The Grandees: America's Sephardic Elite Paperback – January 1, 1997

Author Steephen Birmingham Presents A remarkable Account of The 1st Jews to. settle in America,, the Sephardim, Return to America From Spain and Portugal Following the Eviction edict King Ferdinand and queen Isabella of Spain In the 15th century.Mister Birmingham Highlights several very prominent Sephardic Jews. I was particularly Impressed by the story of Uriah Levy, who was determined to rise to prominence in the US Navy. Mister levy Have a remarkable career in the navy despite being court martialed no less than 6 times. Other remarkab!e Sephardim included the Nathan sisters, Maud and Anne. Their story is well worth readingI strongly recommend This book Especially To those of Jewish ancestry.

Cross interests of Judaism, New York, and the history of wealthy families made this a good book for me.The author's writing on *any* subject is wonderful, and his research and inside knowledge of NY society makes it feel like I'm getting a peek inside a world I'd never realize existed, otherwise.

I am pleased to have read this book b Stephen Birmingham. I knew very little about the background of the Sephardic Jewish. Now I have some acquaintance of their history. I enjoyed the many anecdotes of their lives in the USA.

It gave a very interesting history of Sephardic Jews. It was a little difficult to follow because of so many different families. It jumped around a bet as far as the time frames in history.

I enjoyed this book so much I had a difficult time putting it down. The author researched and found interesting information that follows Sephardic families from Spain's inquisition when they were tossed out of the country and through their moves to the United States. As with all ethnicities moving to another homeland, they at first went primarily to N.Y., but eventually branched out a bit. Birmingham explains the kerfuffle between the Spanish and the European immigrants and their perceived different social classes. He also did an amazing job of untangling and explaining family relationships in the tightknit group. Any person even a bit familiar with U.S. history will recognize so many names of these families that it is easy to understand how they may have left one country under less than ideal circumstances, but made a powerful transition to a new and eventually very successful life in a new country. This is a highly enjoyable book.

The Grandees is an interesting book examining a little known niche of US history — the migration of wealthy Sephardic Jews in the earliest days of the American colonies and their subsequent ancestors. It examines the evolution of the arrival of first 23 Jewish families and their path to great wealth and prosperity. I have read a lot about wealthy Americans in history, but this was a heretofore unexplored topic to me. Even though Stephen Birmingham wrote this book 50 years ago, it was still quite contemporary in tone and style. I did find the author detoured into gossip unnecessarily at times, which served as a distraction rather than furthering the historical story he wove. He also seemed to be rather anti-date in his writing style often not anchoring his accounts with dates, which is rather curious for a historian. Still, I enjoyed the book and look forward to reading his other books about Jews in America.

Being Jewish, does not mean that I know what previously came before a certain point In time. This book certainly filled in the blanks. My mother , an Eastern European, came to the U. S. in 1929,and did not settle in NYC. So, this story was what I needed to know. Having read Our Crowd, the author was familiar to me. Outstanding attention to details. So glad I read it.

Doing family hereditary research, I came across some anomalies indicating I might be of Hebrew heritage and indeed I am as it was confirmed by a 98yr old great aunt. I presently believe the USA is more of Hebrew heritage than we realize. It has brought me to give thanks to God for giving give thato God for giving us Jesus Christ for the salvation of our sins. The history in this book is fascinating to say the least. If you are a lover of history and believe we are in "end times" as well, this book will fill many holes in your research.

Many of us do not know about the integration of jews in Spain before they were expelled. Well worth reading for historical and sociological minds.It could be a bit more concise .

Liked the overall format of the book. The author has certainly done his homework. A diagram, illustrating the family tree, would have been helpful.

I enjoyed discussing this book with a jewish friend of mine

Very interesting book well researched and full of pertinent detail. I enjoyed reading it and discovered information about a group of people adopting a very low profile. The Grandees contributed over the years to the development of social artistic and financial progress in America.

Written with Stephen Birmingham's usual flair, this book relates the long history of Sephardic Jews in America, beginning with the Spanish inquisition that emptied Spain of many of it's most educated and capable Jewish citizens which set the country back for centuries to the benefit of other nations who welcomed them. Ironically, the dictator Franco, who may have had Jewish roots, saved the lives of many Jews during World War 2 when he demanded Hitler release them. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in European or American history.