Norman Roth. Conversos, Inquisition, and the Expulsion of the Jews from Spain. Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 2002. 483 pp. ISBN 0299142302. Reviewed by Allison Li, University of California at Los Angeles Américo Castro defined the Spaniard as the product of three different castes -- Christians, Muslims and Jews -- who had lived in relative harmony during the Middle Ages and whose contributions brought about the formation of the Spanish people, culture, and history. Although scholars have long debated the origin of the Spaniard (with regards to ethnic origin and religious background), it is unquestionable that Jews did contribute significantly to the economic and social development of the Iberian Peninsula prior to the formation of the nation of Spain. Their contributions span a variety of areas including philosophy, medicine, mathematics, and geography. In conversos, Inquisition and the Expulsion of the Jews from Spain, Norman Roth re-evaluates relations between 1) Jews and Christians, and 2) Jews and conversos, during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, hoping to correct misunderstandings of the latter relationship, the Inquisition and the expulsion of the Jews from Spain. His work presents a number of bold theses that contradict the claims of other respected scholars in the field such as Yitzhak Baer and Benzion Netanyahu. Roth connects the fifteenth-century Inquisition with its earlier counterpart in Aragón-Catalonia: a matter that has received little scholarly attention. He also challenges established views or myths concerning the expulsion of the Jews in the fifteenth century, claiming that Jews were allowed to sell property at normal prices before they were expelled. He also contends that the economy was not crippled due to the expulsion. Roth’s text is extremely favorable towards the Catholic Monarchs, in regard to the Inquisition and the final expulsion of the Jews from Spain, stressing that Jews always received royal protection from the monarchs. The bulk of his book is dedicated to the new sub-group of conversos. Contrary to the traditional view, Roth claims that there were no crypto-Jews; rather, Jews who converted to Christianity did so of their genuine free will and not out of coercion. However, this does not coincide with his descriptions of the massive disputations that occurred in synagogues, which Jews were obligated to attend, to listen to fervent conversos and to Vicente Ferrer, in the context of the social tensions which followed the 1391 riots. How, one wonders, can these required attendances not result in coerced conversions? Furthermore, Roth’s thesis does not explain the many cases of conversos who still kept certain religious traditions such as not eating pork, lighting candles, and performing certain ceremonial rituals. Of course one can make the distinction that there is a difference between being ethinc/cultural Jewish descent and the religious practice of Judaism. During the Inquisition, which examined Christian heretics, that is conversos and not Jews, it was precisely cultural practices for which conversos were being tried: someone had testified that they did not eat pork, that they were observed entering a synagogue, or lighting a candle. Such practices may indeed not be a reflection of reversion to Jewish belief, rather perhaps indicating cultural practices passed down as tradition. Yet Roth’s argument is that since many of the testimonies during the Inquisition are false, these do not accurately measure the genuineness of conversion: conversos, he says, always had the choice to return to Judaism, and the fact that they did not proves their allegiance to their new Christian faith. Roth dismisses the social and economic factors that may have made conversion an attractive option without necessarily bringing a complete abandonment of Judaism. Roth’s explanation for the massive conversion in the fifteenth century is well argued. He claims that “despair over the length of the exile with no sign of the coming of the messiah, the extremely successful missionary campaign of Vicente Ferrer that resulted in the conversions of entire Jewish population of several cities, the change in social structure, and the decline of Jewish leadership” (318) all contributed to the growing population of conversos. Furthermore, Roth contends that because of their “choosing” to convert, this created tension in the social dynamics between Jews and conversos. This growing tension between Jews and conversos became so strong that Jews considered the latter as having left not only the faith but also the people. Since conversos were so zealous to prove their genuineness to their new faith, they contributed greatly not only to poetry and literature but also to polemical writings, and chronicles, which Roth believes contributed to the growing animosity between Jews and conversos. Roth is concerned to trace the connection between this animosity and both the Inquisition (affecting conversos) and the expulsion (affecting Jews). Overall Roth’s book is informative and resourceful despite some weaknesses in his arguments. The chapters noting the contributions by both Jews and conversos to Spanish art and literature are comprehensive and a good resource for those interested in this topic.