The concept of the book was a very interesting one, as the authors trace the history of one of what the blurb describes as "Jerusalem's founding families". Probably this is not the place to get into the ahistoricity and bias of that description!

Unfortunately, the writing style is turgid and dry in the extreme, and, as a result, I had a very difficult time getting through the book.

Sephardi Entrepreneurs in Jerusalem: The Valero Family 1800-1948
By Joseph B. Glass and Ruth Kark

This book was received from LibraryThing in their Early Reviewers program.

Let me start this review with the information that I just returned from a two week trip to Israel over the holidays.

To read this book after visiting this fascinating country and having walked the streets described in Jerusalem, Jaffa, Tel Aviv, Bethlehem was very exciting. I couldn’t put this book down and finished it within three days.

I found the story of the Valero Family easy to follow especially with the use of the chapter breakdowns that Glass and Kark had devised. By using the photographs, maps, sketches, and documents you really felt you were seeing history unfold.

For so many years all the citizens had learned to live peacefully with each other. It is very sad that neighbor, coworker, fellow business men ended up in such conflict.

I am very interested in reading these authors first book in the series; Sephardic Entrepreneurs in Eretz Israel: The Amzalak Family, 1816-1918. So far finding a copy has been difficult.

To understand the early story of Jerusalem, I highly recommend this book. ( )

This is a scholarly work which plots the Valero family history in detail. Facutal references, maps, photos and extensive detail make this heavier than the "story" I expected. I am not rating this book as I do not have the reading background to provide a fair assessment for what seems to be a strong text.

I received this book through LibraryThings Early Reviewer program and I was really excited about receiving it. Upon the books arrival I noticed that it looked a lot like a text book and it was set up like one too. I tried picking this book up many times but found that I just couldn't get into it. I found the writting to be really dry and the subject matter above what I know about the early history of Jews in Jerusalem. I finally just gave up on this book and sent it off to another LTer. I can't say that this book is good or bad....all I can really say is that it wasn't for me. ( )

Starting from a point of almost total ignorance about the history of the time and place covered in this book, I felt a bit lost at first among the 19th century Valero family of pre-State-of-Israel Palestine. This book is clearly not intended for the casual reader, but is meant for the student of Jewish history. It needs to be studied. It is a well-documented scholarly examination of several generations of one of the most influential families in Jerusalem between 1800 and 1948, during the periods of Ottoman and British rule, and is Volume II of a series. (The authors previously published Sephardi Entrepreneurs in Eretz Israel: The Amzalak Family, 1816-1918.) Their introduction does provide an excellent overview of the historical setting in which the Valero family came to prominence in Palestine, as well as some of the political and cultural issues faced by Sephardic Jews under Muslim rule. It was essential to my understanding of the main text to read the Introduction first, and to refer to it regularly as I progressed through the individual chapters. The book is replete with photographs, maps, diagrams and reproductions of documents. The bibliography comprises hundreds of primary and secondary sources, (including nearly 30 works written or co-authored by Glass and Kark), a valuable reference in itself. By far the most interesting chapter for me was Chapter 5, on “Culture and Lifestyle”. Here I could truly immerse myself in the daily activities of real people, and gain some sense of what their lives were like. The writing at times is a bit choppy, and there is no narrative style, but for the most part the authors have avoided the dry academic tone that makes many textbooks so deadly dull, whatever the subject matter. Having finished this book, I intend to read more basic history on the subject of the Ottoman Empire and the British mandate in Palestine; my interest has been stimulated and I will keep Sephardi Entrepreneurs in Jerusalem on my shelf for future reference. ( )