HIDDEN HERITAGE: THE LEGACY OF THE CRYPTO-JEWS

Berkeley ; Los Angeles: University Of California Press, 2002. Softcover. Original Wraps. 8vo. X, 197 pages. 24 cm. First edition. "This study of contemporary crypto-Jews - descendants of European Jews forced to convert to Christianity during the Spanish Inquisition - traces the group's history of clandestinely conducting their faith and their present-day efforts to reclaim their past. Janet Liebman Jacobs masterfully combines historical and social scientific theory to fashion a brilliant analysis of hidden ancestry and the transformation of religious and ethnic identity. " - Publishers Description. Contents: Secrecy, antisemitism, and the dangers of Jewishness - Women and the persistence of culture: ritual, custom, and the recovery of Sephardic ancestry - The self-in-relation and the transformation of religious consciousness - Syncretism and faith blending in modern Crypto-Judaism - Conversion and the rekindling of the Jewish soul - Jewish ancestry and the social construction of ethnic identity - Conclusion. Ethnic loss and the future of Crypto-Jewish culture. Subjects: Marranos - United States - History. Jews - United States - History. Marranos - Religious life. Marranos - Social life and customs. Jews - Identity. Pages wavy at top edge from minor water damage; otherwise clean and fresh. Good condition. (SEF-51-51).