{"product_id":"the-kidnapping-of-edgardo-mortara-david-i-kertzer-9780679768173","title":"The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara","description":"\u003cb\u003eSoon to be a major motion picture from Steven Spielberg. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eA National Book Award Finalist\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe extraordinary story of how the vatican's imprisonment of a six-year-old Jewish boy in 1858 helped to bring about the collapse of the popes' worldly power in Italy. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBologna: nightfall, June 1858. A knock sounds at the door of the Jewish merchant Momolo Mortara. Two officers of the Inquisition bust inside and seize Mortara's six-year-old son, Edgardo. As the boy is wrenched from his father's arms, his mother collapses. The reason for his abduction: the boy had been secretly \"baptized\" by a family servant. According to papal law, the child is therefore a Catholic who can be taken from his family and delivered to a special monastery where his conversion will be completed. \u003cbr\u003e With this terrifying scene, prize-winning historian David I. Kertzer begins the true story of how one boy's kidnapping became a pivotal event in the collapse of the Vatican as a secular power. The book evokes the anguish of a modest merchant's family, the rhythms of daily life in a Jewish ghetto, and also explores, through the revolutionary campaigns of Mazzini and Garibaldi and such personages as Napoleon III, the emergence of Italy as a modern national state. Moving and informative, \u003ci\u003ethe Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara\u003c\/i\u003e reads as both a historical thriller and an authoritative analysis of how a single human tragedy changed the course of history.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e David I. Kertzer\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0679768173\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780679768173\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Vintage\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 06\/30\/1998\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 368\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.70lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.04h x 5.22w x 0.88d","brand":"David I. Kertzer","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":43995567554815,"sku":"9780679768173","price":17.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_0d36bf65-cd88-411c-a938-694a2c94f017.jpg?v=1683336552","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-kidnapping-of-edgardo-mortara-david-i-kertzer-9780679768173","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}