"In this painstakingly researched study David Gitlitz traces the lives and fortunes of three clusters of sixteenth-century crypto-Jews in Mexico's silver mining towns. His narrative paints a vivid portrait of their struggles to retain their identity in aworld dominated economically by silver and religiously by the Catholic Church. Most studies of 16th-century Mexican crypto-Jews have focused on the merchant community centered in Mexico City, but Gitlitz looks beyond Mexico's major population center to explore how clandestine religious communities were established in the resales, the hinterland mining camps. Similarly, Gitlitz challenges traditional scholarship that has focused solely on macro issues. He combines those issues with close analysis of the complex workings of the haciendas that mined and refined silver to provide a wonderfully detailed sense of the daily experiences of secret Jews"--
This scholarly study of 16th-century Mexican crypto Jews centers on the lives and fates of three Jewish families who came from Portugal and Spain to the silver mining industry, all the while secretly practicing Judaism. Drawing on a wealth of archival sources, the book reveals details of daily life in pioneer Mexican silver mining towns, explains how the families kept their religious practices secret, and charts their interactions with other citizens. The book contains b&w historical and contemporary photos and illustrations. Annotation ©2019 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)
In this thoroughly researched work, David M. Gitlitz traces the lives and fortunes of three clusters of sixteenth-century crypto-Jews in Mexico's silver mining towns.
In this thoroughly researched work, David M. Gitlitz traces the lives and fortunes of three clusters of sixteenth-century crypto-Jews in Mexico's silver mining towns. Previous studies of sixteenth-century Mexican crypto-Jews focus on the merchant community centered in Mexico City, but here Gitlitz looks beyond Mexico's major population center to explore how clandestine religious communities were established in the reales, the hinterland mining camps, and how they differed from those of the capital in their struggles to retain their Jewish identity in a world dominated economically by silver and religiously by the Catholic Church.
In Living in Silverado Gitlitz paints an unusually vivid portrait of the lives of Mexico's early settlers. Unlike traditional scholarship that has focused mainly on macro issues of the silver boom, Gitlitz closely analyzes the complex workings of the haciendas that mined and refined silver, and in doing so he provides a wonderfully detailed sense of the daily experiences of Mexico's early secret Jews.
