“David Gitlitz gives a remarkably detailed account of the lives of three large extended families of immigrants to sixteenth-century Mexico who secretly practiced Judaism while earning their living in the burgeoning silver mining industry. He manages to combine scrupulous accuracy with a vivid narrative style that constantly maintains the reader’s interest and truly makes us care about these individuals.”—Michael McGaha, author of Coat of Many Cultures: The Story of Joseph in Spanish Literature, 1200–1492
“Drawing on a wide range of original sources, Gitlitz forces us to readdress our understanding of the dynamics of crypto-Jewish identity.”—Seth D. Kunin, author of Juggling Identities: Identity and Authenticity among the Crypto-Jews