Who wrote new world jewry
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Executive summary
Seymour B. Liebman is the author of the book New World Jewry: 1493–1825: Requiem for the Forgotten, a scholarly study of Marranos and Jewish life in the Americas during the colonial period [1] [2]. The book is available in multiple library and bookseller records and has been reviewed in academic journals such as the Hispanic American Historical Review [2] [3].
1. Who wrote New World Jewry and how do we know
Bibliographic records and bookseller listings identify Seymour B. Liebman as the author of New World Jewry: 1493–1825: Requiem for the Forgotten [1] [2]. Major marketplace and archival entries — including eBay, Biblio, AbeBooks and the Internet Archive — consistently list the author as Seymour B. Liebman and provide publication details for the Ktav edition and other reprints [2] [4] [5].
2. What the book covers and Liebman’s approach
Liebman’s book compiles research on Marranos (secret Jews), drawing on Inquisition procesos from Vatican, Spanish, Portuguese, and Latin American archives, and frames itself as “requiem for the forgotten” Jewish communities in Latin America and the Caribbean up to 1825 [1] [6]. Descriptions and table-of-contents excerpts show chapters on the Inquisition, life in the colonial period, and the Jews as a religio-ethnic group in the New World [6].
3. Reception and scholarly placement
Academic review excerpts note that Liebman “brings together the scattered fragments of the Holy Office procesos” which are key sources for Jews in colonial Latin America, while also describing his professional commitment to idealizing Marranos who were coerced to live as Catholics but whom he regarded as Jewish [3]. The Hispanic American Historical Review published a review of the book, indicating its relevance in scholarly discourse [3].
4. Where you can find the book
The work appears in used- and rare-book marketplaces and digital archives: listings exist on Biblio and AbeBooks; copies are sold on eBay; and digitized or borrowed versions are present on the Internet Archive and document-hosting sites [1] [2] [4] [5] [7]. These multiple entries corroborate authorship and availability [2] [5].
5. Competing viewpoints and limitations in the sources
Contemporary reviewers and later scholars note that Liebman’s perspective is polemical at times: one reviewer criticizes his idealization of Marranos and says he treats competing work (for example by Albert Sicroff) in a polemical or cursory manner [3]. Available sources in this set do not provide detailed counter-analyses of Liebman’s methods or exhaustive assessments of archival rigor; they show both his archival ambitions and scholarly critiques without reproducing extended scholarly debate [6] [3]. Not found in current reporting: detailed modern historiographical reassessments of Liebman’s conclusions beyond the cited review [3].
6. Why authorship matters for readers and researchers
Knowing Seymour B. Liebman wrote New World Jewry matters because the book represents a particular archival project and interpretive stance toward Marranos and the colonial Inquisition; readers should weigh its primary-source base (procesos) against critiques about polemical framing [6] [3]. The book’s presence in academic reviews and libraries signals that it is a recognized, if contested, contribution to the study of Jews in the New World [3] [5].
7. Quick pointers if you want to follow up
To verify authorship or consult the work directly, consult the Internet Archive digitized copy or library records and bookseller pages that list Seymour B. Liebman as author [5] [1] [4]. For scholarly context, read the Hispanic American Historical Review review by Judith Laikin Elkin cited in the sources to see detailed critical engagement with Liebman’s thesis [3].