Product Description
Since the early modern era, historians and observers of Spain, both within the country and beyond it, have identified a peculiarly Spanish disdain for work, especially manual labor, and have seen it as a primary explanation for that nation’s alleged failure to develop like the rest of Europe. In "Lazy, Improvident People," the historian Ruth MacKay examines the origins of this deeply ingrained historical prejudice and cultural stereotype.

MacKay finds these origins in the ilustrados, the Enlightenment intellectuals and reformers who rose to prominence in the late eighteenth century. To advance their own, patriotic project of rationalization and progress, they disparaged what had gone before. Relying in part on late medieval and early modern political treatises about "vile and mechanical" labor, they claimed that previous generations of Spaniards had been indolent and backward.

Through a close reading of the archival record, MacKay shows that such treatises and dramatic literature in no way reflected the actual lives of early modern artisans, who were neither particularly slothful nor untalented. On the contrary, they behaved as citizens, and their work was seen as dignified and essential to the common good. MacKay contends that the ilustrados’ profound misreading of their own past created a propagandistic myth that has been internalized by subsequent intellectuals. MacKay’s is thus a book about the notion of Spanish exceptionalism, the ways in which this notion developed, and the burden and skewed vision it has imposed on Spaniards and outsiders.

"Lazy, Improvident People" will fascinate not only historians of early modern and modern Spain but all readers who are concerned with the process by which historical narratives are formed, reproduced, and given authority. ... Read more

Product Description
This is the late John A. Crow's classic study of the cultural history of Spain and its people, which he last updated in 1985 but which seems as fresh and pertinent as when he first wrote it. Crow devoted a lifetime to Hispanic studies and here provides a historical interpretation of Spanish civilization from its earliest beginnings to the present. The scope of this study is remarkable and includes chapters on Roman Spain, the Jews in Spain, the Moors, life in medieval towns, and the Golden Age of Spain, plus a view of Franco's legacy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

The Root and Flower
My wife enjoyed reading about Spain, especially after we got back from our trip to Spain a month before. She learned a lot more of the political intrigue, too. Me...I bought the cookbook, "Cuisines of Spain" from Amazon, and I'm enjoying making the paella and other rice dishes. Thank you Amazon for having the best discount mall in the state of Florida.

A beautiful and moving portrait of a country by an admiring voice
As with any form of portraiture, this work has elements of the author's own personal viewpoints and his passion for knowing the country he discusses.

I picked this book up at the library because it was briefly unavailable from Amazon. I see it is available again. It is an excellent book, an excellent introduction to the history, culture, art, thought and people of Spain. It is the kind of history I enjoy reading. I can't stand it when a professor of history writes a book and completely inundates the reader with facts, dates, figures, statistics. This is the history that is life, that breathes.

This book has blood, life, beauty in it. You can feel the pulse of the world he writes about it. There is history here but enough to satisfy (and of course the historian scholar will mostly likely scoff at the lack of dates and the author's personal recollections of his times spent in the countryside and cities of Spain - no matter).

This book has been a pleasure to read. I looked forward to reading it, to absorbing it in small increments. Crow writes with great sympathy for his subject. He doesn't romanticize his subject, he feels a certain compassion for the Spanish people and their struggle to find a common welfare in government and social policies. He also presents a very approachable glance at the events leading up to the Spanish Civil War.

This book is more of a work of literature than a mere text. It reminds me of when books were written for the sake of exploring a world. I avoid history texts because they're often soulless, written by clumsy historians, placing emphasis on the importance of fact over interpretation and not finding a balance between the two.

If you want to understand a country and its people beyond the dates andfacts and figures, this is the book. This is the book everyone should read before visiting Spain, simply to appreciate their delicate, diverse and deep history. This book has impacted me and I'll most likely not find something as moving and fascinating as this one.

Not the best book on Spanish history, but the best on Spain
If you are ignorant of Spanish history, this is not the place to start. This is, as the title suggests, an "interpretation" that assumes a fair amount of previous knowledge. However, if you want to understand why Spanish people are the way they are today, this is the best book I have ever read for that purpose. I am an American who has lived in Spain for 18 years and am married to a Spaniard, and while I don't know if all the facts are correct (as disputed by a previous reviewer), I can say with assurance that the "interpretation" of those facts rings true. I gave this book to a German friend who has also lived here for many years, and he described reading it as, "a light bulb going on in my head". Be prepared for a sad story, though; since the glorious medieval times when cities like Cordoba where far more enlightened than any other in Europe, the story of Spain has been one of many missed opportunities. It is true that this book was last updated in 1985, and therefore does not capture present-day Spain. If you are looking for an excellent book on contemporary Spain, I can suggest Ghosts of Spain: Travels Through Spain and Its Secret Past

Memorable, deep, and completely outstanding
This history book has several things going for it. First, it's eminently readable; the author is a skillful writer who keeps you thinking about the subject matter, not his own style. Second, the reader's interest is doubled by the author's constant interweaving of the development of Spanish character into the history. Thirdly, the author always attempts explanations of the deeper historical processes at work, keeping the (interesting anyway) history from devolving into just descriptions of events, kings, and battles.

The middle third of the book is devoted to explicating the Spaniard's eight-hundred year struggle to expel the Moors. Memorably pointing out that the Moors had superior economic strength, superior technology, vastly greater learning (including science, of course), the author stresses the key factors about Spanish character that enabled their ultimate triumph. The situations at almost any time during this period were never simple, of course---sometimes groups of Moors and Christians would be allied against other groups of Moors and Christians, and there would also be periods of relative peace on the penisula.

I wish that all history books would use John Crow's book as a model.

A Good Overview Of Spanish History
If one is looking for a brief overview of Spanish history, art, and literature then this book might just be what is desired. While it does not go into great depth, it does provide the reader with an overall basis of beginnings of the Spanish peoples, the civilizations that invaded the Iberian pennisula (Visigoths, Romans, Moors), and describes each of the monarchs.

In addition, the author does provide an insight into the greater known artists of Spain and some of their more well-known works. He also explains the literary talent that Spain has contributed to the world.

The is a good, if not in depth, summary of the events leading up to the Spanish Civil War and what it meant politically to the country. The author covers a good deal of the Franco era, possibly because he was in the country during that time. Still, it provides the reader with a conceputalization of the period. I was a little disappointed that the author did not bring out the less valued parts of Franco's Spain. By reading this book one would think Franco was very nearly a saint. Still, I was thankful for the knowledge of international affairs during the Franco era, and America's reaction (or should I say non-reaction) to it.

The last chapter, "Spain Today", I feel is totally irrelevant. I would recommend not bothering to read it. This book was first written in 1963, and the last update to it was 1984/85. As the author describes "Spain Today" it is 20 years ago. A lot can, and does, happen in 20 years and I feel this chapter should either be updated or completely left out of the book. If one is reading this to educate themselves on current mores and values in Spain, this is not the chapter to gain that information. Because of the dated material in the final two chapters, which I feel are a waste of a reader's time, I felt I had to give this book 3 stars.

If one is looking for a book to provide a brief, easy to read history of Spain, including artists and authors, then this might be a worthy read. If one is looking for the modern day Spain, then this book is not of much use. ... Read more

Product Description
This is a study of early modern government finance in the kingdom of Naples, one of the most important European dominions of the Spanish Empire. Professor Calabria focuses on the period from the mid-sixteenth century to the time of the Thirty Years' War. He connects fiscal developments to larger issues, such as the seventeenth-century crisis, the decline of Italy and Spain, and the economic and social significance of investments in government securities markets in early modern Europe. The Cost of Empire blends quantitative data on economic, fiscal, and financial affairs with non-quantitative material detailing attitudes, economic behaviour, and administrative practices. The quantitative material includes analyses of government budgets from 1550 to 1638 and a computer study of about 4,500 investors and their investments in state securities in the later sixteenth century. The work is unrivalled in the breadth, comprehensiveness, and sophistication of its analysis of an early modern fiscal system. ... Read more

Product Description
This book traces the political evolution of the Iberian peninsula from a group of late Roman imperial provinces to the monarchies of the mid-fifteenth century. The book consists of a series of essays on the main chronological periods of medieval Spain, and sketches the major political, economic, social and intellectual features of each age and the interaction of Christian, Jew and Muslim. There is currently no other volume in English or Spanish that provides such a wealth of analysis or description and yet which covers the entire medieval period. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Writer needs to be more clear
I found the book very interesting but at many places it is very confusing.The author will be talking about so and so and his cousin then on the next sentence he will refer to the "later" or "he", and i was left wondering which latest which he.It was very annoying because it was hard to connect the dots in his descriptions of events and personalities.Otherwise, i found the book very interesting, and it filled lost of information on the peninsula.He did not spend too much time on Portugal which i also found odd.

Good introduction to Spain/Portugal history
The title is somewhat misleading: the author presents the history of the Iberian peninsula from the late days as Roman provinces up to the last part of the XV century. "The Medieval Iberias" could be a better title, but then it would not have had the same 'mystical' allure that "Spain" provides.
The book is ambitious and well written, but I found it dry and wanting. Some times you feel that the writer is a teaser: you always want to know more that the author is telling ...
In all, an excellent book but not for everybody.

An excellent intro to Spanish history
The title of this book is not a proper choice for a book which covers the history of what is now Spain long before the medieval period. Reilly starts with the Roman conquest of the Iberian Peninsula during the late Imperial period and ends with the expulsion of the Muslims and Jews in the 15th century.
The book does a wonderful job of explaining how these Roman provinces were governed, and how the Goth and Visigoth invasions which ended Roman control was a short period relative to the invasion by the Muslims and their control of parts of modern Spain. The current borders of Portugal, France and Spain, not to mention Gibraltar and the enclaves of Northern Africa still controlled by Spain is covered in detail.
This is not an exciting book, but a well written one. There is enough detailed information to inform the reader of the many forces involved, but it is not boring like many books that cover so much detail can be.
If you want to understand this peninsular crossroads, and how it has been misrepresented as an example of how "enlightened" the Islamic invaders were, you could do far worse than read this short but worthwhile book.

Concise yet broad introduction
Bernard Reilly would have a difficult time convincing anyone that he is an exciting writer.Fortunately for us, he is a good writer.Reilly manages to give a solid omniscient introduction to an obscure topic in just over two hundred pages.If the book were any longer it would be difficult to get through; if it were any shorter it would not be as informative.

What is unique about Reilly's book is that it takes an omniscient view of medieval Spain.Most books tend either to concentrate on Al-Andalus or on the Christian states in the north.Here, each is represented (althought the Christian states do seem to get more attention) well.Reilly spends plenty of time on the "fun stuff" of history, but also on the economic, legal, and religious issues.

As I alluded to above, this book is dry.It is, however, necessary.So pick it up, get through it, and then you will be able to move on to some of the more exciting books on the subject (Hugh Kennedy's, for example).

Useful starting-point
A clear and informative overview of both sides of the religious and territorial divide in medieval Spain. Not is the focus solely on military and political details, although these things are paid due attention; Reilly also takes in culture, society and technology to paint a broad picture of Muslim, Christian and Jewish life in Iberia. A great place to start. ... Read more

Product Description
This 2005 book explores the ideas and culture surrounding the cataclysmic civil war that engulfed Spain from 1936 to 1939. It features specially commissioned articles from leading historians in Spain, Britain and the US which examine the complex interaction of national and local factors, contributing to the shape and course of the war. They argue that the 'splintering of Spain' resulted from the myriad cultural cleavages of society in the 1930s that are investigated here at both local and national levels. Thus, this book tends to see the civil war less as a single great conflict between two easily identifiable sets of ideas, social classes or ways of life than historians have previously done. The Spanish tragedy, at the level of everyday life, was shaped by many tensions, both those that were formally political and those that were to do with people's perceptions and understanding of the society around them. ... Read more

Product Description
This book is for travelers with a taste for history and an interest in how things they see got to be the way they are. What it is about is an exploration of what long tradition calls the Highway to Heaven, El Camino de Santiago - a motor-walking junket guided by that highway across Northern Spain.

The history in this book focuses on the famed pilgrimage road, El Camino de Santiago, the Way of St. James. It is an ancient route that courses through rugged mountains and across often-desolate plains for eight hundred kilometers, from the French border to a few steps from land?s end at the Atlantic Ocean. A thousand years ago that pilgrimage brought all of Europe plodding across Northern Spain in search of salvation at the tomb of an Apostle of Christ.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The El Camino Experience

A Traveler's Highway to Heaven, by William Bonville

For years, there has been a single book illuminating the art, architecture, history and culture along the Camino Frances. The Pilgrimage Road to Santiago: The Complete Cultural Handbook by David Gitlitz & Linda Kay Davidson stood for years as the sole beacon but now we can add a second. Meet William Bonville and his latest work, A Traveler's Highway to Heaven: Exploring the History and Culture of Northern Spain on El Camino de Santiago.

William's work is a shot in the arm for the Camimophiles everywhere. He brings us an interpretive monologue of the art, architecture, history and culture along the Way of Saint James.... a thinking man's impressions of the scene that lies before you. It also includes a number of landmarks just a few kilometers off the main Path. At 400 pages, it's not exactly light, but the type is large enough to read inside a dimly lit church.

Two things which made (my first Camino) a richer Road experience were the (Gilitz and Davidson) cultural guidebook and my conversations with the locals. This book is in that same league, and yes I would carry it in spite of its weight.

~Grant Spangler

This book has considerable value for those who want to connect history, art, architecture and religion to their experience on the Camino de Santiago. It is intended as a detailed three week guide to driving and walking the Camino de Santiago route from Roncesvalles to Santiago de Compostela. Specific driving directions, including road numbers and significant features, should help the driver to navigate; and walking directions within cities are detailed to give a richly researched highlight tour of important religious and historical sites. Day by day itinerary suggestions attempt to maximize the rich historical, cultural and religious offerings the Camino provides, with a two week modification available. The glossary at the back and references for further reading throughout, make this a wonderful starting point to appreciate the Camino experience.

It is a resource pilgrims will want to read before the pilgrimage in order to better understand the richness of the historical and cultural landscape they will be passing through. Pilgrims who have returned may want to refresh their memory of their Camino by reading about and remembering what they have seen... Reading the book strengthened my resolve to walk the Camino again, but more slowly the next time.

~ Tom Friesen, Canadian Company of Pilgrims,Spring 2008

A narrative motor/walking guide to the cultural record and history encountered between Roncesvalles and Santiago de Compostela. It also involves side trips into Asturias, plus other less distant diversions from the French Road. The author says he wrote the book for those who, for reasons of time, age, disability or children tagging along, are unable to cope with an 800 kilometer hike, but still yearn for the El Camino experience.

~ American Pilgrims on the Camino
... Read more

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In Four Volumes. ... Read more

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In this book, now available in paper, John Lynch has substantially revised and expanded his Spain Under the Habsburgs, Volume II, taking account of the research of the last decade and the interests of modern historians.The book retains its previous framework and preserves the character that has made it one of the most quoted works on Spain's century of adversity.It continues to cast a penetrating eye on the regime of Philip III and Lerma, the imperial policies of Philip IV and Olivares, the mid-century revolutions, the chronology of depression, and the balance of progress and poverty under Charles II.And it still provides the most comprehensive and challenging account of the role of America in the Hispanic world and of the changing relations between colonies and metropolis. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent explanation of the period.
This book [and " Spain 1516-1598 : From Nation State to World Empire (A History of Spain) "by the same author] has -at least- three strong points on its favor, which makes it very advisable to read: a) it takes great pains to explain -not only to describe- the Spain of the XVII century (a period far less known than the Spain of the XVI century); b) it includes a very relevant section on Spanish America, which is not common in books written on this period; and c) it is reasonable easy to read. I should have rated this book "four and a half" starts. Considering its content, I think it should be five; considering its readability, four. In any event, I do recommend it to read it. (Other books I would recommend to read on Spain: As a general overview, "A History of Spain" by Joseph Perez; andmore focused on the XVI -and/or XVII- period: "The Spain of Philip II" by Joseph Perez; "Imperial Spain 1469-1716" and "The Count-Duke of Olivares. The Stateman in an age of decline" both of them written by John Elliot; and "Spain 1469-1714, A Society of Conflict", by Henry Kamen). ... Read more

Product Description
During its "golden age," Spain was a political giant whose influence spanned the world from Germany to the Western Pacific. Rich on American gold and silver, Spain was able to send the Armada against England, defeat the Turks and challenge France for the hegemony of Europe.

This book will unlock the secrets of Spain's vibrant and colorful past, its people and culture for the interested traveller. It takes the reader on a journey from the earliest settlements on the Iberian Peninsula, through the influences of the Romans, the Goths and the Muslims, the traumas of expansion and the end of the Empire, right up to the present. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Very Unapproachable...
A word of caution: this book is not in any way a pleasure to read. I tried several times to slug through it but maybe got as far page 60-something. I don't want to dwell on how scattered this book was. I'm still looking for that great book about Spanish history - or at least a comfortable overview.As for the title, "A Traveller's History of Spain" who is the traveller, is it supposed to be the 'reader' or the 'author'? If it is the latter, it must have been a book meant for him because I couldn't follow along. This book is arduous.

Read Iberia instead
Having read several other Traveller's History books (Turkey, China, Greece) and enjoyed them, I expected much more than I got from this book. The author makes no connections and assumes the reader already knows a lot about Spanish history, in which case, why read this one? I was particularly turned off by the author's terrible punctuation and sentences that went on for 10 lines. Doesn't anyone edit anymore? Wish I had read the other reviews before buying this book. Someone planning a trip to Spain should read James Michner's Iberia instead Ñ not as much history, perhaps, but a lot more understanding of the country and what shaped it.

Biassed history always unwelcome
While shallow enough for those like me who have little patience forover-scrupulous books, it is strikingly biassed and opinionated. Someremarks about historic figures are blatantly subjective, and bias reachesits zenith when the author goes to great length criticising the Socialistgovernment of Felipe Gonzalez. As a Spaniard who has lived that period,while I acknowledge the right of the author to hold an opinion onGonzalez's period in office, his comments go way beyond admissibility in ahistory book. I cannot recommend this book.

Biassed history always unwelcome
While shallow enough for those like me who have little patience forover-scrupulous books, it is strikingly biassed and opinionated. Someremarks about historic figures are blatantly subjective, and bias reachesits zenith when the author goes to great length criticising the Socialistgovernment of Felipe Gonzalez. As a Spaniard who has lived that period,while I acknowledge the right of the author to hold an opinion onGonzalez's period in office, his comments go way beyond admissibility in ahistory book. I cannot recommend this book.

Terribly disappointing
This is neither a good history text nor helpful in any way to the traveller. ... Read more

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The history of Spain in late antiquity offers important insights into the dissolution of the western Roman empire and the emergence of medieval Europe. Nonetheless, scholarship on Spain in this period has lagged behind that on other Roman provinces. Michael Kulikowski draws on the most recent archeological and literary evidence to integrate late antique Spain into the broader history of the Roman empire, providing a definitive narrative and analytical account of the Iberian peninsula from A.D. 300 to 600.

Kulikowski begins with a concise introduction to the early history of Roman Spain, and then turns to the Diocletianic reforms of 293 and their long-term implications for Roman administration and the political ambitions of post-Roman contenders. He goes on to examine the settlement of barbarian peoples in Spain, the end of Roman rule, and the imposition of Gothic power in the fifth and sixth centuries. In parallel to this narrative account, Kulikowski offers a wide-ranging thematic history, focusing on political power, Christianity, and urbanism.

Kulikowski's portrait of late Roman Spain offers some surprising conclusions. With new archeological evidence and a fresh interpretation of well-known literary sources, Kulikowski contradicts earlier assertions of a catastrophic decline of urbanism, finding that the physical and social world of the Roman city continued well into the sixth century despite the decline of Roman power. This groundbreaking study will prompt further reassessments of the other Roman provinces and of medieval Spanish history.

Customer Reviews (1)

Late Roman Spain and Its Cities
I ordered this monograph after reading the informative review by Leonard Curchin in the on-line Bryn Mawr Classical Review. The book is as advertised. A well-argued, extremely well-documented contribution to our understanding not just of late antique Spain, but of urbanism and civil societies throughout the later eras of the Roman empure. ... Read more

Product Description
This book--the first study of its kind in English in more than fifty years--surveys the history of the medieval Crown of Aragon from its early origins in counties of the eastern Pyrenees.Reviewing the most recent research into the well-preserved archives of the region, Bisson recreates a sense of the energy, drama, and color of these creative and expansionist people between the 12th and 15th centuries. Throughout, the book duly stresses individual achievement and personality while at the same time providing a balanced overview of political and dynastic evolution, institutional foundations, economic and cultural affairs, and the socio-economic weaknesses that eventually led to a crisis in the federated realms in the late Middle Ages. ... Read more

Product Description
This history of Spain in the period between the end of Roman rule and the time of the Arab conquest challenges many traditional assumptions about the history of this period.

• Presents original theories about how the Visigothic kingdom was governed, about law in the kingdom, about the Arab conquest, and about the rise of Spain as an intellectual force.
  
• Takes account of new documentary evidence, the latest archaeological findings, and the controversies that these have generated.
  
• Combines chronological and thematic approaches to the period.
  
• A historiographical introduction looks at the current state of research on the history and archaeology of the Visigothic kingdom.

Product Description

Monarchs throughout the ages have commissioned official histories that cast their reigns in a favorable light for future generations. These accounts, sanctioned and supported by the ruling government, often gloss over the more controversial aspects of a king's or queen's time on the throne. Instead, they present highly selective and positive readings of a monarch's contribution to national identity and global affairs.

In Clio and the Crown, Richard L. Kagan examines the official histories of Spanish monarchs from medieval times to the middle of the 18th century. He expertly guides readers through the different kinds of official histories commissioned: those whose primary focus was the monarch; those that centered on the Spanish kingdom as a whole; and those that celebrated Spain's conquest of the New World. In doing so, Kagan also documents the life and work of individual court chroniclers, examines changes in the practice of official history, and highlights the political machinations that influenced the redaction of such histories.

Just as world leaders today rely on fast-talking press officers to explain their sometimes questionable actions to the public, so too did the kings and queens of medieval and early modern Spain. Monarchs often went to great lengths to exert complete control over the official history of their reign, physically intimidating historians, destroying and seizing manuscripts and books, rewriting past histories, and restricting history writing to authorized persons.

Still, the larger practice of history writing -- as conducted by nonroyalist historians, various scholars and writers, and even church historians -- provided a corrective to official histories. Kagan concludes that despite its blemishes, the writing of official histories contributed, however imperfectly, to the practice of historiography itself.

Customer Reviews (1)

An invaluable addition to Spanish history and college library shelves
Richard L. Kagan (Professor of History, Johns Hopkins University) presents Clio & the Crown: The Politics of History in Medieval and Early Modern Spain, a close study of the official, commissioned histories of Spanish monarchies from the medieval era to the middle of the 18th century. From histories that focused primarily upon the monarch, to histories that studies the entire Spanish kingdom, to histories that exalted Spain's conquest of the New World, Clio & the Crown examines not only how the histories themselves changed, but also the lives of court chroniclers and the political workings that affected the censorship of official histories. Spanish monarchs sometimes went so far as to physically intimidate historians, destroy manuscripts and books, rewrite histories, or restrict history writing to authorized individuals only, seeking to consolidate power through control of knowledge. A solid guide to better understanding centuries-old secondary historical sources, Clio & the Crown is an invaluable addition to Spanish history and college library shelves. Highly recommended. ... Read more

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The Eve of Spain demonstrates how the telling and retelling of one of Spain's founding myths played a central role in the formation of that country's national identity.

King Roderigo, the last Visigoth king of Spain, rapes (or possibly seduces) La Cava, the daughter of his friend and counselor, Count Julian. In revenge, the count travels to North Africa and conspires with its Berber rulers to send an invading army into Spain. So begins the Muslim conquest and the end of Visigothic rule. A few years later, in Northern Spain, Pelayo initiates a Christian resistance and starts a new line of kings to which the present-day Spanish monarchy traces its roots.

Patricia E. Grieve follows the evolution of this story from the Middle Ages into the modern era, as shifts in religious tolerance and cultural acceptance influenced its retelling. She explains how increasing anti-Semitism came to be woven into the tale during the Christian conquest of the peninsula -- in the form of traitorous Jewish conspirators. In the sixteenth century, the tale was linked to the looming threat of the Ottoman Turks. The story continued to resonate through the Enlightenment and into modern historiography, revealing the complex interactions of racial and religious conflict and evolving ideas of women's sexuality.

In following the story of La Cava, Rodrigo, and Pelayo, Grieve explains how foundational myths and popular legends articulate struggles for national identity. She explores how myths are developed around few historical facts, how they come to be written into history, and how they are exploited politically, as in the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492 followed by that of the Moriscos in 1609. Finally, Grieve focuses on the misogynistic elements of the story and asks why the fall of Spain is figured as a cautionary tale about a woman's sexuality.

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Catalogue for the exhibition of the same name that is being held at the Washington National Gallery of Art. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The Art of Power Catalogue
Having visited the Exhibition at The Prado in March, but having failed to purchase a catalogue at that exhibition and later trying to obtain one,I managed to obtain this catalogue,via Amazon, from America. It is absolutely magnificent. The illustrations are stupendous, and it is in both English and Spanish whereas the Madrid Catalogue would have been in Spanish only.My only regret is that it is not obtainable in Hardback format. ... Read more

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The Jews of Moslem Spain
This book combines a rich literary style with formidable scholarship, creating a narrative that is at once intensely moving and factually illuminating.Indispensable for those seeking to understand Spanish and Sephardic Jewery, their heritage and contribution not only to Jewish civilization and thought but to Hispanic culture in general, and even to important aspects of Western Islamic worldview. ... Read more

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This is a richly detailed account of Muslim life throughout the kingdoms of Spain, from the fall of Seville, which signaled the beginning of the retreat of Islam, to the Christian reconquest.

"Harvey not only examines the politics of the Nasrids, but also the Islamic communities in the Christian kingdoms of the peninsula.This innovative approach breaks new ground, enables the reader to appreciate the situation of all Spanish Muslims and is fully vindicated. . . . An absorbing and thoroughly informed narrative."--Richard Hitchcock, Times Higher Education Supplement

"L. P. Harvey has produced a beautifully written account of an enthralling subject."--Peter Linehan, The Observer ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Multiracial Arabesque
Despite Franco, despite television, Spain in 2009 is far from a homogenous nation state. The most irreducible difference is language, with Castilian, Galician, and Catalan speakers all conducting daily life and teaching public schools in their separate languages, not to mention the many nearly separate dialects throughout the southern provinces, and the unassimilated non-Indoeuropean Basque! Oddly, however, aside from the Basques, there are not the visible differences in 'racial' types between north and south that most tourists expect. The reason is simple; everyone is everything. Spanish identity is a conglomerate of pre-Roman Iberian, Carthagenian, Greek, Italic, Visigothic, Jew, and Berber, amounting to genes for every color of hair and eyes, every complexion, and every shape of nose in every cranny of the country. Spanish history is a similar mosaic, a twining and vining of elements over time and space that looks much like the filagree on the ceiling of a mosque... or of a monastic chapel in upper Castile, built by mudejar artisans with Gothic blue eyes.

"Mudejar" is a term used to identify Muslims living under Christian rule, but don't rush to suppose that it implies a Moorish ethnicity. You'll have to make subtler distinctions and adjust to the complexities of multi-cultural, religiously pluralistic societies - both Christian and Muslim in governance - if you want to follow L. P. Harvey's dense and detailed history of the Islamic communities in Spain from 1250 to 1500. Those communities were never restricted to Andalucia; there were Muslim populations throughout Christian Spain, and some, even as far north as Pyrenean Navarre, remained semi-autonomous and privileged by law until the final expulsion. Likewise, of course, Mozarabes (Christians under Muslim rule), both Catholic and Arian, lived fairly securely if not quite equally under 'morisco' governance. And of course, there were Jews in all regions and at all economic levels.

I can't say this is an easy book to digest. The scholarship is immense, and much of it is painstakingly specific. For my taste, there's too much about dynastic rivalries and confrontations of leadership... military stuff that I find paradoxically bloodless. But the chapters that describe the legal constraints and protections surrounding the lives of religious minorities, Christian and Muslim, are both fascinating and pertinent to our modern dilemma of absolutist antagonism between the two religious camps. As much as European and American Christians have romanticized and/or forgotten the Islamic history of Spain, assuming that the Reconquest is a final episode, Muslim extremists remember it as an invasion and pillaging of their finest realm. Reading this book carefully, you'll chiefly find that nothing was ever so simple, that neither modern camp has more than a sketchy cartoon in mind.

This is the best book I know on the subject. I'd be delighted to get suggestions, via comments, about more recent studies, or about challenges to Harvey's interpretations.

Excellent.1st class study of Islamic Spain
An excellent book, Harvey uses prime sources such as wansharisi and ibn al-Khatib and goes into great detail of not only the battles and decline of Islamic Spain but also the daily lives of the people who must have been living in unbearable circumstances watching their kingdom slowly decline.What makes this book especially special is Harvey's study of what caused the decline of Islam in Spain (only Chejne has gone into such detail) I especially liked the translation of a speech made by a father to his children concerning the decline of Islam and Islamic culture in Spain.Yes there were expulsions, yes Muslims were driven from their home, yes day by day it was becoming more and more difficult for them to practice their religion but another important factor was their slow immersion into the Spanish Christian world.

An excellent book, highly recommended I will be buying the second part of this study.

He saves the best for last ...
First, the review from Dulles, VA is spot-on correct.

Second, note that this book does not present a complete history of "Islamic Spain" from 711 to 1492 but rather just the last 250 years from 1250 to 1500.If you're looking for material on Cordoba and the zenith of Al-Andalus in the 10th Century, this is not the right volume.

With the exception of the intriguing situation in Navarre, the initial chapters that survey the role of Muslims who continued to live within Christian kingdoms during the period covered by the book can be a bit trying.However, I was intrigued by the discussions of the efforts that were made to acommodate Islamic law within Christian kingdoms.

Once Harvey gets all that out of the way and gets to the story of Granada, the book takes wing.The story of the shifting alliances between and among the various Iberian kingdoms, the influence of North Africa from across Gibraltar, court intrigues, the development of military technology (especially artillery), the Christians gradual destruction of Granadan agriculture, and other factors combine to provide ample material for a rich story covering the 250 years of Granada and its seemingly inevitable downfall.The account of the siege of Malaga alone makes the book worthwhile.

Having recently travelled in modern Andalucia, I have a good sense of where the critical events transpired.I join in the criticism that the book's maps are disappointing.For example, several Nasrid rulers abdicated to "Guadix" but it wasn't until I pulled out my Michelin road map of Andalucia that I was able to locate it at all.Apart from that, I recommend the book.

Thorough and Scholarly
This historical study, written by the former head of the Spanish and Spanish American Studies Department at the University of London, describes both the last surviving Moorish kingdom in Spain and the situation of Moslems in Christian Spain during the same period.The author has drawn on both Christian and Moslem source materials, sometimes quoting them at length.He describes the politics as thoroughly as these sources allow.Some of the material on the Mudejars living in Christian kingdoms is too detailed to sustain the interest of most readers.On the other hand, the final chapters about the decline and fall of Muslim Granada have some of the fatal momentum of Greek tragedy.The biggest disappointment is the maps, the line and dot variety that give no hint of the terrain the contesting forces had to cross. ... Read more