinan, Barbarossa's second-in-command; the pirate rabbi Samuel Palache, who founded Holland's Jewish community; Abraham Cohen Henriques, an arms dealer who used his cunning and economic muscle to find safe havens for other Jews; and his pirate brother Moses, who is credited with the capture of the Spanish silver fleet in 1628--the largest heist in pirate history.
Filled with high-sea adventures--including encounters with Captain Morgan and other legendary pirates--and detailed portraits of cities stacked high with plunder, such as Port Royal, Jamaica, JEWISH PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN captures a gritty and glorious era of history from an unusual and eye-opening perspective. From the Hardcover edition.
Review:
[T]his entertaining and surprising book....is a wide-raging saga filled with attractive and repellant personalities.....Kritzler captures the spirit of that violent, lawless epoch and combines it with an interesting ethnic perspective.
--Booklist
[A] breezy historical tale....[Kritzler] has a journalist's eye for detail, and his entertaining book will circulate well.
--Library Journal
Kritzler's intellectual odyssey....shares various sagas of individual Jews who took to the sea as pirates, or masterminded the pirate operations from land....the material is so rich that the book is never boring.
--San Francisco Chronicle
In recent years the study of Caribbean piracy has become an increasingly noteworthy field of endeavor, with new chapters opening constantly. None will be quite so revelatory as Edward Kritzler's JEWISH PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN, for in it he details the story of a small group of Jewish merchants and adventurers who pioneered in the Jamaican pirate trade, and helped to create an outpost of religious freedom at the same time. A wonderful story, never before told.
-- Jack Davis, author of The Pirates Laffite
Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean is a wonderfully informed book of maritime history. Edward Kristler is a splendid guide on a voyage through a dark and fascinating era of Jewish history.
-- Jay Neugeboren, author of 1940, The Stolen Jew Pirate rabbis? Warrior Jews? Sephardic seafarers escaping the fires of Inquisition in quest of gold and freedom in the New World? If, like mine, your knowledge of Europe's fabled Age of Discovery hasn't featured these colorful and, as Edward Kritzler's diligent scholarship demonstrates, historically influential pioneers, then Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean presents a tale as essential as it is entertaining.
--Robert H. Patton, author of Patriot Pirates and The Pattons: A Personal Histor
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