"The prodigious research behind this book represents what is undoubtedly a staggering achievement. Bethencourt's career-long familiarity with the archives and operations of the Iberian inquisitions and extensive knowledge of its Roman counterpart, combined with his more recent work on racism, have given him a knowledge of the relevant scholarship which is surely unrivalled for both its depth and its breadth." --Simon Ditchfield, University of York "This is an important and erudite book. The author has done a magnificent job in integrating archival materials with the existing historiography in certain areas of the field and in the printed documentation on a topic of great interest to a number of areas in religious, intellectual, economic and social history."-- Stuart Schwartz, Yale University "Among its many achievements, this book avoids essentializing the almost three-century history of the New Christian merchant elite. Issues of identity, religious allegiance, economic and social opportunities, political and institutional regulations and cultural innovation provide the context for many different case studies. Bethencourt's analysis of the disappearance of the New Christians as an ethnic elite at the end of the eighteenth century illuminates in new ways why and how this group came into existence as well as how it came to play such a pivotal role in international trade across continents and centuries."-- Mercedes García-Arenal , author of Polemical Encounters: Christians, Jews, and Muslims in Iberia and Beyond "Bethencourt tackles a complex and divisive topic head-on.

Specialists will have to contend with his learned and wide-ranging exposition. All readers will find here insights into an urgent scholarly debate: the early and diverse historical manifestations of race thinking."-- Francesca Trivellato, author of The Promise and Peril of Credit: What a Forgotten Legend about Jews and Finance Tells Us about the Making of European Commercial Society "There may not be a more important topic in Iberian history than the so-called New Christians. This bold new synthesis will reenergize scholarly and public debates on the very essence of what it means to be Spanish or Portuguese."-- Stefania Pastore, Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa.