The dramatic one-thousand-year history of Jews in Spain comes to life in Exiles in Sepharad . Jeffrey Gorsky vividly relates this colorful period of Jewish history, from the era when Jewish culture was at its height in Muslim Spain to the horrors of the Inquisition and the Expulsion. Twenty percent of Jews today are descended from Sephardic Jews, who created significant works in religion, literature, science, and philosophy. They flourished under both Muslim and Christian rule, enjoying prosperity and power unsurpassed in Europe. Their cultural contributions include important poets; the great Jewish philosopher Moses Maimonides; and Moses de Leon, author of the Zohar , the core text of the Kabbalah. But these Jews also endured considerable hardship. Fundamentalist Islamic tribes drove them from Muslim to Christian Spain. In 1391 thousands were killed and more than a third were forced to convert by anti-Jewish rioters. A century later the Spanish Inquisition began, accusing thousands of these converts of heresy. By the end of the fifteenth century Jews had been expelled from Spain and forcibly converted in Portugal and Navarre. After almost a millennium of harmonious existence, what had been the most populous and prosperous Jewish community in Europe ceased to exist on the Iberian Peninsula. "Gorsky's masterful account of this golden era unfolds in Exiles in Sepharad: The Jewish Millennium in Spain, published by The Jewish Publication Society. It's a nuanced work that acknowledges both the heights and depths of the Jewish experience in Spain, where Jews enjoyed a level of prosperity, acclaim and power not matched anywhere else in Europe." Sheldon Kirshner , TimesofIsrael.com "Exiles in Sepharad: The Jewish Millennium in Spain is the story of the unique achievements of SpanishJewry during almost a thousand years of their great political, spiritual and economic progress....The author writes very well and with great feeling and understanding. Numerous quoted poems, thoughtsand experiences of Spanish Jewry that he brings to our attention are an inseparable part of our nationalheritage." Alexander Zvielli, Jerusalem Post. Jeffrey Gorsky is a lawyer and diplomat at the U.S. Department of State. He is a nationally recognized expert in immigration law, a former U.S. vice-consul in Bilbao, Spain, and a former Iberian intelligence analyst.