Benjamin Blech

Both interesting and informative. Sure, it's a twenty-five year old nonfiction title, but if you're ignorant about the basics, it does a pretty good job of hitting the highlights of several thousand years of history.

Wow. This was utterly fascinating. Amazing research and a real page-turner. You want to know what the author will unearth next. If you are fascinated by the Vatican and its Jewish connection, you will be dazzled by the information presented in the book. It is revealed in a thoroughly entertaining manner that really keeps you flipping pages to find out what happens next. If you are planning to visit the Vatican, postpone the visit until you have read this book.

Interesting read. Take what you will from it. Coincidence is not eliminated in any of the explanations. Fact and conjecture become entwined. If your visiting the Sistine then have a read before you go. There is so much to see in such a short time that this book may help you identify the frescos that are of most interest to you.

This reads like a bad Dan Brown novel: no intrigue and even less believable details. Offering no footnotes to back up historical statements and clearly fudging details (shouldn't these two Jewish men know Hebrew better than they do—or are they purposely being misleading?). To the bitter end, it smacks of egotism, the very thing they denounce in their pejorative language against the Catholic Church of the 16th century.