Portugal Books

This is an excellently written book about the role the Spanish Civil War in general and the Spanienkampfer (German veterans of the war) in particular played in promoting and maintaining the mythology and raison d'etre of the GDR as a bulwark against fascism, imperialism and capitalism. The reality of the International Brigades was that they were ideologues fighting in an ideological conflict; messy realities that did not jibe with the ideology were suppressed in official histories of the War, just as all nonconformities that deviated from the SED's socialist ideal were intimidated and harrassed out of existence. Nevertheless, by and large these mythologies about sacrificing Communist heroes were used right up to the Wende as support for an increasingly brittle regime. It was a testament to the abject failure of the GDR that they needed to use old men from a lost war 50 years past as models for The New Socialist Man. A must read for cold war fans. The length of the book was just right also.

After visiting Spain this spring, I read this book. It is a wonderful representation of the country and its people. The pictures are outstanding. Anyone considering a trip to Spain or just wants to remember the country should read this book. It took me right back to Spain!!

One of the military campaigns that changed world history has been rescued from near oblivion by Albert D. McJoynt, editor of this classic work. The fall of Moorish Granada to Spain's Catholic rulers, Ferdinand and Isabella, was a turning point in establishing the boundaries between Christendom and Islam in the West, boundaries which had been in conflict for nearly a millennium. It also allowed the royal couple to launch Columbus' voyage with its well-known impact on the course of human events.

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This was one of several books purchased before our trip to Spain. It was easy to take on the plane and also fit in a purse pocket and proved to be a good small reference book. Get a more detailed and more current guide for pre-planning, but this book is easy to use and provides pictures and facts and directions and maps that make this a fine addition to your trip planning.

Whitshaw spends her life in an arid part of Spain trying to put together and understand several pieces of an unknown pre-Roman ancient civilization. Among the pieces of her most interesting puzzle are an ancient but apparently still functioning (in 1928) aquaduct with no discoverable destination, a castle built of multiple layers each from a different era, unusual ancient mining processes in the rich nearby mining fields, a very puzzling rectangular pool cut in the bottom of the Rio Tinto river, several different and very curious water sources one with an unknown "temple" somewhere out under a desert floor, and the fascinating villagers and local natives of a time when this area was very remote and inaccessable. This is one of my all-time favorite books as it gives not only some very real and mysterious puzzles for the mind to gnaw on but a strong flavor for the time and place Elena writes from. She also suggests other aquaducts scattered along the Rio Tinto river and describes how the area guarded by the castle was the entrance to one of the ancient world's richest mineral fields worked by humans and perhaps, well, something else which is too small and peculiar to be human and digs vertical shafts into mineral deposits unlike any later miners. She also searches for the ways that the ancients got the wealth of this vast mineral field out into the wider world. Truly a book full of food for thought.

El libro de Aznar es un aporte no sólo para el conocimiento de los hechos recientes, sino también para todos aquellos que en estos días tienen que gobernar en un mundo complejo y contradictorio.

En lo ideológico, comienza por definirse como un liberal, como un liberal conservador, pero sustancialmente liberal, destacando el valor de la libertad, al que sólo debe limitar el estado de derecho y el rol que en este marco tiene el liderazgo político y la forma como trató de ejercerlo.

Un libro de plena actualidad, necesario para entender la realidad política y social de la España actual. Recomiendo su lectura. Este libro confirma que antes que un político, Aznar es un estadista.

Nothing about the Azores islands is what you would expect. They exist in the middle of the Atlantic where there should be no land. Their culture is European, the flora Asian, the terrain a wild meeting of volcano and sea. And, in the midst of these nine Portuguese islands, one finds a common volcanic past, and very little in common. This is the perfect guide, it has all the info you need.

Fist, let me explain first that the Azores are an autonomous region of Portugal, some 2,000 nautical miles due east of Portsmouth, and 1,000 nautical miles off the coast of Portugal. They were created by violent volcanic activity some 100 million years ago, and exist at the meeting place of the tectonic plates of Africa, Europe and America. Consisting of nine islands, it is divided into three groups: the eastern (São Miguel and Santa Maria), the central (Terceira, Graciosa, São Jorge, Pico and Faial), and the western (Corvo and Flores). The islands were uninhabited until Portuguese sailors sighted them in the 1420s. By 1450 the first Portuguese settlements has been built.

This is a great little review of highlights in Barcelona. The coupons were accepted happily everywhere we presented them. The book will pay for itself, easily. It should, however, caution people against the muggers who seem to be thriving in the city. I was violently mugged less than a block from my hotel off of La Ramabla. Other similar stories were told by many others. Be cautious-day or night in Barcelona!

This map is the perfect size to carry in a back pocket. Easy to use while walking.

I've used these Pocket Pilot maps for years for different cities throughout the world. They work great. They fold down small enough to easily pack in your pocket but still have enough detail to get you around to most addresses. They also list major hotels, major shopping centers, churches and other points of interest which is very helpful as a tourist if you're staying in a larger hotel. They also have a subway map of the city and the subway stops and which lines are served are clearly shown on the city map plus a close approximation of where the entrance/exits are for the subways. They're very durable don't get destroyed by being stuffed into your pockets.

Basque Nationalism and the Spanish State is a scholarly study of Basque nationalism specifically in the context of the historical rise and evolution of the Spanish nation-state. Andre Lecours (associate professor of political science, Concordia University) examines how Basque nationalism has been greatly influenced by the different forms of the state, from its confederal, centralist, and authoritarian historical phases to its democratic phases. Of especial interest is the up-to-date scrutiny of the movement in the wake of recent events such as ETA's announcement in 2006 of a permanent cease-fire. "A fourth process of globalization is peculiar to Europe: political integration. The European Union influences nationalist movements in different ways. From a discursive perspective, the EU can be presented as being either antithetical to, or coherent with, substate nationalism." A welcome contribution to Spanish history and political science reference shelves, especially in college libraries.