The Grandees: America's Sephardic Elite

Written by Stephen Birmingham

Narrated by Mel Foster

The New World's earliest Jewish immigrants and their unique, little-known history: A New York Times bestseller from the author of Life at the Dakota.

In 1654, twenty-three Jewish families arrived in New Amsterdam (now New York) aboard a French privateer. They were the Sephardim, members of a proud orthodox sect that had served as royal advisors and honored professionals under Moorish rule in Spain and Portugal but were then exiled from their homeland by intolerant monarchs. A small, closed, and intensely private community, the Sephardim soon established themselves as businessmen and financiers, earning great wealth. They became powerful forces in society, with some, like banker Haym Salomon, even providing financial support to George Washington's army during the American Revolution.

Yet despite its major role in the birth and growth of America, this extraordinary group has remained virtually impenetrable and unknowable to outsiders. From author of "Our Crowd" Stephen Birmingham, The Grandees delves into the lives of the Sephardim and their historic accomplishments, illuminating the insulated world of these early Americans. Birmingham reveals how these families, with descendants including poet Emma Lazarus, Barnard College founder Annie Nathan Meyer, and Supreme Court Justice Benjamin N. Cardozo, influenced—and continue to influence—American society.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: Jul 2, 2019
• ISBN: 9781978658196

Stephen Birmingham

Stephen Birmingham (1929–2015) was an American author of more than thirty books. Born in Hartford, Connecticut, he graduated from Williams College in 1953 and taught writing at the University of Cincinnati. Birmingham’s work focuses on the upper class in America. He’s written about the African American elite in Certain People and prominent Jewish society in Our Crowd: The Great Jewish Families of New York, The Grandees: The Story of America’s Sephardic Elite, and The Rest of Us: The Rise of America’s Eastern European Jews. His work also encompasses several novels including The Auerbach Will, The LeBaron Secret, Shades of Fortune, and The Rothman Scandal, and other non-fiction titles such as California Rich, The Grandes Dames, and Life at the Dakota: New York’s Most Unusual Address.

Reviews for The Grandees

[Stella Vitanova · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Really good audiobook! Gives an insight of the Sephardi contribution to American and Western word civilisation as a lot more is known about the Ashkenazim. Deserves listening to, you get to learn about people of great stature like Uriah P. Levi.

[marcello_324836275 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A marvelous eye-opening account of Sephardic-Jewish history. Mel Foster’s reading was excellent, too.

[keylawk · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

So, it's true, Jews really ARE involved in many of the events of the world. Well, the "jewish conspiracy" theory is PART right. Jews have been "involved", their lives and fortunes on the line, in many of the great ventures of human kind BUT NOT AS CONSPIRATORS. They were participating, and usually were not given the credit. They often got the "blame"! Even in America, where the Revolution owed its success to a Jewish financier, far from the pogroms of the shtetl in Europe, even in America, the Jew was written out of the history, cut out of the profits, maneuvered away from the rewards and recognition. The Jew was allowed to be "leader" only in the line of SCAPEGOATS to be blamed for the failures. Thank Gd these people don't go into blood feuds every time they suffer "humiliation". Thank Gd these people are so willing to "forget" the worst humiliations. And thank Gd they ARE behind so many of the truly wonderful events that we all should be proud of.

[lyssrose · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Knowing very little about Jewish history, I found this book constantly amazing me, by pointing out the Jewish players of historical events (players that most school textbooks omit from their narrations). The timeline jumps back and forth a bit; later chapters will reference "future" events of certain characters, which have already been explained in previous chapters. Since this book was written in the early '70s, several of the author's attempts to bring modern and current society members into the mix were wasted on me, and only served to force me to google those people, to learn what the references were.