History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

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Spanish Inquisition
Terror is frequently correlated with envy and religion

The Spanish Inquisition: A History
Joseph Perez
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0300119828

Book Description

This is the story of 350 years of terror. Established by papal bull in 1478, the first task of the Spanish Inquisition was to question Jewish converts to Christianity and to expose and execute those found guilty of reversion. Authorities then turned on Spanish Jews in general, sending 300,000 into exile. Next in line were humanists and Lutherans. No rank was exempt. Children informed on their parents, merchants on their rivals, and priests upon their bishops. Those denounced were guilty unless they could prove their innocence. Nearly 32,000 people were publicly burned at the stake; the “fortunate” ones were flogged, fined, or imprisoned.

Joseph Pérez tells the history of the Spanish Inquisition from its medieval beginnings to its nineteenth-century ending. He discovers its origins in fear and jealousy and its longevity in usefulness to the state. He explores the inner workings of its councils, and shows how its officers, inquisitors, and leaders lived and worked. He describes its techniques of interrogation and torture, and shows how it refined displays of punishment as instruments of social control. The author ends his fascinating account by assessing the impact of the Inquisition over three and a half centuries on Spain’s culture, economy, and intellectual life.

Customer Reviews:

Spanish Inquisition.......2006-08-24

Even the Introduction was terrific. I have heard many stories about the Inquisition but I gained so much more knowledge while being very well entertained. A great book

Terror is frequently correlated with envy and religion.......2005-05-31

Discussion of the Spanish Inquisition usually invokes emotions of disgust or anger, but also an appreciation of how precious it is to be able to pick up a book or express an opinion without fear of being either tortured or killed by government authorities. Therefore reading a book on the topic can be difficult at times, if one focuses on the brutality of the methods used and the zeal in which they were. This book, by comparison with most others on the Spanish Inquisition, is very short, but it does introduce the reader to the reasons for it and its historical legacy.

The author summarizes the Spanish Inquisition as being "350 years of terror," which is an accurate description considering the horrific acts that were committed in this time period. These acts are delineated in detail in this book, beginning essentially with the papal bull in 1478 that was targeted towards Jewish converts to Christianity. Those Jews found guilty of "reversion" were promptly executed. The three dominant religions, Islam, Christianity, and Islam were of course in existence at this time, and were, according to the author, not tolerant of each other and each was convinced that it held the keys to truth. If there was tolerance to any degree, it was a "de facto" tolerance argues the author, i.e. "suffered rather than desired." It is interesting to note that de facto tolerance is also the predominant form for these religions in the world today.

The social tensions between Jews and Christians in Spain at this time are brought out in detail in the book. On the surface these tensions even seem comical because of their absurdity. As examples of this idiocy, marriages between Jews and Christians were forbidden; Jews could charge interest on a loan to Christians, and vice versa, but never to members of the same faith; and Jews were blamed for economic recessions, and for spreading the plague. Reading of the persecutions against Jews at this time reinforces the opinion that the more economically industrious a person was the greater his danger.

In fact, envy is viewed by the author as a possible cause of the Inquisition, rather than merely from religious zealotry. Fray Luis de Leon of the University of Salamanca, who was denounced to the Inquisition by some of his own (jealous) colleagues, is given as an example of this. Other university professors were subjected to the same treatment, by those who, according to the author, wanted the "university chairs" of these professors. The author quotes Unamuno as stating that it was the "terrible Hispanic envy born of incompetence and pettiness" that was responsible for the Inquisition. Considering the typical attitudes of many in the academic community today, an environment that is typically polluted with envy, this assertion by Unamuno does not at all seem farfetched.

The author does not want to end the book without a discussion of the consequences of the Inquisition on Spanish society. One might think that such a horrific series of events lasting for as long as it did would have devastating effects on any society. The author argues that the Inquisition was responsible for some of Spain's misfortunes, but not all of them. Its economic impact was minimal he says, with the decline of Spain economically being due essentially to the ability of wages to keep up with prices, thus lowering incentives among investors. The author is aware that this argument deserves more scrutiny however.

Science and literature suffered greatly from the Inquisition however, due in large measure to the infamous book burnings and Indexes. All of these are discussed in detail in the book, terrifying as they were. This horrible destruction of knowledge is something that along with the brutality against "heretics" will be etched in the minds of all those with independent minds and who have deep respect for human life. Those individuals who launched and practiced the Inquisition should never be forgiven for their savagery against Jewish people and others who differed from the entrenched dogma of the Catholic church. The Inquisition served no constructive purpose, had no moral validity, and deserves daily condemnation. Only then can we be more confident that such a series of events does not happen again.

The Spanish Inquisition: Its rise, growth, and end

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Persecution, Torture and Death

The Spanish Inquisition: Its rise, growth, and end
Jean Plaidy
Manufacturer: Barnes & Noble
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
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ASIN: 1566194075

Customer Reviews:

Persecution, Torture and Death.......2006-04-27

First off this book is not 180 pages as stated here at Amazon. It is three books combined into one volume so it is 192 pages for the Rise,176 pages for the Growth, and 180 pages for the End for a total of about 548 pages. It is a complete study of the Spanish Inquisition, one of those times in history that many would like to forget but like the Holocaust it should be remembered as an awful and horrible portrait in time. We can all learn something from this episode in time. I found the book fascinating but very disturbing. It was something I could not put down. The inhumanity inflicted upon another human being in this book is beyond sickening. The fact that torture was used to persuade others to see the light is even more disgusting. The book goes into great detail with case histories of the atrocities.The inquisitors were nothing short of demonic in their quest to make others believe. Heresy against the church was often nothing more than a way of gaining capital and claiming land. The treatment given to the Jews or Maranos by the Spanish inquisitors , as they were refered to was appalling. It was all business, a body of men assembled to root out evil while they performed evil misguided acts in the name of God.The treatment of the Moslems or Moors was no less horrible. Either convert or be burned alive at the stake after months, often years of interrogation and torture. The descriptions of the torture methods are ghastly. Beginning in 1232 and imposing its will on the "heretics" for six centuries until it was completly dissolved in 1834 left thousands dead and a schism between races and religions that may never be resolved. The lucky ones were pardaded through town and allowed to be killed (strangled usually) prior to being finally engulfed by the flames for pure spectacle. Miss Pleady is a fine scholar who lends detail to every death chronicled but she does more than that. She explains everything matter of factly about all the participants. She talks extensively about the Kings, especially Phillip II and Queens who perpetuated the Spanish Inquisition along with the Popes. The most famous Inquisitor , Torquemada is discussed in great detail. Ximenes another Grand Inquisitor and a self righteous bigot who is examined leaves these numbers as his legacy, 3,564 burnt at the stake, 1,232 burnt in effigy, and penitents who suffered from confiscation of worldly good and other punishments, 48, 1059. These figures may not be totally accurate but lets not haggle over numbers; the dirty deed done in the name of God is something everyone should know about.Neopotism and hypocrisy reigned the land. Phillip II fathered some twenty plus illegitimate children, cousins married each other for power, at times to have deformed heirs but all with the popes and church's blessings. Bishops became confesors to nuns in the convent only to seduce them. Priests had wives and children while the church was busy rooting out heretics. The book shows the far reches of the Inquisition as it went into the Netherlands, Peru, Mexico. Naples , Sicily, Portugal and elsewhere. The account of Martin Luther is discussed and why the Inquisition had difficulty sprawling out into Germany. The full dynamics of the wreched Inqusition is fully analysed. From the beginnings to the end it is all here. The torture chambers ,the covered and cloaked inquisitors, the igniting of the faggots and the smell of burning flesh, the screams, the brave martyrs, the men who did this wrong in the name of religion, it is enough to make one sick and worse than any horror movie. Read it for yourself you be the judge about the things people do in the name of God.

São Tome: Journey to the Abyss--Portugal's Stolen Children

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Book with great review
The road to hell began here
Memorable Historical Novel
Little Known History: The Beginning of Slavery
A Wonderful Historical Novel

São Tome: Journey to the Abyss--Portugal's Stolen Children
Paul D. Cohn
Manufacturer: Burns-Cole Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0964587602

Book Description

In 1485 the Portuguese Crown and Catholic Church began to kidnap Jewish children, forcibly convert the young conscripts, and ship them to São Tomé Island off the African equator to work the government sugar plantations. The collision of slavery, sugar agriculture, and discovery of The Americas transformed this island colony into the nidus of the wholesale black slave trade that infected Africa and Western commerce for the next 350 years. This is a unique and little-known chapter of the Diaspora which also reveals the Medieval Church's complicity in the business of slavery.

São Tomé tells the story of young Marcel Saulo and his sister Leah who were abducted with other children from their synagogue in Lisbon and shipped 4,000 miles to the West-African island.

Customer Reviews:

Book with great review.......2007-10-19

I was excited to start reading this book because of all the rave reviews on this website. Now I'm at the point of skim reading it just to get to the end. If I was a quitter, I would have stopped reading the book by now.

I understand the historical value of it but the storyline is so unrealistic and the main charactor is very "super hero" like. It was almost like watching an overdone, bad version of Brave Heart except for the guy has 9 lives so he doesn't ever die or touch your heart.

I guest whatever floats your boat is right and this one just didn't float mine.

The road to hell began here.......2007-10-07

Sometime around the end of the 15th century, the Portuguese Inquisition began kidnapping Jewish children from their families and expatriating them to the remote island of Sao Tome off the African coast, where they were forcibly converted to Catholicism and sent to work as slaves on the sugar plantations. When the Western Hemisphere was split between Spain and Portugal with Spain receiving the lion's share of the spoils, the Portuguese realized that while Spain got most of the territory, Portugal could get rich from importing slaves to work the land. Sao Tome became one of the first jump-off points for the voyage through the middle passage, through which 25 million Africans were transported to the Americas on the slave ships.

Paul Cohn tells the story of Sao Tome through a young Portuguese Jew, Marcel Saulo, who is kidnapped and sent to the island at the age of 14, enduring the trials of semi-slavery, ultimately freeing himself and working his own sugar plantation with African servants of his own. How he runs afoul of the island regimes that insist that all blacks be subjugated to slavery while he treats his own servants as free men and women, and his problems with maintaining his Jewish identity and heritage while passing as a Catholic in order to survive the Inquisition, whose long arm reached even as far as Sao Tome, make up the backbone of the story.

Cohn is a gifted storyteller and he has written a page-turner that keeps you interested in the plot from beginning to end. The plot, and the historical background, are fascinating enough to overcome the book's one-dimensional characters and pedestrian writing. Cohn did manage to hold my interest enough to make me want to learn more about this period in history, which makes the book ultimately succeed as a historical novel.

Judy Lind

Memorable Historical Novel.......2007-10-02

Incredible and riveting, this story was a page turner from the beginning to the end. It contains characters you care about and is beautifully written. I loved it. Definitely memorable!!

Little Known History: The Beginning of Slavery.......2007-03-22

São Tomé is an inordinately readable novel based on fact, one of those discoveries that not only introduces a fine author but also reveals information known by all too few of us. In his Foreword author Paul D. Cohn reveals the source of his novel: the Saulo Chronicle was written between 1497 and 1500, the journal history of a young Jewish lad from Portugal who was kidnapped by the Catholic Church as part of the Inquisition and shipped to the West African Island of São Tomé where he endured hardships not only of separation from his family but also the filthy unhealthful living conditions as a slave on the sugar cane plantations and yet survived to witness (and fight against) the inception of the commerce of slavery spurred on by the discovery by his fellow countryman Christopher Columbus of the New World.

Cohn's writing technique is very straightforward and narratively complex while remaining riveting as story telling. His descriptions Marcel Saulo's two month ship journey from Portugal to Africa, the treatment of the Jewish children who were expected to convert to Catholicism once on the island (or be killed), and the gradual adaptation to live in a strange place whose indigenous problems included virulent malaria and typhoid fever in addition to the local wars occurring between separate parts of the island as well as rebellion as the African slaves were brought together to sell to slave traders - all elements that defy belief yet are convincingly recounted. How Saulo met and married a Jewish girl only to lose her to tragedy and subsequently bonded with other girls both Jewish and African and how he managed to maintain his Jewish soul while converting to the Catholic ways in order to survive, challenging in his own way the concept of slavery by treating his 'workers' as free men and women, and how he fought the changes in the island regimes and in Portugal's government of the island all make for a story that is a journey of courage and bravery and faith.

If the novel has a flaw it is in the need to edit the number of side stories that flood the pages. Characters arise and disappear so quickly that the reader needs to back reference to keep the flow of the novel in line. But that is a small dent in a novel that commands respect and enlightens the reader. This is an extraordinary accomplishment and pleads for a wide readership. Grady Harp, March 07

A Wonderful Historical Novel.......2006-04-13

Paul Cohn's Sao Tome is a beautifully written, thoroughly researched historical novel. The characters are engaging, the story is compelling, and the descriptions of life on Sao Tome are richly detailed. This book inspired me and moved me to tears. I loved it.

The Spanish Inquisition: A Historical Revision

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superior
Crimes of faith
Fine Starter for Bewildering Period
Trash compared to another work!
best introduction to the Spanish Inquisition available

The Spanish Inquisition: A Historical Revision
Henry Kamen
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0300078803

Amazon.com

Mention the Spanish Inquisition and immediately thoughts of brutal torture and callous witch-hunts spring to mind. Popular belief holds up this infamous institution as a symbol of religious and political intolerance--against the Protestants, Jews, Catholic heretics, and political orders such as the Knights Templar. Yet when Henry Kamen first wrote The Spanish Inquisition in 1965, he argued that the Inquisition was not as powerful or cruel as commonly conceived.

This updated version of Kamen's hypothesis continues and reaffirms his original arguments. In this edition, Kamen provides additional evidence derived mostly from monographic studies conducted by other scholars that separates myth from reality; Kamen suggests that the Inquisition did not enjoy widespread popularity, in Spain or the rest of Europe, and that it was used as a device to scare off enemies. He also concludes that the failure of the Spanish populace to accept Lutheran principles had more to do with popular indifference toward Protestantism than interference from the Inquisition. Though Kamen's book is occasionally lacking in social analysis, this revisionist overview of the Inquisition's impact on Europe is rich in detail and will appeal to anyone who has an interest in this period.

Book Description

A renowned historian here presents a new view of the notorious Spanish Inquisition, arguing that there was less terror, bigotry, and persecution associated with it than has been previously believed. Based on thirty years of research, the book will revolutionize further study in the field.

Customer Reviews:

superior.......2006-11-03

the votes for how helpful this review is are for a previous review that i have since deleted. this book is simply fascinating. especially for the reader with a generalized understanding of the spanish inquisition, it offers innumerable corrections to common misconceptions about the roles jews played in spain, the history of the new christians and the conversos and many other details. i guarantee that any student of history, after reading this book, will rank it among their favorites.

Crimes of faith.......2004-08-30

I read this book about six months ago and as I recall it was very informative. However I should say it is important to not base one's beliefes on just one source. The inquistion is serious subject that deserves indepth research. This book source I felt was more to do with appologetics than showing how religious dogma can be used to justify crimes against humanity.

Fine Starter for Bewildering Period.......2004-06-19

I own a reprint of Kamen's original book of this title and the revised history book and they are superb starters for the period in question. Previous histories of the Spanish Inquisition focused on the more salacious anecdotal evidence. Lea's masterful book, long the standard, is terribly flawed because of his research. Lea's sources were largely English and French. England was a Protestant country that was at war with Catholic Spain and France, an emerging (Catholic) power was envious of Spain and needed to drive it down for colonial purposes in the new world. Therefore, Lea's sources were largely based on the propaganda of rivals. A previous review recommended books by Jean Plaidy, but Plaidy (aka Victoria Holt, etc) is a novelist. I have not read Plaidy's works so cannot assess them. I don't even know if they are novels. And in the past novelists have written servicable histories. But a novelist will still have his eye on the salacious, trying to shape raw facts into a story (if they use primary sources at all). There is no conflict of interest in using Vatican sources for the Inquisition as the Spanish Inquisition was Catholic, although a case may be made that it was guided more by "secular" governmental authorities (Torquemada was the confessor of Isabella of Aragon before being head of the inquisition). It's always hard to find that things one always believed are incorrect, and Kamen's presentation of the Spanish Inquisition may shatter long-held illusions. (I'm surprised the reviewer who recommended the Plaidy book didn't say Kamen was wrong because he didn't say Inquisitors had to be clad in red, wear flight goggles, and that Kamen never mentioned the dreaded Comfy Chair. Kamen presents a Spanish Inquisition Nobody Expects!

Trash compared to another work!.......2003-05-19

The definitive book on the Inquisition is B. Netanyahu's The Origins of the Inquisition. This work goes back to the 6th century BCE and traces the destructive path of anti-Semitism and xenophobia all the way to Spain. The main point of this book is stating how most of the Conversos were good Christians and not heretics. This book also makes known how most of the hatred for Jews and new Christians came from the lowest classes who felt socially, politically, religiously, and most importantly economically threatened by these supposedly alien peoples. Netanyahu also shows how Morranos and Jews were caught in the middle of the power struggle between monarchic supremacy and nobiliar and aristocratic independence. This work is worth your time and will add to your edification.

best introduction to the Spanish Inquisition available.......2002-02-11

Kamen admirably doesn't attempt to answer all of the many questions that the Spanish Inquisition brings up. Neither does he attempt to reduce it to a simple explanation. Instead he shows us many aspects of the complicated history of the most famous tribunal in the world. Kamen's work is even handed and attempts to understand the Spanish Inquisition on a historical rather than polemic basis.

Kamen's book does fall down in two ways however. At times his arguments seem weak. For instance, in his discussion of inquisitorial censoring and its affect on Spanish literature he uses book sellers in Barcelona in an attempt to show that it the index of banned books had little effect. However, in other parts of the book he repeatedly points out in Catalan in general and Barcelona in specific the Inquisition had little power. Kamen also fails to give any kind of comparison of Spanish literary output before and after the index.

Kamen's second weakness is his failure to put the Spanish Inquisition in context. To a certain extent this is understandable. The book is already over 300 pages, not counting end notes, and a line needs to be drawn somewhere. However, it leaves out any details of the medieval inquisitions that were the basis for the Spanish Inquisition. It also doesn't do a very good job of comparing the Inquisition to other tribunals and judicial systems.

It also would have been nice if Kamen's final chapter "Inventing the Inquisition" had done a better job of explaining how the mythology of the Inquisition grew to be. For what it's worth, Edward Peters' Inquisition delves into many of these issues in more detail.

One note regarding the reader below from Florida. He recommends Jean Plaidy's Spanish Inquisition. It is worth noting that Plaidy's books are 40 years out of date and includes none of the wave of research that was came out in the 70s. For instance, Plaidy contends that the Isabella and Ferdinand "were determined to have a unified country, and they did not believe this ambition could be achieved unless all their subjects accepted one religion." This contention is hard to support given that Ferdinand and Isabella allowed Muslims to exist in their kingdom for 20 years after they forced Jews to convert or be exiled. It wasn't until the rule of Charles V that Muslims were given the choice between baptism and exile.

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Sephardic Farewell: Ancestors
Joseph Hobesh
Manufacturer: PublishAmerica
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1424162475
Release Date: 2007-03-05

Book Description

Late fifteenth-century Spain, Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand issue the Expulsion Edict. Non-Catholics have two choices: convert to Catholicism, or leave Spain with nothing. The monarchs provide Columbus funds for his first exploratory sea voyage. Against the historic sweep of ColumbusÂ' voyage, the expulsion of the Jews, and the exploration of the New World, one family chooses to remain in Spain, living as Catholics, while another emigrates to Turkey to continue their Jewish faith. Uprooted by the edict, the Halavi family is dispersed. Joshua Ben Halavi sets sail with Columbus, while Benjamin and his father, David, settle in Constantinople, establishing deep Jewish roots. The San Miguels, whose Jewish roots have been well-hidden for many years, choose to remain in Spain as Christians, their fate a mixture of Inquisition horror and New World success. From the historic voyage of Columbus and the colonization of the Americas, Sephardic Farewell follows these two families, portraying their lives through the sweeping events of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

The Spanish Inquisition, 1478-1614: An Anthology of Sources

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An investigation into life under the Spanish Inquisition
Not the book i was looking for
Every Roman Catholic should be proud!

The Spanish Inquisition, 1478-1614: An Anthology of Sources

Manufacturer: Hackett Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0872207943

Book Description

This collection of previously untranslated court documents, testimonials, and letters portrays the Spanish Inquisition in vivid detail, offering fresh perspectives on such topics as the Inquisition's persecution of Jews and Muslims, the role of women in Spanish religious culture, the Inquisition's construction and persecution of witchcraft, daily life inside an Inquisition prison, and the relationship between the Inquisition and the Spanish monarchy. Headnotes introduce the selections, and a general introduction provides historical, political, and legal context. A map and index are included.

Customer Reviews:

An investigation into life under the Spanish Inquisition.......2007-03-19

A controversial period in Roman Catholicism, this relfects sources from the time on life in a turmoil when even the church itself transited in ideology. Innocents were executed ... and the intentions vary. The only thing I will say is that the Church believed it was engaging in a form of purification but it was probably unChristian in its implementation. Christ converted followers through love while this time in history was the Christian version of the jealous Pharisees. The late Pope John Paul 2 worked on interfaith dialogue .... which was a healing intention given this 200 years plus time of fear and fire and brimstone.

I will say this .... some of the "witches" were innocent healers ... but others were engaged in sorcery and mischief which were endangering people. This distinction should have been clearer with the church.

Not the book i was looking for.......2007-01-05

If you're hoping to read about the notorious spanish inquisition, with all it's injustices, tragedy, human suffering....if you want to read accounts and anecdotes and terribly sobering descriptions of the misguided evil that humans are capable of....keep looking!

This book is not that book.

This book is probably well done for what it is. It is a translation of medieval spanish courtroom documents over (I presume) a select sampling of inquisition cases.

To my suprise, what i found was that the inquisition seemed pretty fair, by their own standards. In some cases, the defendant was released with minimal punishment such as a warning and/or "small" pennance. Any torture was barely described by the author in the opening notes and just matter of factly mentioned in the court documents. It was pretty sterile.

You DO gain some insight into the procedures of the inquisition. That is worthwhile. I did not come away with an impression of a kangaroo court led by manical zealots, as I expected I would.

All in all, the book was rather boring though, unless you ARE interested in the sterile nitty gritty, rather than seeking the emotional impact hopefully delivered to the reader of some other book.

Every Roman Catholic should be proud!.......2006-07-27

The hypocrite Roman Catholic Church at its best, they executed without exception, and enjoyed every minute. If you want to know about the church that claims to be the true religion and followers of Christ read this book. I'm pretty sure you will understand why the Catholics are so nice. However, not everything is bad about the inquisition; they do have some good points too!

Other Inquisitions: 1937-1952 (Texas Pan American Series)

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Borges!

Other Inquisitions: 1937-1952 (Texas Pan American Series)
Jorge Luis Borges
Manufacturer: University of Texas Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0292760027

Book Description

This remarkable book by one of the great writers of our time includes essays on a proposed universal language, a justification of suicide, a refutation of time, the nature of dreams, and the intricacies of linguistic forms. Borges comments on such literary figures as Pascal, Coleridge, Cervantes, Hawthorne, Whitman, Valéry, Wilde, Shaw, and Kafka. With extraordinary grace and erudition, he ranges in time, place, and subject from Omar Khayyam to Joseph Conrad, from ancient China to modern England, from world revolution to contemporary slang.

Customer Reviews:

Borges!.......2000-07-17

Borges is at his best in this stunning collection of essays. " A meeting in a dream" is a masterpiece, a beautiful essay on love by one known more for being metaphysical than romantic. The rest of the essays sparkle as well. WOnderful!

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A Hatchet Job Based On Brazen Bigotry; Poisonous Propaganda
Recycled British anti-Catholic/anti-Spanish Propaganda
Fabulous, a book on the Jewish Experience in Iberia
Solid if unspectacular history of the Spanish Inquistion
Great List of Names

Spanish Inquisition
Cecil Roth
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0393002551

Customer Reviews:

A Hatchet Job Based On Brazen Bigotry; Poisonous Propaganda.......2004-05-03

If you are looking for a well-researched and documented history of the Spanish Inquisition, this book will be a total disappointment. Dr. Cecil Roth (...) is an extremely biased, resentment-filled individual who has put out numerous books on the topic of the Jews. He was educated in Great Britain, and lived both abroad and in the United States. From the start of the book, Roth tosses all objectivity to the wind and writes with a bitterness and hate that is truly regrettable in a person as studied as he. This book, written in 1933, is outdated and very deficient from a historical perspective. It is tiresomely boring to read and limits itself to spewing poisonous propaganda, outright lies and many distortions of facts. Although Roth's book hints at information and data which present a different view of the Inquisition, he never provides the reader with this information nor does he bother to explain why he omits it from his presentation. If you want a retrograde, biased and distorted view of the Inquisition, you will like this book.

On the other hand, if you prefer a lively, truly erudite, objective and painstakingly researched book you will want Henry Kamen's THE SPANISH INQUISITION. Kamen's book was published recently and contains the latest findings on the subject. It exudes a genuine commitment to historical truth.

Recycled British anti-Catholic/anti-Spanish Propaganda.......2003-08-27

For some reason Amazon saw fit to edit out most of my original review, leaving only a few nonsensically truncated sentences. If they don't like what I have to say, they should just delete it.

I'll not take the time to rewrite my original review if it is only going to be redacted, but the short form of what I have to say about this book is this: it is pure anti-catholic bigoted propaganda. The "history" of this book is convenient invention of British polemicists to attack their hated Catholic and Spanish rivals in one shot. The Inquisition was not one of the high points in history, but it was not the horror that it has been cracked up to be either.

A more fair and balanced view of the Spanish Inquisition can be found in Henry Kamen's "The Spanish Inqusition". Don't bother with this one.

Fabulous, a book on the Jewish Experience in Iberia.......2002-10-09

Dr. Cecil Roth [1899-1970] has put out numerous books on the topic of the Jews. He was educated in Great Britain, and lived both abroad and in the United States. He was a foremost authority on the history of world Jewry. In this book, Dr. Cecil Roth documents the long series of events leading up to the Inquisition and the three-and-a-half centuries of torment that comprise this bloody epic of human history. It is done objectify, but with a candor and wit which is regrettably deficient by writers of today. The book covers the origins of the Spanish inquisition in both Spain and Portugal, as well as how it spread to the New World. The reliable author talks of the Muslims who were forced to convert, and the Protestants who suffered under the hand of the Catholic Church. The book covers the period of time from the expulsion of 1492, to the early 20th century. This book was written in 1933. If there is one book on the Jewish expereince in Iberia you desire, this is it.

Solid if unspectacular history of the Spanish Inquistion.......2002-07-20

If one is looking for a solid history of the Spanish Inquisition that will introduce the reader with the main events and features of that peculiar institution, one could do worse than read this book. One could also do better, by looking instead at Peters INQUISITION or Henry Kammen's THE SPANISH INQUISITION. But since neither of those books is perfect (Peters covers the Inquisition in all its forms, and as a result the Spanish Inquisition in less detail, while Kammen tends to minimize some of the atrocities), Roth remains an extremely viable alternative.

The strongpoint of Roth's account is the clarity with which he tells the story, in particular highlighting some of the consequences that ought to have been anticipated from the manner in which the Inquisition was constructed. For instance, the Inquisition acquired the financial holdings of those whom it convicted of heresy. This, of course, provided the Inquisitors with powerful financial motivation to either find the accused guilty or to extort money from them.

The weakness of Roth's book is that while he hints at other views about events of the Inquisition, he never explains what these other views are, or what the underlying issues are.

I am utterly mystified by one reviewer who seems to criticize this book because it accuses the Church of anti-Semitism. Is this news? The entire initial point of the Spanish Inquisition was to ferret out Jews who had forcibly been converted to Catholicism and still retained their Jewish beliefs and ceremonies. I am not sure how this cannot be interpreted anti-Semitism, unless one is using some very unusual criteria. Morever, scholars working in a number of areas have detected a fair degree of anti-Semitism in the history of Roman Catholicism. Does this mean that all Roman Catholics in history have been anti-Semites? Absolutely not. But it does mean that it is a phenomenon that has reappeared over and over throughout European history. What possible reason would anyone have for denying that the Spanish Inquisition was not profoundly anti-Semitic? That it was would seem to undeniable to anyone with even the most cursory acquaintance with Spanish history.

Other reviewers have felt that Roth is merely out to criticize the Catholic Church. Simply because he critiques one aspect of the Catholic Church doesn't mean that he would find nothing of value within Catholicism. Roth was himself Jewish, so he was not writing from within the Catholic tradition. But I can't understand why someone writing from within the tradition couldn't arrive at an assessment very close to that of Roth's.

So, while this isn't the best book on the Spanish Inquisition (indeed, no clearly best book would seem to exist currently), this is a very adequate survey of the subject.

Great List of Names.......2002-05-17

Very good book, gave you a good picture of life in those days. And the cruelty that actually took place, without going into too much detail. Definitely recommend.

The Spanish Inquisition (Historical Association Studies)

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The Spanish Inquisition (Historical Association Studies)
Helen Rawlings
Manufacturer: Blackwell Publishing Limited
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0631206000

Book Description

Drawing on the latest research by American, British and European scholars, this book challenges the reputation of the Spanish Inquisition as an instrument of religious persecution, torture and repression.The author traces the history of the Spanish Inquisition from 1478 when it was founded, through its agenda against dissenters, to its demise and abolition in the early nineteenth century. Taking account of the work of a new generation of international historians, she demonstrates that the Inquisition was a far less brutal instrument of control than hitherto envisaged, that torture and the death penalty were only rarely applied, and then almost exclusively during the early years of its history. The book also draws attention to the wider role of the Inquisition as an educative force in society that strengthened the bonds between church and state.

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