The Jews of San Nicandro

In his latest book, Davis (Naples and Napoleon) tells the story behind the ascent of Donato Manduzio from a poor and uneducated Italian shoemaker to the leader of a small sect of Jewish converts. Manduzio's spiritual journey begins in the 1920s when he's given a bible by a group of Pentecostals, and upon reading the Old Testament, rejects the notion that the Messiah had already come to earth as Jesus Christ, insisting that this could only be the result of divine intervention. It takes little time for his story to spread and for others from San Nicandro and neighboring towns to join Manduzio in practicing Judaism. They eat as close to kosher as possible given their limited means, observe the Sabbath, and refuse to acknowledge false gods and images. Davis's account of the remarkable spiritual journey of the San Nicandro Jews from persecution in Italy to liberation in Israel, where they reside to this day, is fluid and well-researched; a compelling story of the power of belief. (Oct.)