The Grandees: America's Sephardic Elite

By Stephen Birmingham

Book Overview

Tracing their origins to medieval Portugal and Spain, the Sephardic Jews consider themselves 'the nobility of Jewry, ' in contrast to their pushier and more aggressive German counterparts. They were also the first Jews to inhabit the new world--first exiled from Spain and Portugal, and then forced out of Brazil, a ship bearing 23 Sephardic Jews was blown off its course to Holland, beset by pirates, and then captured by a French captain before being ransomed for the 'payment of their freight' in the City of New Amsterdam. And so the American Sephardic Jewish story begins.

Here Stephen Birmingham tells the rich and varied history of this insular group of bewilderingly interrelated families, spiced with gossip and the gentle rattling of family skeletons. We find tales of fortunes made in the fur trade long before the Astors, revolutionary heroes and heroines, and poetic spinster Rebecca Gratz, thought to be Scott's model for Rebecca in Ivanhoe. Through it all emerges a picture of a proud haughty people, who have chosen to remain aloof from the later-arriving Jews from Europe, and have staunchly refused to be swept up in the movement of Reform Judaism, preferring to adhere to their Orthodox rituals. Stephen Birmingham weaves a vibrant tapestry of the Sephardic experience in America, working in threads of their history in medieval Europe as he depicts the lives of these extraordinary Americans.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 149302468X
• ISBN13: 9781493024681
• Release Date: August 2016
• Publisher: Lyons Press
• Length: 394 Pages
• Weight: 1.23 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Brought a whole history of people to vivid life

I didn't know much about the Sephardim, though I have am descended from some. I was fascinated about the Jewish-Moorish links and also, the prominence of so many Jews in Spain, Italy, Portugal, before the Inquisition. The characters virtually sprang off the page, though of course the details available for those of later date were more available than for the Dark Ages. I would have been fascinated to know more about that... It was also interesting to learn about the entangled family trees. To the other reviewer, I'd note that people always want to read about scandal and actions outside the ordinary. And it is certainly true that like any other preeminent members of society, they were exclusive in nature rather than inclusive. I bought this book originally as a souvenir at the State Museum of Virginia in Richmond over a year ago and it's remarkable how many details I still remember. The book really sticks to you! Plus, it really adds to other areas of study that you may follow -- whether you are into Medieval era, Dark Ages, weaponry/torture, the Diaspora, Colonial Era, Jewish-Arab relations, the Catholic Church.

fascinating picture of a closed society

This book does what good histories should do, open up doors to inaccessible places. Well written and incisive, it tracks a part of our history not well known. Especially fascinating were the accounts of how the first 44 came to America, and the story of the Civil War admiral. I'll read more of his books.