Other 1492: Jewish Settlement in the New World

I was looking for further reading for my 12 yr old on the time period of the reign of Isabella and Ferdinand in my local library, and this is all I found, so I borrowed it. It was fascinating. I am not Jewish, but it makes the time period more interesting to understand the important role of the Jewish people, and how badly they were treated for hundreds of years due to the lack of separation of church and state in Spain and Portugal at the time. Other countries had more religious tolerance, and it is interesting to see how this shapes the course of history and the exploration for and control over trade routes. It covers a long time span, giving some background from Roman times and then focusing more on medieval times of exploration.

This is an exceedingly interesting and for the most part accurate account of Spain's expulsion of the Jewish people, for young people aged 12 and up. The nine chapters cover some 93 pages, and include a number of reproductions of etchings, maps and other historical illustrations. The topic is entirely the trail of tears suffered by the Jewish people at the hands of Christian Spain. The book's one deficiency concerns the preceding era of Muslim rule of Andalusia. It portrays this time frame, from the 8th through the 13th centuries, as one of peace, prosperity and universality. This, however, is a gross oversimplification, and misrepresentation. The earlier era was one of militancy and war. Spain was pillaged and burned during the 711 invasion by Tariq. Cordoba's factories alone produced 1,000 bows and 20,000 arrows a month, and 1,300 shields and 3,000 tents a year--used, according to Richard Fletcher, to ravage the area. The supposedly learned and cultured 10th century sultan 'Abd al-Rahman owned 3,750 slaves in his palace alone. Barcelona was sacked in 985, along with the monastery at San Cugat del Valles. Combra was plundered in 987. Leon and Zamora were pumelled in 988. Osma was destroyed in 989, and so on. As we see, even Andalusia's supposedly ultra-harmonious 10th century was hardly that. In 977, Almanzor (meaning 'the victorious'), undertook a first campaign against Leon, which he ravaged. His 997 campaign against Santiago de Compostella was only "the most daring and notorious of a series of hammer-blows which the Andalusi armies under Almanzor's leadership delivered to the Christian principalities," writes Fletcher. The Jews escaped none of these escapades unscathed, either. --Alyssa A. Lappen

This is a readable, interesting account of the events that led to the expulsion of the Jews from Spain. Although listed in the juvenile literature section, it is a mature and fascinating text.

This book accurately portrays the other 1492, not the discovery of America, but the persecution of the Jewish people of Spain. Finkelstein intellegently lays out the facts of the historical events of the time in a way which both young readers and adults can comprehend. The book was mentioned in the New York Times book review several years ago and is a must read for any history buff.