Portugal Books

Last summer, my brother and I took our sons on a hiking trip on the Camino Inka to Machu Picchu. It was an incredible journey and fulfilled one long-standing item on my "bucket list." I had read several books about the Incas and Machu Picchu in preparation for our hike, including Bingham's book, because I have been fascinated with the ancient South American cultures since I was a kid. I knew that much of the information in the books that I had previously read over the last 40 years was dated, and that some of the old theories had been disproven over time - but I didn't have the time to sort things out before our trip.

As a gift after our return, my brother gave me a copy of The Last Days of the Incas. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is a great read - and is great story telling. It was especially interesting to me after having visited many of the locations in the story. Of course, many parts of the story were very painful to read, because of the many examples of severe brutality and greed, but the book pulled together the big picture of the story for me, and helped complete some of the missing pieces in my scattered and dated readings, and what I had learned during our trip.

I really can't imagine the time and effort needed - and painstaking collection of details - to piece together this complex story from so long ago. And as the author mentioned, many of the sources are suspect and likely biased. The author was very forthright about the gaps and conflicts in the historical record, and provided his justification for his intrepretation - which I appreciated since it seems many "experts" truly believe that they know what really happened. But that is part of the great mystery - so much of what happened we will really never know what happened.

The Last Days of the Incas is one of the best books I've read about the Incan dynasty - and I've read a lot. Most books on the subject have been dry, historical accounts occasionally peppered with an interesting detail about daily life. However, MacQuarrie's book breathes life into this entire period. The narrative moves the story along like fiction (though it is meticulously researched history) and it is filled with amazing details of both the Spaniards and Incas that make the book a fascinating read. Examples of such a detail: Potatoes were a staple of the Incan diet - as were guinea pigs- and during the time of the Incas there were over 5000 varieties of potatoes in this region of South American. I live in Ecuador and it is fascinating to see that to this day the people still eat guinea pig (they call it cuy - and now they eat chicken too) - and a trip to the market will reveal at least a few hundred of the thousands of types of potatoes still available. As to the "unbelievable" facts and/or inconsistencies that other have noted in their reviews: I can say that these are possible - but so is the book's account. As with many lost cultures, the truth of what transpired can be difficult to determine. But truth can be stranger than fiction and this book presents the best evidence of the last days of the Incas.

Wonderful story-telling of Peru awaits the reader of this book. Last Days of the Incas is a magnificent account of the Incas, their clash with the Spaniards, and the "discovery" of their ancient sites. MacQuarrie gives a compelling summary of modern archaeological and anthropological insights into this period, woven around a marvelous collection of original and secondhand sources. The story is well told. Sixteenth Century personalities like Atahualpa, Manco Inca, Francisco Pizarro and his brothers, and Diego de Almagro come to life in this work.

As a person who traveled to Peru and walked the Inca Trail I was completely satisfied with the descriptions of ruins, roads, and the Inca culture highlighted throughout this book. Independent of whether you have or have not walked the trail or visited any Inca ruins, if you are remotely interested in this South American culture and peoples this is THE book to buy. I did some research prior to taking the trip and it was so very scattered and unclear, I wish I had this book then.

Beyond the historical context of the book it reads like a novel. I couldn't wait to turn the page. I'm sure some will have qualms with the lack of maps and perhaps some inferences drawn by the author. Nevertheless, this is an amazing read!

There are now three great English histories of the clash between the Spanish and the Inca in Peru. William H. Prescott published his History of the Conquest of Peru (1847) four years after his wonderful History of the Conquest of Mexico. Prescott's history remained the basic English text until 1970 when John Hemming published The Conquest of the Incas, still the definitive scholarly account (revised 2003) in English. Now Kim MacQuarrie has written a lively and dramatic version of the story without sacrificing historical accuracy, at least insofar as this general reader could discover by reading the three texts.

Pizarro was in his early 50s when he landed in "Viru" or "Biru,"; "eventually, the name of this tribe would be transmogrified and would come to refer to ... Peru -- home to the largest native empire the New World would ever know." Pizarro was the son of a respected soldier and a "common maid" who was "stigmatized by the fact that his father had never married his mother." He "had received little if any schooling and thus remained illiterate for his entire life," but he "instinctively understood both power and politics."

Pizarro brought Western inventions, institutions and religion to Peru which in the long run provided some benefits to the area. On the other hand the conquistadors slaughtered civilians and soldiers, pillaged treasures, murdered Inca leaders, destroyed many monuments and art works, and established a repressive political, cultural and economic system that persists today.

MacQuarrie writes that Prescott's "tale of Pizarro and a handful of Spanish heroes defying the odds against hordes of barbaric native savages not coincidentally mirrored the ideas and conceits of the Victorian Age and of American Manifest Destiny. No doubt this volume also reflects the prevailing attitudes of our time." MacQuarrie (and Hemming) clearly value the accomplishments of the Inca more than Prescott did, and have written a more balanced account.

MacQuarrie points out that historical accounts were written years after the events by people who either were not there or with failing memories. MacQuarrie finds many of those accounts closer to fiction than fact. And, from time to time MacQuarrie imagines events: "Hernando Pizarro, his horse snorting, presumably looked down his lines, then directly at Orgonez across the plain from him. Not taking his eyes from him, he then raised his sword on high, held it aloft for a moment, then quickly brought it down." MacQuarrie's cinematic training enlivens the story, but does not (in my opinion) contradict the historic record.

The basic elements of the story are clear. Pizarro established a base on the coast and then attacked the Inca Empire with 167 conquistadors, facing "an Inca army of perhaps eighty thousand warriors." He captured Atahualpa, the Inca emperor, then captured Cuzco, "the royal hub of the empire, a city that was purposely meant to display the ostentation of state power." He held Atahualpa hostage and executed him under the false impression that Atahualpa had ordered an attack on the Spaniards.

Atahualpa was "the equivalent of the king, the pope, and Jesus Christ all rolled into one." His execution established a pattern: Gonzalo Pizarro abducted the wife of Atahualpa's successor, Manco Inca; Manco was murdered by Spaniards, and Tupac Amaru -- the last of the emperors -- was captured and executed. "[T]he marauding Spaniards made no distinction between men, women, and children" as the slaughter continued.

In 1536, Manco Inca organized "a force of between 100,000 and 200,000 warriors -- a stupendous feat of logistical organization". The Spanish had enormous technological advantages including horses -- "animals that could carry a fully armored Spaniard and still outrun the fastest native" -- "steel helmets, armor, and chain mail," and "they could communicate much more efficiently through writing, thus being able to send and receive complex information between their often divided forces." Inca weapons "were designed for hand-to-hand combat with other similarly armed foot soldiers and consisted of an assortment of clubs." Eventually the Inca were able to devise strategies to offset Spanish advantages but but by then their forces were greatly reduced and the strategies unavailing.

MacQuarrie carries the story forward through the establishment of a stable Spanish government, and through the centuries as more and more of the accomplishments of the Inca were discovered. This extract captures the tone of MacQuarrie's history; here Hiram Bingham is on the verge of discovering Machu Picchu:

"'Picchu,' Arteaga had said, when they had first visited him the day before. The words were difficult to make out, filtering as they did past the thick gruel of coca leaves. 'Chu Picchu,' it sounded like the second time. Finally, the short peasant had firmly grabbed the American's arm and, pointing up at a massive peak looming above them, he uttered two words: 'Machu Picchu'--Quechua for 'old peak.' Arteaga turned and squinted into the intense brown eyes of the American explorer, then turned toward the mountain. 'Up in the clouds, at Machu Picchu--that is where you will find the ruins.' For the price of a shiny new silver American dollar, Arteaga had agreed to guide Bingham up to the peak. Now, high on its flank, the three men looked back down at the valley floor, where far below them tumbled the Urubamba River, white and rapids-strewn in stretches, then almost turquoise in others, fed as it was by Andean glaciers."

MacQuarrie has done a wonderful job of creating an exciting narrative from the major historical predecessors. He adds recent discoveries to the narrative. This is an essential book for anyone planning a trip to Peru, and a fascinating book for anyone interested in the history of the Inca.

Robert C. Ross 2008

this book is a must have for anyone wanting to get a taste of portugal from their own kitchen this book is full of geniune recipes verified by my portugesse work collegues as exact to the way they make them in portugal

I gave my daughter-in-law and her sister copies of this book. They are Portuguese but live in Australia. They say it's excellent; the ingredients are reasonably easily obtainable; the book brings back wonderful memories of home cooking when they lived in Portugal; and they can now shares those memories with their Australian families. I'm fortunate to enjoy some of their cooking. Recommended.

I've had this cookbook for years and it's one of my favourites. I've not been to Portugal, but I've lived in Hong Kong for 20 years and frequently visit Macau for genuine Portuguese food (perhaps Ms Anderson could a Macanese dish or two in an update). The recipes are varied and they work. Nicely written book with tons of good info about the country and its fascinating cuisine.

Jean Anderson is a member of `old school' cookbook authors and culinary educators such as Barbara Kafka, Marion Cunningham, Sheila Lukins, and Sara Moulton who edit major cookbooks such as the `American Century Cookbook' and the `Fanny Farmer Cookbook' and who edit major newspaper columns, all addressed to the average American family member who needs to cook and who doesn't have a lot of time to go out of their way to find culinary advice.

On what seems to be the strength of an exceptionally strong personal love for Portugal and its food, Ms. Anderson has also joined the ranks of interpreters of important national cuisines such as Diane Kochilas (Greece), Penelope Casas (Spain), Lydia Bastianich (Italy) and Nancy Harmon Jenkins (Mediterranean). While Ms. Anderson has written about both Portuguese and German cooking, the interest in the latter seems to be simply another job, while the interest in the former is based on a lifetime of affection for this cuisine.

Each of the four other interpreters of selected regional cuisines take a somewhat different approach to interpreting their subject. For example, Ms. Kochilas deals with Greece by region, as there are major variations in cuisine from Macedonia to the Dodecanese Islands. Ms. Jenkins and other writers dissect Italy and the Mediterranean by major food resource such as salt, olives, grapes, and wheat. Ms. Anderson's approach is most similar to that of Lydia Bastianich, with the difference that Ms. Anderson has no stories of a childhood growing up in Portugal. Both Ms. Bastianich and Ms. Anderson focus on the characteristic recipe methods of their subject.

Portugal should probably be considered an honorary Mediterranean country. It has no coastline on the Mediterranean, however, it's all of its principle foods were identified by Nancy Harmon Jenkins in `The Essential Mediterranean'. These are olives, grapes, pork, salt, seafood, milk, and beans. Only wheat appears to be missing from the major staples, as Portugal seems to not have the land for wheat fields like Apulia or Egypt. The very first thing Ms. Anderson points out is that Portuguese cuisine is not the same as Spanish cuisine. The differences can easily be traced to the differences in exploration and colonization in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. While Spain was playing catch-up with the daring westerly trip of Columbus, Portugal was well on its way to establishing trade with India, China, and the'Spice Islands' by way of the route around the bottom of Africa. Ms. Anderson cements the notion of these differences by opening with a truly daunting dictionary of Portuguese culinary terms. The highlights of this catalogue are `Acordas' and `Migas' (Dry soups and stews); `Bacalhau' (Dried Salt Cod); cheeses (lots of these), coffees (note that former Portuguese colonies, Brazil, Angola, and Timor are all important coffee producers); egg sweets; fish and shellfish; herbs, spices, and flavorings (almonds, paprika, and pimento are distinctly important); olive oils; sausages and hams (with analogues to many of the famous Spanish and Italian Charcuterie); and beer.

Possibly the two most distinctive Portuguese culinary products are the fortified wines, Port and Madeira. Portugal has many other important wines, but these two have been made and have been popular for thousands of years. The production of Port can be traced back to Roman times, and it is a great favorite with the English and a major competitor for aperitif use to Spain's sherries. While Port and Madeira are famous Portuguese exports, there are many important Portuguese products such as its cheeses that you simply cannot get outside of the country. The author slyly suggests this is a very good thing, intimating that a trip to Portugal will bring much culinary novelty to your life.

The recipe chapters are organized in a very conventional manner, giving us Appetizers and Condiments; Soups; Meats; Poultry; Fish and Shellfish; Vegetables, Rice and Salads; Breads; and Sweets. There is a recipe for Portuguese empanadas, but the author gives no hint of an important `tapas' culture. Most appetizers are variations on familiar themes seen in Provence and Italy. Portugal seems to take the thick Tuscan style of soup to a new level with their `dry' soups. A soup, `caldo verde' is also the national dish of Portugal, as we have seen Emeril Lagasse make on several occasions. One thing that stands out with Portuguese soup recipes is that very few seem to use prepared stocks. Rather, many of the soups seem to rely on including starchy potatoes to lend body to the soup. Wine is used as much or more frequently as a flavoring than are stocks. It seems like wine is in practically every soup recipe.

Many other recipes seem to have distinctive twists, such as the roasted turkey recipe that calls for no basting, but rubbing the skin with salt and roasting at a constant temperature.

All the bread recipes use the very familiar active dry yeast for leavening, so if you are the least adept at blooming those little foil packets of yeast, there should be no challenges here at all. Several bread recipes include eggs and scalded milk, products common in rustic Greek breads as well.

In place of Italy's sabayon and France's custards, Portugal revels in variations on sweet soft eggs or `ovos moles'. The author describes Portuguese egg pastries as `achingly sweet'. I suspect you may want to try one or two of these as a substitute for your crème brulee, but don't make too much if you are watching your waistline.

National and regional cookbooks can be done badly, especially when for locales such as Rumania and the Philippines, there is no competition. Ms. Anderson has done us foodies a great service with this book. It is not as deep as Paula Wolfert's Morocco or as analytical as Erica De Mane's southern Italy, but it is very good. The fact that there are no sources given at the back of the book says a lot for what you may need to do to taste some of this food.

This is a wonderful cookbook. In fact, this is my second copy. My husband and I have purchased a second home and I needed another copy of one of our favorite cookbooks. We have travelled to Portugal on several occasions and the recipes bring back fond memories of the excellent food we had in Portugal. The ingredients are easy to obtain. We often use the recipes when entertaining because our friends have never sampled Portuguese food.

Antonio Tabucchi (1943) is the most European and international of modern Italian writers, comparable only to Umberto Eco, with whom he has an ongoing literary discussion on the intellectual's role in society. Eco is convinced that the artist/intellectual should only organize knowledge, while Tabucchi stands up for the right of the artist, in presence of preoccupying political evolutions, to ring the warning bell when necessary. This ringing of the bell is only one of the many keys to use when reading Tabucchi's 1994 novel "Pereira declares".
This lyrical short book, probably inspired by the life of a true Portuguese journalist, narrates in an unusual testimonial third person style (maybe a police officer?), an apparently insignificant (?) episode that happened in Lisbon in the summer of 1938. Pereira, the editor of the cultural page of an afternoon newspaper, meets and befriends a young anti-regime political activist Monteiro Rossi that is willing to do anything (also write beforehand necrologies of famous authors) for a little bit of money. Monteiro Rossi, naturally gets into trouble dragging with him the at first reluctant and then convinced Pereira. The book's plot, that is the true driving force because of its fast and at the same time deep pace, is only the excuse to face the real topic. This is Pereira, his personality, his times, freedom of press, the author's love of Lisbon (where he lives for half of the year, being a professor of Portuguese literature in an Italian University), Portuguese history during the last years under the Salazar regimen, Europe's plight when dealing with fascism then and now.
All these themes are precisely the reason that determined the selection of this book of Antonio Tabucchi, among his many other beautiful works, as the intellectual flag of political opposition in 1994, against the press tycoon Silvio Berlusconi's entry in the political arena.
However, even if this made the book famous twelve years ago, and history has gone overrunning its the apparent actuality, as all works of art this novel is still enchanting to read and its subtler merits constantly emerge.
First of all we must consider modern Italian literature, greatly unknown or not translated for the English speaking public, that has most of the characteristics of postmodernism. Italy is a country culturally and sociologically removed (that considers itself as backwards) from the rest of Europe and the U.S. Italian literature reflects this belief and Italian authors think that all has been already written, so they privilege citations, irony, satire, mingling of literary types, "pastiches" and they reach their best satisfaction when "found out" or "discovered" by their cult readers that appreciate their citation abilities. "Pereira declares" is full of these citations, beginning with the authors Monteiro Rossi writes obituaries for (in Italian these are called "crocodiles", like crocodile tears) like for example Garcia Lorca, who at the time of the novel hadn't yet been killed, but would be soon, up to the French novelists of the Nineteenth Century Pereira loves and translates picking out their present meaning. The short story of Daudet's "Contes du lundì" on the Franco-Prussian War is the emblem of political frontiers and intestinal war in Europe and retains its actuality for Pereira at the moment he is speaking (1938), for the Author (1944), and for us reading now in 2006. All the Authors Tabucchi cites, Balzac, Bernanos (now long forgotten for many), Maupassant have some eternally true intuitions, but we must know them well to fully appreciate what Tabucchi wants to convey. The same must be said for Pessoa (1888-1935), the great Portuguese poet, studied by Tabucchi, which introduced the great season of poetical "avanguard" and sang of the all Portuguese sentiment of "Saudade" a yearning or nostalgia made up of suffering and sweatness, a longing for the past and the future together, a category of the spirit "that is at the same time a form of suicide" (Tabucchi). Pereira longs for and constantly relives his love for his wife and his youth in Coimbra and finds them again in Monteiro Rossi and Marta, his girlfriend.
Tabucchi, like in other novels of his, utilizes a journalist, police like approach and with this literary technique he remembers Leonardo Sciascia and Frederich Durrenmatt, that have explored this literary stile before him with great results.
If you can find it watch the 1995 movie "Sostiene Pereira" directed by Roberto Faenza with Marcello Mastroianni as Pereira and Daniel Auteuil as Doctor Cardoso, that faithfully follows the book and helps to visualize Tabucchi's poetry.
Read this book to have an idea of the best of modern Italian literature and to taste some of the greater European problems of yesterday and today.

Tabucchi has created a monumental work: how conscious are we of our actions and our motives, how do we experience our everyday life and what awareness do we have of it versus the inner sense of ourselves.It measures up to Anna Karenina.
Tabucchi deserves the Nobel prize.

This tale, told as though it were a documented testimony resulting from some unidentified investigative process, is a complete and believable characterisation of a very dull but gentle man, Dr. Pereira. While an editor of a no-hum local newspaper in 1938 Lisbon, he struggles to maintain his invisible and intentionally unexpressive life by ignoring the political repression and censorship mounting around him. He takes pride in the fact that his paper is apolitical.

Through the subtlest of facts and inferences, all easily grasped, this book enables readers to feel that they're discovering Pereira all by themselves, with almost no assistance from the unseen narrator or author. It's as though Tabucchi has the map but you're the driver. This style is delicate and unobtusive yet it delivers a sense of realness and a rich atmosphere unexpected in a story of just 136 pages. You feel the breeze rolling in off the Atlantic and along those streets. To the same degree, something so trivial as the presence of sugar in lemonade informs us exactly of the level of frustration Pereira experiences vis-a-vis his own new and atypical responses to people and events. He can't comprehend a rationale for his behaviour but he's painfully aware of the danger he's posing to the safe life he's made for himself.

This is Tabucchi's most famous book. I was introduced to it by a friend in northern Italy who's read every book he's written, including his later 2001 book, "Si Sta Facendo Sempre piu Tardi" ("It's Getting Later all the Time"). This hasn't yet been released in North America but Amazon lists it as orderable.

Pereira is a reluctant hero of our time: an inadequate, faintly absurd man who tries to live a decent personal life in a political setting that allows little room for such illusions. Fascist Portugal in 1938, like some other "civilized" nations closer to our own day, is poisoned by false certainties and the corrupt exercise of vindictive power. Only proclamations of pious conformity are allowed. Pereira, himself a pious and harmless man, finds himself gradually forced, through circumstances beyond his control, to assume the role of a full human being, and to stand up, however briefly, for what is right. Pereira's moral resurrection is handled with great delicacy by Tabucchi. The English translation is another plus: Patrick Creagh is one of the finest translators working today, and here does full justice to Tabucchi's restrained and thoughtful prose. The cumulative effect is remarkable. If they read English over in Stockholm, this book could put its author in contention for the Nobel Prize.

What was going on in Tabucchi's mind while writing this gem of a novel? Pereira won't say, but certainly he was trying to investigate the deepest feelings of a man traveling to his freedom, he declares. A tiny book with great implications.

I truely enjoyed this book. Someday I will get there and also live the legend of this city that Ernest made popular- though it was doing just fine without him.

Good writing takes you to a place you have not been before and Ray Mouton does it with this book.

The best book ever written about Sanfermines, the festival of San Fermin known to many as the running of the bulls. This truly is a guide to Fiesta. No other work published will better educate and prepare you for this event. A well written must for all who plan on attending and immersing themselves in the spirit of Fiesta.

Held each year in Pamplona, Spain in July, Sanfermines is much more than the daily spectacle of the encierros or "the running of the bulls" early each morning and much more than the corrida de toros in the Plaza de Toros late each afternoon. The fiesta is a celebration of family and life in Navarra.

Fiesta belongs to the Navarrans, and has for centuries; however the gracious citizens of Iruña (Basque for Pamplona) have opened their arms to the people of the world, inviting all to participate in what has often been described as one of the most exhilarating experiences on planet earth.

Of course you should read Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises", however if you buy only one book before heading to Sanfermines, it should be Ray Mouton's "Pamplona: Running the Bulls, Bars and Barrios in Fiesta de San Fermin."

The best book I have ever read on San Fermin!!!!! It captures the very heart and soul of fiesta-the Alegria. If you have already been-it will make you ache to go back again and again! If you haven't been-read this first and you will enjoy it much more. I went in 2005, thinking it would be a once in a lifetime event-and after reading this I booked a hotel for next summer, and may not ever miss another year!! Viva San Fermin! Read this book. As Michener said himself "This book is the next best thing to going to Fiesta itself".

There are many stories about Pamplona,
some true, some not. Most are inaccurate.
Mouton has found a way to report the History
with the Present that makes it both valuable
to historians as well as first timers.

If you are a first timer - get this book so that you
are prepared. If you go there often, get it as
well. This way you won't have to struggle to
remember everything - which is hard to do because
it seems like one big wonderful dream.

One could argue that Pamplona is better than anything
Hemingway wrote, since it incorporates the history
with the present day scene.

Lastly, Mouton is an experienced runner and has helpful
tips on how to run. Running gives you an experience
that Hemingway never had.

Enjoy.

"A Day in the Life of Fiesta" is another way to think of Mouton's account of the sometimes-overwhelming sensory experience of the Fiesta of San Fermin, a.k.a. the Running of the Bulls. The author's descriptive and literary talents allow one to vicariously experience both a day and the entire week of the infamous fiesta. It is perhaps cliché to say that Mouton has hit a home run or a bull's-eye with this book, but it is also highly accurate. I've attended fiesta many times over the past two decades and can confidently say that Mouton has brought this world-renowned fiesta to life with words - and as any veteran fiesta-goer will tell you, this is no easy accomplishment.

In reading this book you will come as close as possible to feeling the immense energy of fiesta, of smelling, tasting, dancing, hearing and rejoicing in the fiesta experience without actually being there. For veterans it will spark fiesta flashbacks and a longing to return. For potential fiesta goers it may just provide enough of a description to catalyze you into finally buying that plane ticket.

I first attended fiesta upon graduating college and those first few years were a blur of collegiate-style binging and revelry. Luckily I could remember enough about each year that I kept coming back. I had been infected with the fiesta spirit. In hindsight my only wish is that I had had a book like this one to read back then. What has taken so many years to learn and appreciate about the joys and beauty of fiesta would have been learned much faster with this account of and guide to the fiesta experience.

Most people who have attended fiesta will usually avoid trying to explain the experience to the potential traveler and will respond with "Just go and see for yourself. You will love it." At last there is an excellent piece of writing to do justice to the "what is it like?" question. Mouton's literary accomplishment is highly commendable. The benchmark has been set. Veteran fiesta goers will have many "ah-ha" moments as they read and potential newcomers now have a starting platform from which they can maximize their first fiesta experience.

I love the writing in this series, it's such a pleasure to read, I wonder why are so many other textbooks so boring?

I'd love to give it five stars, except that there are recurring themes I find grating - some of her "fan club for the US government" stuff is just in totally inappropriate places. For instance, "American slavery was a horror. We should never pretend it was anything else. But the American system of government lets us correct mistakes. When you study history you see we usually do. Of that we can be proud." Gag me with a spoon, slavery was not abolished until more than 240 years after the first slave was delivered in 1619! Hakim does such a great job of fairly telling the story, why ruin it?

Another place I found disappointing was the perpetuation of the myth that the first settlers at Plymouth were called "Pilgrims" and that the Europeans started Thanksgiving. She has a box on Thanksgiving saying the story of the first Thanksgiving is a "real turkey", lists some other European Thanksgiving celebrations, and then neglects to mention that the Indians had been conducting Thanksgiving celebrations at harvest time for generations. I'd love to see someone do such a great job TELLING the story, who could also not perpetuate those irritating little false stories that schoolchildren are always taught.

Gosh, this doesn't sound like the positive review I inteded, but I see others have already told the good stuff. It's wonderfully well written!

This book is very fun and imformative. It gives us information, but in a fun way...I recomend this book to anyone under the age of 13, and who enjoys history...if you get this book in school, dont be scared it is fun!

I just borrowed this book from the library and now plan to buy the whole set. As a home schooling parent, I am always struggling to find quality materials and this series is just that. Hakim's books are easy to read and comprehend. Most importantly, they give a realistic view of history, not the politically correct one so often taught.

As I teach my children U.S. history, I want them to know that, yes, the white people were sometimes violent and unfair to the Native Americans, but some Native Americans were that way too. Before the Europeans came, they kidnapped and killed each other. I want my kids to know the whole truth and these books are very fair. No matter what the race, some people are good and some are not.

I highly recommend these books for teaching history to children and even adults.

"Making Thirteen Colonies: 1600-1740" is the second volume in Joy Hakim's "A History of US." The first volume covered how the first Americans crossed over from Asia to become Indians and the first Europeans, mainly the Spanish but also the French and English, began settling the New World. This volume focuses on the narrow string of settlements established by the English that became the thirteen colonies whose people began moving westward and who also started to question the relationship they had with England (there is a small amount of overlap between this and the next volume, which covers period of American history from 1735-1791).

Hakim begins with a preface that looks at the vast mixture of ideas that were brought over from the Mediterranean world and took root in the Americas. Along with the first chapter, which talks about the comet that appeared in 1607 as a portent of great changes for the world, this preface sets up several key themes that will be revisited throughout this and future volumes. "Making Thirteen Colonies" has 42 chapters and it the book is divided into five main sections. The first (chapters 2-12) tells how English settlers came to stay by establishing the first permanent colony in Jamestown, Virginia. The second (chapters 13-23) looks primarily at the Puritans arriving in New England, although Hakim also touches on what was happening between the Indians and the Spanish in the southwest. The third section (chapters 24-30) tells about the mid-Atlantic colonies, most notably New Amsterdam/York and Pennsylvania. The fourth section (chapter 31-39) returns to the South, looking at not only Ole Virginny but also the two Carolinas and Georgia. This unit also looks at the Triangle Trade and other considerations that united the four southern and nine northern colonies. The final section (chapters 40-42) is a transitional unit, that looks at how the colonists began to move westward and the stage was set for the period of history that would make those thirteen colonies into a new nation.

One of the great advantages to writing a ten-volume history of the United States is that unlike most standard American history textbooks "A History of US" is able to clearly establish the unique identities of each of those original thirteen colonies. I recently finished reading an excellent series of books, each of which was devoted to an individual colony, and Hakim ends up being closer to those volumes than she does the standard textbook. Consequently, in addition to the traditional stories about Pocahontas and John Smith in Jamestown, William Penn and the Quakers of Pennsylvania, the Salem witch trials, Ben Franklin as the quintessential American, and Daniel Boone finding routes through the mountains, Hakim establishes an individual identity for each colony.

However, the main strength of this series is how Hakim engages young readers, the same way you would expect a "real" teacher to do in a "real" classroom. This shows up primarily in her ability to anticipate and answer questions that students might have (e.g., why the Indians were not enslaved). I can easily see why this series is popular with parents who are home schooling their children. The book is richly illustrated with dozens and dozens of historic paintings, etchings, drawings, maps, engravings, and assorted reproductions. The margins are crammed with interesting facts, definitions, and quotations, and features on topics such as Land Green and Africa: The Unknown Continent are sprinkled throughout the book. The After Words this time around are devoted to cartography and has some superb examples of 16h- and 17th-century maps. It is easily to see why this series has impressed so many people and why Hakim is able to get such good responses from young students who are used to getting their information from computers and the Internet.

"Making Thirteen Colonies: 1600-1740" is the second volume in Joy Hakim's "A History of US." The first volume covered how the first Americans crossed over from Asia to become Indians and the first Europeans, mainly the Spanish but also the French and English, began settling the New World. This volume focuses on the narrow string of settlements established by the English that became the thirteen colonies whose people began moving westward and who also started to question the relationship they had with England (there is a small amount of overlap between this and the next volume, which covers period of American history from 1735-1791).

Hakim begins with a preface that looks at the vast mixture of ideas that were brought over from the Mediterranean world and took root in the Americas. Along with the first chapter, which talks about the comet that appeared in 1607 as a portent of great changes for the world, this preface sets up several key themes that will be revisited throughout this and future volumes. "Making Thirteen Colonies" has 42 chapters and it the book is divided into five main sections. The first (chapters 2-12) tells how English settlers came to stay by establishing the first permanent colony in Jamestown, Virginia. The second (chapters 13-23) looks primarily at the Puritans arriving in New England, although Hakim also touches on what was happening between the Indians and the Spanish in the southwest. The third section (chapters 24-30) tells about the mid-Atlantic colonies, most notably New Amsterdam/York and Pennsylvania. The fourth section (chapter 31-39) returns to the South, looking at not only Ole Virginny but also the two Carolinas and Georgia. This unit also looks at the Triangle Trade and other considerations that united the four southern and nine northern colonies. The final section (chapters 40-42) is a transitional unit, that looks at how the colonists began to move westward and the stage was set for the period of history that would make those thirteen colonies into a new nation.

One of the great advantages to writing a ten-volume history of the United States is that unlike most standard American history textbooks "A History of US" is able to clearly establish the unique identities of each of those original thirteen colonies. I recently finished reading an excellent series of books, each of which was devoted to an individual colony, and Hakim ends up being closer to those volumes than she does the standard textbook. Consequently, in addition to the traditional stories about Pocahontas and John Smith in Jamestown, William Penn and the Quakers of Pennsylvania, the Salem witch trials, Ben Franklin as the quintessential American, and Daniel Boone finding routes through the mountains, Hakim establishes an individual identity for each colony.

However, the main strength of this series is how Hakim engages young readers, the same way you would expect a "real" teacher to do in a "real" classroom. This shows up primarily in her ability to anticipate and answer questions that students might have (e.g., why the Indians were not enslaved). I can easily see why this series is popular with parents who are home schooling their children. The book is richly illustrated with dozens and dozens of historic paintings, etchings, drawings, maps, engravings, and assorted reproductions. The margins are crammed with interesting facts, definitions, and quotations, and features on topics such as Land Green and Africa: The Unknown Continent are sprinkled throughout the book. The After Words this time around are devoted to cartography and has some superb examples of 16th- and 17th-century maps. It is easily to see why this series has impressed so many people and why Hakim is able to get such good responses from young students who are used to getting their information from computers and the Internet.

This book is a first rate historical work chronicling the most magnificent working class struggle in history. A time when anarchism meant something truly inspiring and when it still had substance.

The Spanish anarchists remind us of a time when large numbers of people vehemently opposed the status quo of Capitalism and the State and truly did what was necessary to organize a mass movement to radically change it. Bookchin writes with such a clear yet intelligent prose that virtually everything he writes is worth reading. This book is one of his best and along with his 4 volume (and unfortunately very expensive) book "The Third Revolution" it very much proves how strong a historian he really was during his lifetime.

While this book is both highly informative and exciting in its evocation of a remarkable period of history, I cannot also be saddened by the fact that Bookchin died last year in 2006 and that his fiery intellect is no longer with us. I am also saddened by this work in another way. While Bookchin brings to light a period of history that should never be forgotten or not learned from, looking at the modern anarchist "scene" I cannot help but feel that the glory days of classical anarchism are gone and that contemporary anarchism has completely degenerated into misanthropy, post-modernism, mysticism, nihilism, and an opposition to forming mass movements at all; in effect that today's anarchism has become completely coopted by modern bourgeois society and has been rendered completely inert by that mentality. Let us hope that is not the case, but if this is so then we, those of us who still insist that a genuine social revolution is desperately needed and also a mass movement organized from below to achieve it, must forge ahead and adopt a new term for our form of revolutionary libertarian socialism, something Bookchin tried to do in the last years of his life and from which we can learn a great deal.

Bookchin established himself among the foremost anarchist theorists of the late 20th century with his sparkling collection "Post-Scarcity Anarchism".

With "The Spanish Anarchists" he proves himself to be a historian of the first rank, drawing on primary sources, a wide array of secondary literature, and in-depth interviews with key members of the Spanish Anarchist movement to paint a vivid picture of half a century of organizing that led to the most powerful anarchist upsurge in world history (yet!).

Bookchin handles the history deftly, drawing out lessons for practice while always making clear the specificity of the historical moment. He pulls vivid quotes and his character sketches of key figures in the movement are masterful.

This is history for history buffs, though, and gets into considerable detail on several decades of struggle in several hundred pages. It may be boring for those who do not have a particular interest in the period.

Note well: the book does not discuss the Civil War and Revolution of 1936-1939-- for a detailed treatment of that struggle, Bookchin recommends Bolloten's massive "The Spanish Civil War" and for a shorter take, Broué and Temime's The Revolution and the Civil War in Spain". Orwell's classic "Homage to Catalonia" is also a brilliant read, albeit from a semi-Trotskyist point of view.

The other guy said it better than me, but Bookchin's book is one of the few that really get's down deep into the process by which anti-authoritarian ideas and movements get generated and how they achieve, or can achieve, social change. Wonderful both for theory and history.

The first point to mention: One's understanding of what happened in Spain is almost certainly indicated by the answer to one question. Was this the Spanish Civil War or the Spanish Revolution? The essence of Bookchin's book (and it is not original to him) is that there was a revolution within the Civil War. While there is considerable recognition of the Civil War, there is much less discussion and consideration of the revolution within that civil war.

One immediate problem in understanding the dynamics in Spain is the crazy quilt set of actors. Key groups run the gamut from Fascists (Francisco Franco as a leader) to monarchists to liberals/moderates to Marxists (Trotskyites, represented by the organization POUM, versus Stalinists, organized as the UGT [with members called Ugetistas]) and anarchists (syndicalists, members of the union CNT, whose members were called Cenetistas, and straight out anarchists, members in the organization FAI, with individual members referred to as Faistas). Yikes! One needs a scorecard to keep them straight!

This book does not focus on the Civil War and Revolution so much as on the background to those events. Bookchin goes back to the anarchist Mikhail Bakunin's influence on Spanish radicals. Much of this book is the run up to the Civil War and the revolution embedded within that Civil War--the Republic versus the Fascists represented the Civil War. The anarchists trying to implement libertarian societies was the revolution.

Topically, the book begins with the origins of the idea of anarchism in Spain. Bakunin was a critical figure here, a Russian aristocrat who, oddly enough, adopted the anarchist perspective. An emissary who did not speak Spanish brought Bakunin's ideas to Spain; given the linguistic obstacles, it is surprising indeed to see that he had an impact on the development of a Spanish anarchist movement.

The book then describes the development of that movement in Spain over the past quarter century of the 1800s and the early 1900s as well. In short, anarchism did develop something of a foothold in Spain. Unfortunately, some of the advocated if this view engaged in "propaganda of the deed," terrorism, to try to advance the cause. In the process, much damage was done to that very movement.

Bookchin then described the twin developments--support for anarcho-syndicalism (a perspective that argued that workers' organizations ought to structure the productive process and be the basis for organizing society) and the CNT (a union that supported syndicalism). The essence of the latter can be discerned by this quotation from Bookchin (page 162): "Obedience to the wishes of the membership was a cardinal rule. At the annual congresses, for example, many delegations arrived with mandatory instructions on how to vote on each major issue to be considered. If an action was decided upon, none of the delegations which disagreed with it or felt it was beyond the capacity of its membership was obliged to abide by the decision."

The instability of government in the 1920s and 1930s is then discussed, as a lead up to the outbreak of the Civil War/Revolution. Bookchin concludes by observing that (page 302): "We must leave the details of that revolution--its astonishing achievements and its tragic subversion--to another volume."
Obviously, Bookchin has an ideological perspective on the events in Spain over the period of time that his book covers. And that must be taken into account when reading this work. Nonetheless, overall, his scholarship is solid, and much of what he contends is found in other volumes as well (hence, triangulation occurs to some extent). For those wanting to understand the Spanish Civil War from a perspective not normally presented, this book makes a solid contribution.

"Can anarchy work" or "Is anarchy a mere utopia" are questions asked frequently by people who are not informed about the ideology and philosophy of anarchy but, most importantly, the history of anarchy.
Since you arent going to be taught any of all this in school the burden falls on your shoulders to discover it (amongst most other meaningful things that you will not be told about).
Murray Bookchin, is a great historian, and does an awesome job of documenting the most recent and most convincing attempt at anarchy in pre-war Spain.
Bookchin descibes a movement that found roots in the "lumpen proletariat", that part of the working class with almost zero education that marxists looked upon with contempt considering them incapable of ever starting a revolution.
Yet, exactly that part of the working class was the one that through appaling living and social conditions embraced the concept of anarchy, namely, no masters, equality, work as creation and not braindead toil, education that promotes free thinking and not unquestioned swallowing of dogma and above all liberty.
This is a fascinating story, perhaps overly fascinating compared with modern times where most the people take social conditions as self-understood. A movement, that, through a massive network of action that ranged from strikes against brutally oppressing regimes that inevitably and repeatedly resulted in massive bloodbaths, direct action, informing people about their present future and past while actually opening up to them a whole new world of possibilities that would drive them out of their every day misery and into a new situation where through thriving freedom the society would transform.
Bookchin introduces the readers (as he had to) to some of anarchy leading theoriticians (and practicians) such as Bakoonin and their influence on the Spanish anarchists while he goes into exhaustive detail highlighting internal conflicts concerning differing anarchistic tendencies as well as the ones against socialists (who more than often proved to be disguised conservatives) and of course against the establishment itself and its organs of suppresion.
It's a back n' forth story he tells as well, as the struggle of the spanish anarchists to establish themselves at the front for social change ("not tomorrow, now!" said the pickets at the massive protests and demos) was often sunk in blood, often thrown back by mass executions, often took a step backwards because the need for biological survival took a priority or simply because disapointment would momentarily settle in before a new spark would "detonate" the movement again.

The history of the spanish anarchists is remarkable in more ways than initially obvious. In a very intense sense it proves that the philosophy of anarchy doesnt demand from anyone to be well educated in order to comprehend it. "Absolute" freedom is not a complex concept and everything that derives from it is equally simple. It doesnt recquire reading bulky volumes of economic politics that lead nowhere nor trying to improve a system within which has already failed from the get-go (capitalism). It demands the "impossible" but simoultaneously the natural.
While Bookchin writes in a rather heavy style that wont easily grab you, he's an incredible historian who leaves no stone unturned in his effort-mission to explain thoroughly a historical event. That is my only objection to this book.

Other than that, this is more than recquired reading for anyone interested in anarchism (here, its history )or in examining political philosophies in general.It would help if you started from Emma Goldman's "Essays on anarchy" before this if your knowledge of this philosophy is somewhat superficial.

I read a number of books about the Camino de Santiago before I did it in July-August of 2007. They were either practical guidebooks or deeply personal memoirs. I'd begun reading "Travels With My Donkey" about two weeks prior to departing for Spain, but I didn't get past the introduction - too busy with preparations. I figured I'd read enough anyway, and I wanted to save what looked like a good book for post-Camino reflection. I'm glad I waited until after my pilgrimage to read "TWMD," because it was an excellent and uniquely humorous account that brought me right back to the Camino.

Mr. Moore first became aware of the Camino when he met a pilgrim on "a small boat in Norway." As is common with those who've walked the Way, the idea settled in his mind and bloomed after a period of germination. Also like the typical pilgrim, he began doing research and making preparations for the trek. However, unlike most of us he decided to bring along a donkey. After some searching, he finally found one named Shinto and committed to his adventure. He and Shinto were trailered to Valcarlos, Spain, and commenced their trek to Santiago one step at a time.

During the next forty-one days, Mr. Moore and Shinto experienced numerous adventures on the Camino. Shinto became somewhat of a focal point - most of the time for good, but sometimes for ill. The author soon discovered the difficulties involved in herding a somewhat truculent donkey, including health issues, finding enough food for both of them, and securing donkey-friendly accommodation. Even so, he persevered and eventually formed a bond with Shinto based on shared hardship.

"TWMD" reminded me a lot of Bill Bryson's "A Walk in the Woods," another humorous account of a trek along an old trail. Indeed, both books made me laugh out loud in some spots and cringe in others. However, since I was fresh off the Camino, I was actually able to identify with Mr. Moore's experiences. I loved revisiting familiar towns and fondly remembered (or no-so-fondly remembered) refugios. And I empathized with the author's trials and tribulations, such as blisters, prickly pilgrims, harsh climate conditions, and fast automobile traffic.

"Travels With My Donkey" made me miss the Camino, and it also made me glad to be a peregrino. Recommended for those contemplating the Camino, pilgrims who have already walked the Way, and wanderers in general.

This book is hilarious!! I laughed out loud through out the entire book. Tim writes about his Camino de Santiago journey with a donkey starting with donkey basics - like being scarred to death of the donkey - to learning about it's basic care and feeding. From there he sets out on the journey and records the reactions of other pilgrims and of local Spanish towns people to his donkey.

I have since tried to get "into" some of Tim Moore's other books. Yeah, they're funny, but it was this book that sent me over the edge laughing. If you enjoy Tim Moore's books, buy this one!!!

For those of you seeking serious books about the purity of a spiritual journey while making the pilgrimage to Saint Jame's Field of Stars - there's lots of good books out there - but this one, though completely irreverent, tells it like it is/can be. I met a couple in Santiago de Compostella that had just finished the walk and their main impression of the walk was that it was a real Peyton's Place. If you are the serious type, reading this book before you go may just save you some disappointment during your own walk, or at least prepare you for the less spiritual side of the walk.

What possesses a completely urban Londoner to want to walk 500 miles across northern Spain... with a donkey named Shinto? Herein lies a tail, er... tale of self discovery and adventure through torrential rains (no rein puns here!) sweltering heat and encounters with religious and secular pilgrims (peregrinos, en espanol) on the Camino de Santiago. This ancient Christian pilgrimage crosses northern Spain from the French Pyrenees to Santiago de Compostela, resting place of St. James, patron saint of Spain. On opening this wonderful book you find yourself in the company of a person and donkey you enjoy spending time with. Smart, funny and a keen observer of people, Tim Moore's humanity suffuses this book and makes you feel the value of compassion. This is also one of those books that earns you inquisitive stares in public when you laugh loudly at one or another of his unexpected observations. When you are done you can even say you learned somthing about the history of Spain. This is great light reading. - Marcos Dinnerstein, www.parlo.com

Moore's sense of humor and his complaints get him to the Pas de Roman to visit the Spanish Santiago Cathedral over the Pyrenees from the Atlantic Coast of France. Along the way, we are all drawn into his contacts with other, serious and not so serious pilgrims; the landscapes; the hardships of caring for this donkey animal he starts the trip with not knowing or caring much about; the incredible overnight sleeping accommocations he encounters; the meals; the brandy; the elevations; rain and shale; bridges and cobble stones. Having driven alot of the trail myself without knowing much about what it was or what I was doing, I was tied into this wonderful and hilarious story every bit of the way, enjoying his cynicism and suspicion until he reached the pinnacle of Santiago for all his cold dismissal of the energy required to make this pilgrimage. I sensed he made quite a turn by the time he reached the end of the journey but then perhaps he'd started out more committed to personal spiritual reasons for the journey than I'd understood at the beginning. I LOVED the book, his hilarious ability to laugh at himself and his circumstances, his brilliant evaluations of others' situations, his cautious thoughtful spiritual tussles along the path and most of all the subtle way he slipped in so much of the history of that great period when the Crusaders were displacing the Saracens or the Muslims. The weight of the themes sneaks in on the reader as the book develops - there are so many twists and turns that this book would be a fantastic book club or academic assignment as it calls out for interaction among readers. Would it ever become a book tape? Would it ever become a play? I feel it should have wider dissemination. Great book!

Tim Moore has taken me on some extraordinary journeys in the past, from the Tour de France to the Monopoly board via the arctic deserts of Iceland, but I found this one easily the most enjoyable. If you don't fall in love with the infuriating but utterly endearing donkey he takes with him on this Spanish pilgrimage, I'll eat my cat...

For my recent comiplation of pilgrimage quotations ("Ultreia! Onward! Progress of the Pilgrim") I read all 40 or so contemporary English journal accounts available about the various routes. Rudolph's is clearly within the first grouping of 8 or so best such books (i.e. largely those written by established authors and/or academics). He is able to convey in a fraction of the pages of other volumes many interesting and important aspects of undertaking such a pilgrimage. Though not the most quotable of sources (i.e. 7 such extracted for the review volume Ultreia! Onward!) Rudopplh nevertheless is particularly good at writing about the process of pilgrimage.

I wonder if Conrad Rudolph is a man of few words. He has certainly managed to convey the essence of his 2-1/2 month pilgrimage in only 131 pages. Rudolph describes himself as a man with virtually no belief in "miracles or the otherworldly", yet experiences a deep, life altering sense of spirituality on his physically punishing trek. Simultaneously a travel guide, with practical information and sensible advice, a brief history of Santiago and the medieval religious psyche, and an insightful, first hand memoir evoking the texture and trials of the place and the journey. The photos in the second half of the book do much to bring Rudolph's eloquent words to life. I don't keep all of the books I read in my home library, but this one has found a permanent spot.

The book reads as if you were sitting in an art history lecture -- the author writes using simple, direct, yet descriptive language. While the narrative is framed around the St James trail, it is really a book about inner transformation, not a description of the external world and the landmarks one sees during the pilgrimage. In all, the book has helped me prepare my frame of mind for the bike pilgrimage I am about to embark. The best part -- it's a short and quick read!

Conrad Rudolph, a professor of medieval art,has made the pilgrimage to Santiago de Campostela and knows enough about the history of the pilgrimage and the art and architecture to be seen along the way to write a book that tells not only how to prepare for the long hike and what to take but also what is to be seen and what it all means from a historical perspective.

As I write this review, I'm wearing the boots I plan to use on my own Camino pilgrimage next week. In addition to breaking them in, I've been preparing my body, mind, and heart for the long walk to Santiago. Reading "Pilgrimage to the End of the World" was an enjoyable and necessary part of that process.

Conrad Rudolph's book on the Camino de Santiago has four parts: 1) some historical background, 2) an account of his trek, 3) a series of black-and-white personal photographs with explanations that range from a paragraph to a page or so long, and 4) a practical guide (what to wear, how to pack, etc.). Despite its brevity (only 131 pages), Mr. Rudolph's memoir is packed with useful and interesting information. The surprising revelation that the author is a rationalist only serves to make his tale more compelling, especially considering the profound effect a pilgrimage usually done for spiritual reasons had upon him.

Indeed, the Camino began as an important medieval religious pilgrimage to Santiago, alleged burial place of St. James. But it has grown to accommodate folks on quests of many kinds. What's ironic about Mr. Rudolph's journey is that despite his rationalist mindset, he walked the farthest distance of any pilgrim, faith-based or otherwise, I've read about so far. He began in Le Puy, France, went through Santiago, and concluded in Finisterre - the "End of the World" on the Spanish west coast. That's about double the walking distance from the usual starting point of St. Jean Pied de Port, a French town on the Spanish border. And I thought we religious folk were supposed to be the crazy ones...

Despite his excellent account and helpful information, I part ways with the author in one key area: his firm recommendation of an external-frame pack. He's correct about the increased ventilation it offers, since the external frame holds the pack away from one's back. But according to another pilgrim's memoir, you'll sweat no matter what kind of pack you carry. Also, there are far more sizes and types of internal-frame packs to choose from. At REI I found only one model of external frame pack for sale among the plethora of internal packs - a forlorn Kelty similar to the one the author used. Bottom line, I'd say that an internal-frame pack is a better choice (I'm taking a 4,300 cubic-inch Gregory Baltoro).

At any rate, "Pilgrimage to the End of the World" is a must-read for anyone contemplating, or actually preparing for, the Camino pilgrimage. Other helpful and inspirational books I used to get ready include: "Buen Camino," by Jim & Eleanor Clem, "Camino Chronicle" by Susan Alcorn, and "Fumbling," by Kerry Egan (also, check the Confraternity of St. James' website for lots of good info and up-to-date Camino guidebooks). If you choose to go, let me be the first you wish you a Buen Camino!

UPDATE 9/7/07: On 7/14/07 I stepped off in St. Jean Pied-de-Port (France), and on 8/24/07 I walked into Santiago, Spain. Turned out that the boots I mentioned in the first paragraph were too heavy, so I bought a lighter Spanish pair in Logrono that served me well. My internal-frame pack was the Camino standard (although the model I had was too large and initially weighted down with unnecessary stuff) - out of the hundreds of pilgrims I saw, only a couple had external frame packs. At any rate, I recommend this book as necessary reading for anyone planning to walk the Way.

This is a fascinating perspective from the tri-lingual-daughter of a well-known poet. Lucia is caught between two identities-Britain and Spain. She tells tales of growing up-island style-off of the coast of Spain-with her Roman Catholic upbringings. All this set after the Spanish civil war where people's identities marred, hopes dashed, and properties confiscated under the Fascist Franco regime (1939-1975) which was characterized by the tight grip of church and state. Her viewpoints on women rights, religious rights, the Catalan identity and the translation profession are particularly illuminating.

Concha Alborg's review of "A Woman Unknown" is riddled with errors.
She leaves an erroneous impression when she writes "Lucia Graves is the daughter of Robert Graves, the English poet who lived in Majorca with his Spanish wife and children for several years." Lucia is the daughter of Robert Graves and his second wife, which "A Woman Unknown" clearly states on page 6. it's also clear from the text that Lucia's mother is English. There's a great deal of information about her in this autobiography,even her maiden name, Pritchard.
Alborg also writes "The reader is left wondering what led to her divorce from her Catalan husband ... "
Not so. The author explains at length that she and her husband, who married quite young, simply grew apart in their interests and activities.
"we know little more than her oldest daughter's name and not even that of her other two daughters" Alborg says. Again, not so. The third daughter's naming is discussed at some length (it's Natalia) in a quite comical scene in the labor room, when the attending nurses urge Lucia to name her daughter Purificacion, in honor of that day in the Roman Catholic calendar.
Emy Louie also errs in referring to Lucia "Roman Catholic upbringings". Her parents were firmly agnostic, a major source of conflict during her girlhood time in a convent school, and of shaping her thought.

I loved this book and, as a writer, I found it very inspiring! Graves writes beautifully of growing up on Majorca and her descriptions of the place and the people there, and other parts of Catalonia, are very evocative. The book caught my eye because I am studying Spanish and this book gave me a great feel for life in Spain, particularly under Franco but also, as described to her by people she knew, during the Spanish Civil War. It also offers interesting thoughts on language and identity, because she grew up speaking English at home, Majorcan/Catalan with neighbors (at least until Franco tried to crush the language), and Castilian Spanish at school. It's no wonder she became a translator.

By the way, if you're interested in Robert Graves (I didn't know anything about him - I guess I missed the whole PBS "I Claudius" series), you won't find out all that much about him here - this is Lucia's story. At least he passed on to his daughter his talent for writing.

FOUND IN TRANSLATION

It's hard to review a book when one feels that she could have written it herself and worse yet when in fact that book has been published already. In some ways it's reassuring to read the same thoughts, opinions, even the same literary references and mythological symbols. In other ways it is almost eerie to share with it a similar structure of titled chapters which can be read independently. It all started with the cover of Lucia Graves' A Woman Unknown. Voices from a Spanish Life (Washington D. C.: Counterpoint, 2000) where I saw the familiar picture of Mercedes Formica, a writer I interviewed some years ago, but more about her later.
Lucia Graves is the daughter of Robert Graves, the English poet who lived in Majorca with his Spanish wife and children for several years. Her book is labeled as her autobiography, but it's more like a history of Spain during the almost forty years of Franco's Dictatorship and the ensuing some twenty years of Democracy. Her role is more that of a well-versed witness, a woman who has lived among three different cultures: the English of her birth, the Spanish of her adopted country and the Catalan into which she married. Hers is a well documented account of everyday life, political repression, historical events and a study of the richness of languages.
The author moved to Majorca, where a version of Catalan is spoken, when she was three years old. Despite her father's prominence, she lived a rather modest life on the island before it became a popular tourist destination. A few years of her childhood were spent in Palma, the island's capital, where she studied in a repressive nun school like any other Spanish girl, until she was almost convinced to be baptized in the Catholic Church ( to keep her from "going to hell"), at which time her parents had her first tutored at home and then send to England to receive a "proper" education.
At Oxford, although she missed Spain terribly, she became familiar with the language of her birth, her own father's work and - interestingly enough- Spanish literature which she could then study uncensored. It was her appreciation of the complexity of languages and in particular her translation class, that gave her the tools to become the accomplished translator she is now. Her reflections on language are in themselves worth the reading of A Woman Unknown. Her dilemma should be familiar to anyone fluent in more than one language: "I began to see that being trilingual meant I had never been able to focus fully on any one of my languages, that each one covered only particular areas of experience, and as result I could not express myself fully in any of them" (115).
Lucia Graves' book is full of expressions in Catalan which she carefully explains and translates into English. In fact, if anything, her careful attention to detail is superfluous to the initiated reader of Spanish culture. Her knowledge of the subtleties of the Spanish and Catalan character is commendable as is the varied tidbits of information about popular customs. Her appraisal of the repressive years of Franco's regime is equally on target as is her appreciation - only now becoming official in Spain- of the liberal Republican government.
However, for all her political openness, Lucia Graves is very coy about much of her personal information. For instance, she mentions in passing the sudden death of her half-sister Jenny (149), but doesn't bother to explain it, or we know little more than her oldest daughter's name and not even that of her other two daughters. Her Spanish mother, despite the fact that her illness opens and closes the book, remains a mystery as well. The reader is left wondering what led to her divorce from her Catalan husband and even to whom is she married now since she alludes to a second marriage, while she analyzes in depth the effects of the new Spanish divorce law of 1981. It could be argued that this lack of detail is a good thing since the reader's curiosity is peaked due to her talent as a writer and her, indeed, fascinating life.
The title, "A Woman Unknown" refers to the legal terminology given a woman in divorce proceedings. In fact Lucia Graves gives special attention to the situation of Spanish women: from the liberties of the Second Republic before Franco to the repression of the years after the Civil War, up to the new freedom we are presently enjoying. Her representation of postwar courtship rituals is as poignant as that of Carmen Martín Gaite's, one of the best Spanish writers who have written on the same topic. Her sympathetic portrait of Margarida de Prades, in the chapter titled "The Queen Who Never Was," a fifteen century Catalan noblewoman, for example, makes for captivating reading.
Lucia Graves is equally sympathetic in her depiction of the Sephardic Jews who inhabited Majorca and Catalonia. Their exile, in many ways, parallels her own quest for a homeland. But she is overly simplistic when she states that Franco was anti-Semitic. Despite all his other abuses, Franco saved over thirty thousand Ukranian Jews as it is documented in Chaim Lipschitz's book, Franco, Spain, the Jews, and the Holacaust (KTVA Publishing House, 1984). In fact Franco's own mother was of Jewish descent; her maiden name, Bahamonde, being typically Jewish.
There is no mention in the text of Mercedes Formica, the writer who graces the book's cover. This is a surprising choice given her right wing ideology - she was a sympathizer of the Falangist leader, José Antonio Primo de Rivera. My guess is that it was chosen by the editor in an otherwise beautiful, careful edition. These minor issues aside, Lucia Graves' book is a well written, compelling history of contemporary Spain from the point of view of a not so foreign woman, even when her own story is still not completely told.
CONCHA ALBORG

Concha Alborg is a Spanish writer who lives in Philadelphia and teaches Spanish literature at Saint Joseph's University. She has recently published Beyond Jet-Lag (New Jersey: Ediciones Nuevo Espacio, 2000), her second work of fiction, about the immigrant experience. Beyond Jet-Lag is available on Amazon.com ...

It was a whim that brought me to Lucia Graves' memoir "A Woman Unknown: Voices from a Spanish Life." I had just finished reading Carlos Ruiz Zafón's "The Shadow of the Wind," and was thoroughly entranced by its soaring lyrical prose. I noticed that the book was translated into English from Spanish and wondered whether the high quality of the prose might owe a great deal to the translator. So, I started investigating Lucia Graves' writings and discovered this exquisite memoir.

I rarely read autobiographies, but once I stared this work, I couldn't put it down--within a few pages, I felt like a spell had been cast. Soon, I was deep into a serene meditation on life--uncommon and fascinating for its vibrant Spanish twist, and subtle feminist slant. Finding this book was like suddenly discovering a refreshing mountain spring after a long summer hike: I had no idea how thirsty I was for a lush literary work dealing with the inner lives of women.

Naturally, most of the work deals with the life of the author, Lucia Graves. She is the daughter of Robert Graves, the famous English poet, novelist, biographer, essayist, scholar, and translator. She was raised on the island of Majorca, a place with a distinct cultural subset from the mainland Catalonian culture of northeastern Spain. She spoke English at home, Majorcan to the village people, and Castilian Spanish in school. Her father taught her a deep abiding love for words and language. There were dictionaries in every room of her childhood home so that the precise word might be found and discussed at any time. Later, as an adult raising her own family in a sterile modern Barcelona suburb, translation became the author's tranquil refuge from the everyday vicissitudes of life.

The book has four distinct themes. First and most importantly, we learn about the interior life and thoughts of Lucia Graves. It is important to note that there is little in this book about the life of her famous father, or the lives of her mother, siblings, children, and husband. The focus of this memoir is personal and inward at all times. Second, we learn about the lives of women who have played important roles in the author's life. She tells us about their strengths--the characteristics that allowed them to make the most of whatever adversity that befell them. Like her own life, she takes the lives of these everyday women and celebrates them. Third, we learn about the author's passion for words and for the painstaking art of translation. Finally, through the stories of the many women that make up the bulk of this book, we learn about the history of modern Spain, from the Civil War to the present day. In particular, we learn about the dynamic culture and people of Majorca and Catalonia.

There is the story of Jimena, Graves' cleaning women when she was a child growing up on Majorca; the story of Blanca, the island's midwife; and Juanita, her cleaning woman a dozen years later when she was a mother raising a family in Barcelona. Graves tells us about Olga, her childhood ballet instructor--a woman who had once achieved prima ballerina status in a major Russian ballet company, but eventually had to settle for a life of ballet instruction in a small Majorcan village. There's the story of Sister Valentina, one of the Catholic nuns who was Graves' teacher and mentor. Graves also delights us with the stories of courageous women from history: Marie Powell, long-suffering wife of John Milton and heroine of a book by her father that she translates into Spanish; and Margarida de Prades, the little-known and nearly forgotten 16th-century Queen of Catalonia. Graves also manages magically to weave into her contemporary life's story, the tale of the Greek goddess Persephone, Queen of the Underworld.

Like bookends holding the work together at the beginning and end, Graves gives us the story of her aging mother as she undergoes a minor operation in Barcelona. Once again, Graves takes this event as an opportunity to celebrate the many lives of the everyday women who were a part of this congenial, gracious, and loving hospital experience.

The Spanish legal term for a divorced woman translates as a "woman unknown." In the early 1990s, Graves became the "Woman Unknown" of the book's title when she and her husband of 26 years agreed to end their marriage. The subtitle, "Voices from a Spanish Life," aptly describe the many stories the author relates about vital Spanish women--unknown women whose lives she honors and memorializes.

This is a remarkable and richly nuanced work of literary prose. I recommend it highly, particularly to women, feminists, and others who may enjoy connecting with the inner dialogue of an astonishing, articulate, and uncommon woman of uncelebrated wisdom.

I loved it - if you live in LA you HAVE to read it!

I was a bit hesitant to buy this book, since I'm not really a "plant person". However, I'm certainly not a "horse person", but I always enjoy Dick Francis. Knowledge or enjoyment of succulents is not necessary to enjoy Nathan Walpow's first mystery novel featuring commercial actor Joe Portugal.

The book doesn't really fit into either the hard-boiled or cozy category: Joe Portugal may be an amateur sleuth, but there's lots of action to keep things moving. Wait until you have some spare time, because you won't want to stop reading until you find out whodunit.

Nathan Walpow has a winner with his Joe Portugal series. Set in contemporary L.A., the book provides an enjoyable view a group of succulent enthusiasts and the world they inhabit. Solving one major problem with many amateur detective mysteries, Mr. Walpow succeeds in providing his hero with a believable lifestyle that allows him time to search for a murderer - he's a totally-lacking-in-ambition actor in commercials living in a house owned, but not inhabited, by his father. In fact, the father and his friends are vibrant minor characters I look forward to learning more about in future titles. Congratulations to Nathan on a promising mystery debut!

Not your garden-variety mystery. A succulent little book, with a down-to-earth detective, a thorny problem, good plot, and very good and believable characters. I've written a longer review for our website and am posting this one as a personal favor to Nathan; however, I am recommending this book, not as a personal favor to him but to mystery lovers everywhere, whether you like plants or not. Don't waste thyme. Buy this book now!

I do read the reader reviews on Amazon but never thought I would be writing one of my own. This book was so good I thought it needed some more help reaching book buyers, so here goes:

Joe Portugal is a 40 something actor in commercials in Los Angeles who belongs to a club devoted to cacti and succulents. He has the good fortune to be somewhat successful in his career, live in a paid-for house courtesy of his father, and have a best friend (who happens to be female). He has the bad fortune to be be house, plant and bird sitting for the club president when he discovers her dead in the shower with a broken euphorbia stuffed down her throat. Police detective Casillas seems to think Joe knows a bit too much about the victim and type of murder weapon (the euphorbia sap is quite poisonous) and follows Joe about as more murders are committed. It doesn't help Joe's case that the rest of the euphorbia shows up in his greenhouse while the detective is interviewing him the next day.

What I liked most about the book was that no one was phony- even in Los Angeles, people can be normal. Joe wasn't a caricature, neither was Gina (the female friend), nor the police. They weren't supermen- able to take a pounding and then pop up fresh as a daisy ready to run up Mt Everest. Joe's dad is a retired (due to prison time) enforcer who worries about Joe and asks a friend to "watch over" him as Joe continues to investigate the killings. The interactions between characters was lively, funny and true. The situations that develop aren't forced- the coincidences aren't too far out. Maybe it's because I've been suffering thru some really bad fiction recently, I don't know; but this book is a prime example of really good writing, fascinating real characters you get to care about (oh that phrase!) and a story that plain sucks you in until you *have* to know what happens next and who did it. And, for the record, I didn't guess who did it before it was revealed. My guess died second in the book

You will learn a great deal about cacti, euphorbias and poinsettias while reading the book. A wonderful botanical guide to the plants mentioned is included in the back of the book.

Is this a cozy? hmmm, maybe. No animals die in the book- unless you include some wasps.

I heartily recommend this book to anyone whoever tried to get a cactus to grow and hates wasps; and to anyone looking for a great read period!