Portugal Books

It is not exactly a fetching title for a work of fiction!
It sounds like... well, a history book, does it not?
And in a sense, it is a history book, but one that basically, from start to finish, speculates upon what exactly a book of "history" is! It questions the nature of history and the relationship of words to truth and reality.
Much like another favorite author of mine [Ian McEwan], Saramago's fiction capitalizes on the effects of seemingly innocuous antecedent causes. He has the uncanny ability of constructing looming fictional mountains from the most shadowless of molehills.
In Siege of Lisbon, he is writing at the height of his powers.

Our protagonist is Raimundo Silva, a middle-aged, quiet, [somewhat] celibate bachelor, well-respected for his years of accuracy as proof-reader for a well-known publishing house.
One day, while proof-reading a standard text of the history of the siege of Lisbon, Raimundo inexplicably succumbs to an urge to insert one word in the concluding portions of the text.
This word "not" [the most shadowless of molehills] amounts to a sort of re-invention of the founding myth of Portugal. As amended by Silva, the text now reads that the crusaders did not come to the aid of the 12th-century Portuguese King who was laying siege to Lisbon, aiming to expel the Moors from the area.

Silva submits his bastardized work and then lives twelve full days of angst-riddled guilt, pending discovery and punishment, both of which duly arrive in the form of a pre-judged tribunal, with Raimundo in the dock!
He is acquitted of his offense, but put on probation. And to deal with any further lapses in proof-reading efficiency, the publisher has hired a new executive. The young, voluptuous, alluring and astute Maria Sara, to whom Raimundo will be obligated to report.
Rather than being reproachful, Maria is fascinated with Raimundo's anarchic ways.
In a private meeting, she proposes that he write his own version of the siege of Lisbon... the version which would elaborate upon his insertion of the word "not." Initially, he feels unequal to the task, but soon becomes equally obsessed with the idea, and sets out upon his assignment.

But this is not the only obsession now alive in Raimundo. Along with the project, he is also obsessed with Maria, and she, with him.
What follows in the book before us is an amazing intertwining of history with fiction.
As in, it happens not only in the book that is in our own hands, but also in the one that Raimundo is writing, for he creates a love story within his fictionalized "history" that mirrors his own burgeoning relationship with Maria.

What we hold in our hands is:
a) a contemporary love story, set in modern-day Lisbon.
b) an unorthodox "Raimundo-ized" retelling of events surrounding the actual siege of Lisbon in 1147, which itself resolves into a believable love affair between a common soldier and a knight's concubine.
c) a wonderfully rich and rewarding Saramagian discourse on the mutability of history, and the inadequacy of words to describe what is [too often] perceived as fact.

This being the eighth Saramago novel I have read, it saddens me to think there is only one left for me to read through for the first time. [The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis]. The thing about Jose Saramago is that each novel is so good, that while you are reading it, you feel a loyalty to claiming that it is his best work. I felt that way repeatedly during the reading of The History of the Siege of Lisbon.

Sentences and passages run off into the horizon like an endlessly rolling landscape. His use of punctuation is completely not normal. Some of his sentences go on for pages at a time, spliced together with a sand-on-the-seashore amount of commas. Within sentences, new speakers speak, with no use of quotation marks differentiating one from the other.
If Saramago submitted to any sort of standardized Grammar Test [something I cannot imagine him doing...] any teacher would have to fail him. Then, were that same teacher to read something by Saramago, she would find that the old man has much to teach her, about grammar.

Such unconventionality extends even to the narration. In Saramago, the narrator must be listed as a principle character so absorbingly digressive and ubiquitously intercalary that he is nowhere non-evident, often stumbling forward to inform the reader that there are certain things that even he cannot possibly know, and hence, in humble non-omniscience, he must remain silent upon these issues!
In a word, if you have not experienced the work of Jose Saramago, I greatly encourage you to dive in. And The History of the Siege of Lisbon seems to me as good a place as any, to begin.

Readers of Saramago will recognize the protagonist of this disarmingly charming novel from his other work: a reclusive, shy, bachelor who works in a Kafkaesque world as an unseen, undistinguished clerk and who, one day, inexplicably does something that shatters the routine and frees him from the daily grind. In this story, Raimundo Silva is a proofreader and his act of rebellion is to insert a single word --"not"--into the manuscript on the history of the siege of Lisbon. Upon publication, the book states (incorrectly) that foreign crusaders did not help the Portuguese with the 12th-century siege that wrested Lisbon from the Moors.

From such seemingly trite and random events emanate massive life changes (and subversive comedies). When his publisher discovers the embarrassing and costly error, they hire a new boss to oversee the proofreaders. Instead of mistrusting her new charge, however, she is intrigued by his inexplicable act of subversiveness, and she subtly (well, not that subtly) recommends that he write his own book, an entry in the genre of alternative history: what would have happened if the Crusaders had indeed turned down King Afonso's request for aid? Silva takes up the challenge, and the remainder of the Saramago's novel alternates (often within the same sentence) between Silva's imaginary book and his subsequent life in Lisbon.

At the most obvious level, Saramago is commenting on the tension between historiography and history, between fiction and veracity. Furthermore, there are many parallels--in themes, in characters, in style, in plot--between this book and Saramago's later novel, "All the Names." And, as always, the author's snakelike, page-long sentences demand much from the reader even as they offer insight, beauty, wit, and comedy.

What's unexpected here, however, is the depth of the twin love stories that develop in both the novel and the novel-within-the-novel. "I don't know how people loved at that time," confesses Silva to his own new love about the challenge of writing his book. Her advice: "Invent a love story without any amorous words, . . . assuming such a thing is possible." But his confession and her response are not only about the historical work at hand; they also serve as veiled remarks about the couple's own nascent relationship. In addition to questioning the very nature of how we conceive and recall history, Saramago's novel teases out the human passions behind the parade of names and events selected for the official versions in the chronicles.

I have had a difficult time deciding how many stars I should appoint to "The History of the Siege of Lisbon", and here's why--I found the following passage to be a pragmatic and insightful observation of human character:

"...We're positively mad, Do you mean us, No, I was referring to people in general, I'm one of those people who thinks that human beings have always been mentally deranged, As platitudes go, that isn't bad, Perhaps it will sound less like a platitude if I tell you that in my opinion madness is the result of the shock produced in man by his own intelligence and we still haven't recovered from the trauma three million years later..."

This is part of a conversation between the two main contemporary characters in the book, Raimundo Silva and Maria Sara, and no matter how many times I re-read it, ticking off sentence by sentence, I cannot tell who believes human beings to be mentally deranged, Raimundo Silva or Maria Sara. I suspect these words belong to Silva because they have a male arrogance about them, but that's not the point. These words could just as easily have come from Maria Sara. It is possible that Saramago meant for the reader to be confused, to show his characters becoming one mentally as well as physically, but I don't think so. I think that in the original Portuguese there is some gender inflection that casts this dialog in context.

Perhaps, perhaps not, but here's the rub: When an author abandons the norms of punctuation and structure in order to create a different ambience within the story, well, the story better work. This could be the most difficult book I have ever read. I am even thinking back to my days with Proust and Dostoevsky, and I think Saramago's got them beat. I experienced moments of sincere enjoyment, but these were few. For the most part this book was pure work, confusing and slow. But within the confused sentence structure I could sometimes sense a meter; I could detect an order and flow to the words and I found an irony there. Saramago's main character, a proof-reader, alters history by changing a single word in a historical text, launching a hidden narrative that reaches out from medieval times to connect with the present--islands in the stream of time. The continuity of timelessness is what Saramago represents with his run-on sentence structure, and his lines in the Portuguese must read with the beauty of verse. Alas, this beauty is lost in the English translation, like a crucial change in a historical account, creating a much different story, almost a mystery...interesting, now I must re-read the book. Brilliant! Five stars.

This was my first Saramago book. I read it in 2000, and I am still amazed by it. once you get pass the first few pages you'll get a feeling for the style of the book and you'll start enjoying it.

The story reminded me of something obvious about history: history, as we know it, is written by the winners. Losers do not have much to say when looking back to recollect what happened. The winner's biases are all over history books and the loser's perspective is lost in the way. The book is much more that that, there is a love story in the background, and there are beautiful descriptions of the city of Lisbon.

After reading The year of the death of Ricardo Reis a book I thought was one of the best ever written and Blindness (not quite the best book ever written) I thought by buying this I was in for a good read...wrong!

Jose Saramago continues his bizarre obsession with young women being attracted to decrepid old men (as he does in all his books) The story is thin, uninteresting and leads nowhere and the siege (read massacre) of the Muslims of Lisbon by the 'brave' crusader knights seems to have little to do with the plot apart from add a little sexual sleeze (the gang rape of a Arab woman by crusader knights) and some ill placed Portuguese nationalism.

This book got the "usted" verbs wrong starting on page 42. For example, "you speak" is supposed to be "usted hablas", not "usted habla". "el/ella habla" means "he/she speaks". Otherwise, this book is OK for tourists who hadn't studied Spanish before. For the "Spanish veteran" who wants a review, you might want to try Ultimate Spanish by Living Language, Rosetta Stone, or better yet, take a college Spanish class.

For those with basic but not great Spanish skills, this was a great book for refreshing your vocabulary for basic things you may need for travel. I'm sure my grammar is horrible and this book certainly did not focus of ensuring I spoke in the correct verb tense all the time, but it did enable me to communicate and transact basic needs , such as checking into a hotel, ordering at a restaurant, or getting directions. Hey, I'm just a gringo trying to show the decency and respect to speak a little bit of the language when traveling; for this purpose, this is an excellent resource.

The seller misrepresented this workbook, and I was quite disappointed when I got it. It was advertised as being in excellent condition, and all of the flash cards were torn out of the back.

I first checked this book out from the library. It is so good , I purchased a copy from Amazon. This book has the normal words used everyday. It is easy to follow and you do it at you own pace. You are learning how to speak in easy short sentences. It has flash cards that speed up the learning process. Of all the reference books I have, this is the one I pick up first. This book will be great if you are going on vacation and only need to know certain things :)

This text is either for the very beginning beginner or a good review for the person who has been away from Spanish for a time.
It is done in a logical manner and in workbook form. It has stickers for nouns and cutouts for flashcards of the important beginning vocabulary in the book. It is fun to do and quick to finish.

OK, the historians out there are complaining about the lack of footnotes. The 99% of the other people who read this lively, informative, and entertaining book won't miss the footnotes. The author weaves the three stories of Columbus, the Spanish Inquisition, and expulsion of the Moors in a compelling way.

The skill of this author as a storyteller is unparalleled, its like watching a movie not reading a book. As for the critics claiming the lack of referencing, yes, you might be correct, but I double-checked several doubtful historic facts and they are all accurate.

Hatem A Tawfik, MD
Cairo Egypt

I picked up this book to learn more about the Inquisition because lately the concept of religious persecution in Europe has been on my mind. The book had a broader scope which was partially satisfying.

The author's apparent thesis is to show the inter-play between the simultaneous events of the
Inquisition, the defeat of the Moors and the voyage of Columbus. I believe the author succeed in showing the relation between the Inquisition and the war. But not the interplay with Columbus's voyage.

While the Inquisition had a life of its own fueled by the radical piety of Isabella it was also used to fund the war through confiscation of property from wealthy Jewish converts to Christianity followed closely by confiscations from all Jews. The author made this point nicely.

However, the relationship of Columbus's voyage to either the war or the inquisition was not as clear. Yes, the voyage was also supported by the religious zeal of Isabella and the voyage was postponed until the war was over but no other significant interplay between the events was explored.

The format is a light narrative style built around the lives of the principal players. I generally enjoy this format but with three simultaneous plots and so many players I found it a bit hard to get into the flow of the characters and the book until the final third.

I did not learn as much about the actual Inquisition as I had hoped. But understanding how Ferdinand used the Inquisition and religious persecution of Jews to balance his war budget was invaluable.

For this alone I would recommend the book.

A smoothly written summary focusing on events in late 15th century Catholic Spain, but touching also on political intrigue in Portugal, the Vatican, among the defeated Moors, and elsewhere. The Inquisition, the expulsion of the Jews, and Columbus' at times clumsy efforts to win support for his initial voyage West are covered in some detail. This book is not intended for the historically learned or professional scholar. Rather, it is an agreeable tour through a fascinating and significant era in European history. I recommend it to lay readers who enjoy history while also taking pleasure in a well told story.

This book offers a unique look at what lead up to the year 1492, according to the author, and in my opinion too one of the most important years in our history. The unique part is because the author looks at this history more through the eyes of the Muslims, who civalization before 1492 was an amazing and advanced civalization, really the golden age of Islam civilization. I do think though that the author spend too much time being pro-islam and forgets about the Christian side as well, it would have been nice to see both sides of the conflict. I like how the author compares the downfall of the moorish civilization, and the reconquista. I would also have liked if the author spent more time actually talking about the year 1492, and less about what lead up to it. Over all a very well written book.

"Iberia" is an amazing book. I can't believe that a person could research and write this book and get anything else done in one lifetime. It is a great book to read immediately before or immediately after a trip to Spain. Michener's enthusiasm for his subject is quite evident as he discusses nearly every imaginable aspect of Spain.

Make no mistake, this book represents a reading challenge. In the paperback version it is over 900 pages long and covers such a wide variety of subjects related to Spain that there is probably something to interest most readers. However, there is probably something to bore most readers as well.

I enjoyed Michener's personal travel anecdotes and his reviews of European history the most. Michener's reviews of paintings and sculptures go on at great length at times, but would probably be fantastic for someone who is more of an art aficionado than I.

The book was published in 1968 so it is a bit dated, but it is still a great review of all things pertaining to Spain.

As usual , James Michener narrative about Spain is very nice and worth reading to anybody, specially individuals who are planning to visit in the near future

IBERIA is non-fiction memoir of Michener's experiences in Spain. I read the book before I went to Spain and found that Michener was right. He said Spain haunts people who go there. I've been all over the world and Spain is the only place that haunts me in a delicious way.

Spain likely was the heart and soul of Imperial Rome.

IBERIA is a splendid tale about a splendid place.

Written in 1968 this is a non-fictional account of James Michener's travels throughout Spain during his lifetime. He includes much history, local culture, tradition, and insight into this somewhat enigmatic country. Still relevant, but if you'd like to complement this book with a more recent follow-up, I would suggest Ghosts of Spain by Giles Tremlett, but first read Michener if you want to get some great comprehensive background. The two in fact complement each other.

This book is a rambling, dated, starry-eyed tourist's view of Spain. For a cultural guide or a historical record, try Ghosts of Spain: Travels Through Spain and Its Silent Past or The Buried Mirror: Reflections on Spain and the New World. If you must buy it, get some tissues -- you'll be bored to tears.

I am of Spanish descent and I have read many books on Spain, but none as comprehensive as this one. It is easy to read, easy to follow and concise. I would highly recommend it to those who wish a very good short version of Spain's history. It informs the reader with all he needs to know about the history of this fascinating country and its people.
Lillian Mejia Martin

This book is a very interesting general history of Spain and its history. The book traces chronologically the development of Spain from its prehistoric origins to the present day. The most fascinating section is when the author deals with the Recoquista, the 800 year long struggle by Christians to win Spain back from Moorish occupation. In addition, the book deals with the peaceful co-existance of three cultures, Jewish, Moorish and Christian, that existed in Spain for some two hundred years. This culture cooperation was one of the high points of Spanish culture and civilization. With the unity of Catholic Spain, this cultural tolerance disappeared. The author deals with the cruelty of the Spanish Civil War in a very objective and clear fashion. This book is an excellent introduction for any student or tourist who wants to visit this amazingly diverse country.

While visiting Spain with my wife we bought this book in Seville. I enjoyed every part of it especially the end of each chapter which holds a list of the monuments relevant to the history of that chapter. I took it on a trip to Spain with my wife and it made the trip magical.

This book reviews the history of Spain from the Romans to nowadays. In his witty account, the author goes on to reveal the love, and bed affairs of kings that you wouldn't see in your censored Spanish history textbook.
For once I discovered that the world Spain comes from the Phoenician world Hispalis, 'the land of the rabbits' and that the soccer fervor that lives through Spain has its origins in the likes of Franco.
I am Spanish and learned from this book more than from all my Spanish history classes. I finally got to read about the Spanish Civil war, which was always in the last chapter of the history book and, mysteriously we never had time to cover during class (I went to a catholic school)

Many ides on this book reminded me of the 'Da Vince Code', I wonder if Dan Brown also bought the book in the cathedral of Seville while visiting there?

This book is a shocking fabrication of the authors fantasy. Sweeping statements presented as fact. Enourmous errors of history. A very badly written paper, giving no explanation of the sources of information. Huge chunks of fabricated ideas and story, the authors opinion of circumstance is vastly personal and reveals what I can only discribe as an ignorant inward looking racist american, with no true grip on the affairs of spain! How did this book get published? "Golden Era Books" clearly is not a seat of academic acclaim. I am genuinely shocked. This book reads more like a tabloid newspaper scandal than a factual history of Spain. Dont buy this book.

Is there substance? Yes, not a lot, but there is a brief overview of history here.

Is there fluff? Oh hell yes and way too much of it. There are just way too many asides and way too much focus on kings rather than conditions. For example, he explains that Caesar may have had a homosexual escapade in Spain. NOT PERTINENT and a little offensive to boot. Remove such things and you have about 50 pages of worthy reading and I have to question some of his findings in those 50.

He goes to great lengths to brush over Spanish atrocities in the New World and at Home, claiming they are basically English racism towards the Spanish designed as a PR campaign against. I have no doubt that such existed as the two countries have long had problems, but that doesn't mean the Spanish Conquistadors weren't brutal (and downright evil at times). And the Inquisition should never have detractors. The most telling moment of the book happens, after detailing this "racism", he then goes on another aside to tell how the Irish sold out the Spanish for a bottle of whisky. Holy crap is that the pot calling the kettle black and how any editor would let that slip through, calls into question the entire book. So I learned a little from it, but it's not worth your effort. Seek other books.

A very good introductory book to the Conquest of Latin America. Though I do have to say, use only as an introduction. It is not a very good book to cite for any research. A very good example of showing both sides of the story; Spanish vs. Native.

Not a review of this book.
Just to emphasized that no one who has read Bernal Diaz del Castillo's "Conquest of Mexico" would hold to any of the misconceptions noted in doomsdayer520's first paragraph. His famous memoir shows that Bernal Diaz was honest and clear-eyed, and perpetually open to the humanity of the Aztecs and the aware of, even the victim of, the venality of his countrymen.

I got this book because I find pre-columbian Mesoamerica fascinating, and I also enjoy the vivid clash of cultures which occured when the Spaniards arrived there. This book describes the conflict between the Aztecs and Spaniards superbly! This book is somewhat unique among histories because it takes the point of view of the vanquished rather than the victors. It starts from before the Spaniards arrive with eerie premonitions of eminent doom to the fall of Tenochtitlan and the suffering associated with that, then proceeds to give a short account of the plight of the native Nahuas after the conquest. Leon-Portilla uses a vast array of native sources from the Florentine Codex to the Cantares Mexicanos(which consists of Native American songs about the conquest), and combines them to create a lively and pleasant read, and its fairly short length add to its overall unburdensome style. In fact for me this book was harder not to read than to read. The tale is full of lively adventure, fascinting omens and cultural tidbits(such as the Aztec dedication to human sacrifice and their belief that the Spaniards were gods), violence, and sorrow. This book is a must for the Aztec fan, the conquistador fan, or anyone who likes an engaging story that just happens to be history.

Broken Spears does something very interesting in his book that no one else has ever tried to do. He approaches the invasion of Mexico from the perspective of the Aztecs. He looks at the court of Montezuma and tells us how the invasion looked from their perspective. This is a very astute look at the invasion and one of the most unique out there. It is very well written and holds the readers interest. The biggest downfall of the book is that if you are not familiar with the story you will find it lacking in information. It assumes a great deal of information about the invasion that can be gotten from other books. It also takes into account the rise and fall of Montezuma and how the kingdom was not as unified as it appeared. If you are going to study Latin American history than this is a must read.

This book is important because it is scholarly, yet written for the average person interested in history of this period. It is very important in that it is the only contemporary book I know of which specifically and consciously attempts to present the native side of the story. It is not a work of pandering, left-wing revisionism. It is a compilation of native historical sources: the Tlaxcala, and the Mexica themselves--often through Spanish priests who recorded their words, including poetry. The thing to remember is that it is the Aztec/Mexica point of view, and we usually get the Euro-centric version--there is a difference. Both are useful and needed to make a complete picture.

I thought this book a great teacher to me in my desire to travel to Spain. I am looking forward to my trip and feel that because of information from the book I chose wisely. Candace Seviss

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Summary:
Every Dorling Kindersley Guide has been a great and interesting book... and delightful to have and use, even if you are not traveling to that location, but are only interested in learning more!

The Guides are well organized in a logical and easy to follow manner. They are beautifully illustrated, well developed with accurate information (it is unusual for hotel and restaurant information to be that accurate), have enough history to help the reader understand the people and cultural background, and have a lot of useful travel information and useable maps in the appendixes.

But, the really great attraction to this book is several fold; it is:
............Very complete
............Easy to read
............Beautifully and artistically completed
............Good shopping, safety and other tips
............Gorgeous photographs too numerous to list.

Summary Negative:

The country books are too general to really satisfy all your needs in any given location. So, if your entire trip is spent in Malega, for example, you will also want to get the specific guide for that city (but, the Barcelona Section is fairly good)

Guide Specifics:

The guides are organized as follows:

How to use this guide
Introduction to Spain
............Putting Spain on the Map
............Portrait of Spain
............Spain Through the Year
............History of Spain

Northern Spain
............Introducing Northern Spain
............Galicia

............Asturias and Cantabria
............Basque CountryNorthern Spain

Barcelona
............Introducing Barcelona
............Old Town
............Eixample
............Montjuic
............Farther Afield
............Barcelona Street Finder Index
............Shopping and Entertainment in Barcelona

Spain by Region
............Eastern Spain
........................Specific Cities / Towns
............Madrid
........................Introducing Madrid

........................Bourbon Madrid
........................Farther Afield
........................Madrid Street Finder
........................Shopping and Entertainment in Madrid
........................Madrid Province

............Central Spain
........................Specific Cities / Towns
............Southern Spain
........................Specific Cities / Towns
............Spain's Islands
........................Specific Cities / Towns

Travelers Needs
............Hotels
............Restaurants

Survival Information
............Practical Info.
........................Police, safety, buses, trains, etc.
............Travel Info.
........................Maps, tours, currency, etc.
............General Index
............Phrase Book

Discussion:
The book begins with "A Portrait of Spain", including a complete map, a review of Spain, it's history, and Spain's History (very interesting), and Spain thought the Year - including events, etc.,

Region with an "At a glance" overview, then has subsections of Cities / Towns, then specific locations, churches, historical monuments, bridges, galleries, etc.

The Barcelona section is excellent. However, is not necessarily worth the whole book (and its weight) if you are only traveling to Barcelona. Personally, I find Barcelona is one of the finest European cities. I would go there for any reason, anytime. And, many of our corporate clinets and their European attendees feel the same way. While in Barcelona, don't miss Sitges - it's a quaint and quiet little town Southwest of Barcelona ... just a 20 minute ride from the airport. (Actually, this ride from the airport is shorter than if you go to Barcelona in traffic!)

Architectural reviews include various views, and cutaways; given greater understanding and better perspective. They are all attractive, if not works of art - honestly.

The travelers' Info. offers good and valid info. on prices, currencies, customs, important words, etc. I used the reviews on resorts, hotel's restaurants and nightclubs, etc. and found they were useful and accurate, and helpful with my touring and site decisions

The books are so well thought out that it has multiple maps, with various lookup tables, and the book's flaps are designed to be used as bookmarks for map pages.

Negative:
The country-wide guides are by definition more general than the specific city guides. So, if you are only going to Barcelona, get the specific "Barcelona" guide (another great guide). If you decide to get the "Spain" guide for your 3, or 4 city tour of Spain, understand that this guide may be a little to general for all your local travel needs. But, of the "country" guides, this one is thorough.

Conclusion:
As the President, CEO of an International Meeting Planning Corporation we have many resources and techniques to learn about places we have meetings / groups at as well as the cities and sights. But, as a traveler, this book really is top notch and I would recommend it to anyone going on a personal trip, or wanting to learn about a city, or location.

Happy Travels!

This series of books are simply the best for the following needs
1)You want to know if some attraction is worth seeing. These books show you interior shots of the attraction, floor plans etc.
2)You want a map of the city pointing out these places.

I used these guides when I went to Spain and Hawaii in the last year. They really are great. Particularly if you want to know if you should schedule something in vaca time or not. They also provide a glimps into local customs and dining ... much more than any other guide. These guides though are not so good for choosing a hotel since they normally only give a small blurb on selected hotels and not much detailed information.

All in all these are the prefered books to have for checking out the highlights of your destination. I've often torn pages out to keep with me on my trips.

This is the heaviest book I own. I like to travel light, and wouldn't consider packing this book. It is full of detail that you would use while traveling, but not very interesting to read in advance and get a general sense of what to expect. I will have to order another guide - and donate this to the Friends of the Library Sale.

A family member gave me the Eyewitness Travel Guide to Spain as a bon voyage gift, and it has proved an essential guide on what to see, do, and eat in Spain. As someone who will be spending a bit of time in northern Spain (four months), the Eyewitness Guide has proved invaluable on excursions to nearby cities (including Madrid). Since Spain is full of thousands of monuments, churches and cathedrals, bullrings (for those who, like me, oppose the inherent cruelty of bullfights and animal abuse in Spain, one can always appreciate the architecture of famous bullrings), museums, palaces, monasteries and other places of interest, the Eyewitness Guide gives you the best of the best, with brief synopses, maps and must-sees in museums, street maps, photos, historical backgrounds and more.

I especially appreciated the features for each region, such as wildlife, wines, and regional food specialties. I plan to visit many different cities and regions while I am in Spain, and now I have ideas on what I want to spend my time on. There is also a handy survival guide including phoning in Spain, police, shopping suggestions, size charts for clothing and shoes and monetary conversions between Euros and pesetas.

I found this book most useful in conjunction with the "Let's Go: Spain, Portugal and Morocco" guide that was given to me by a friend before I left. My only grudge with the Eyewitness guide is its lack of lodging information--there are few hotels (and no hostels) listed, even though there are upwards of twenty in my town (Burgos). The "Let's Go" guide is more useful for (cheap) lodging information, and the hostel I stayed at in Madrid (Hostal Aguilar, Calle San Jeronimo 32, second floor) was an unbeatable bargain, as well as spotlessly clean with a private bath and centrally located. If I had used the Eyewitness guide I would have easily spent much more. Also, there are no maps for smaller cities, something which the "Let's Go" guide provides. But finding maps in Spanish towns is generally not difficult as there are tourism offices in nearly every town that provide maps free of charge.

Overall, the Eyewitness guide is well worth the price, and the colourful photos, excellent research and interesting side notes make exploring Spain a pleasure. Extremely useful for the traveller or for those who are working and living in Spain.

The Spanish Inquisition by Henry Kamen is a balanced overview of this sad part of Spanish History. At 300 plus pages the author shows the motivation behind the Spanish Inquisition and that this inquisition was just that, "Spanish." By sourcing Inquisition, Spanish, and other documentation author Kamen traces the roots and history of the Spanish Inquisition. He shows how this was a tool of the unified Spanish Crown that resulted in its own fear of it past and inability, at times, to deal with contemporary Spain, which came to be at the end of the Muslim domination of Spain and rise of the Protestant Reformation in the rest of Europe. The author does not gloss over the suffering it caused to both Jewish and Muslim converts to Christianity, but shows that overall people were better treated by "The Holy Office" aka the Spanish Inquisition than the secular courts. Remember, heresy was a secular crime, punishable only by the secular authorities. And while those Jews and Muslims who did not convert might be considered heathens they could not be heretics. So, those who suffered at its hands were Catholics. The author also shows that, for its time, the Spanish Inquisition acted rationally. For example, when the great witchcraft scare was dominating Europe and its colonies (lets not forget the Salem Witch Trials) for its part the Spanish Inquisition so this phenomena as mental illness or an overactive imagination. In other words Witch hunting stopped dead in its tracks when it got to Spain. Henry Kamen does not gloss over the torture or burnings of the inquisition's victims, but does show that for all of Europe, Catholic and Protestant, this was not uncommon for most crimes. And, many of the victims of the Spanish Inquisition were burnt and punished in effigy. Kamen shows how the Spanish Crown used the Inquisition to deal with its fear of an Andulus (former Muslim rulers of Spain) Fifth column and the rise of Protestantism in Western Europe. Remember Spain controlled a good part of the present day Netherlands and Belgium as well as Parts of Germany. So some Lutheran ideas did make their way to Spain. But, Kamen also shows that much of Spain, mainly the rural areas, was never even touched by the Inquisition. And that the Inquisition never had whole hearted support from the crown, those in positions of power, and the common folk. It was not the Gestapo like machine painted by many of its critics. But, criticized it should be and author Kamen shows the sad effects of the Inquisition not only on its victims, but on Spain itself. The author concludes by showing that people's view of the Spanish Inquisition is not based on the historical data available but on the imaginations of those who have not reviewed or studied this data. Overall a great work of history is this book.

Contrary to some prejudiced reviewers who erroneously think that Kamen is attempting to justify or downplay the Spanish Inquisition, this book is actually a major work of historical scholarship. It is fascinating to learn the real story of what happened (and yes, it is quite barbaric by modern standards, though not nearly so horrific as the Black Legend would have us believe) since the Spanish Inquisition holds such a place of horror in the minds of average people today, who don't read history books. The book is very long and erudite, but if you are interested in learning about the facts of the Spanish Inquisition, you pretty much have to read this book.

As for putting to death the Black Legend, I'm afraid this book will do little, because mostly only scholars are going to read it. Certainly not anti-Catholics who twist history to suit their agenda.

Henry Kamen's The Spanish Inquisition is an amazing experience. It is a highly detailed, supremely scholarly and ultimately enlightening account of an historical phenomenon whose identity and reputation have become iconic. So much has been written about it, so many words have been spoken that one might think that there is not too much new to be learned. But this is precisely where Kamen's book really comes into its own, for it reveals the popular understanding of the Inquisition as little more than myth.

He explodes the notion that the busy-bodies of inquisitors had their nose in everyone's business. It was actually quite a rare event for someone to be called before it. And in addition, if you lived away from a small number of population centres, the chances were that that you would hardly even have known of its existence.

Also exploded is the myth of large numbers of heretics being burned at the stake. Yes, it happened, but in nowhere near the numbers that popular misconceptions might claim. Indeed, the more common practice was to burn the convicted in effigy, since the accused had fled sometimes years before the judgment, or they might have died in prison while waiting for the case to reach its conclusion. The intention is not to suggest that the inquisition's methods were anything but brutal, but merely to point out that perceptions of how commonly they were applied are often false.

Henry Kamen skilfully describes how the focus of interest changed over the years. Initially the main targets were conversos, converts to Christianity, families that were once Jewish or Muslim who converted to Christianity during the decades that preceded the completion in 1492 of Ferdinand and Isabella's reconquest. Protestants were targeted occasionally in the following centuries, but it was the families of former Jews that remained the prime target, sometimes being subjected to enquiry several generations after their adoption of their new faith. A focus on converts to Christianity gave rise to a distinction between Old and New Christianity, an adherent of the former being able to demonstrate no evidence of there having been other faiths in the family history.

What consistently runs through arguments surrounding Old and New Christianity, a distinction that was also described as pure blood versus impure blood, is that at its heart this apparent assertion of religious conformity was no more than raw xenophobia and racism. Henry Kamen makes a lot of the contradiction here, since Spain at the time was the most "international" of nations, having already secured an extensive empire and sent educated and wealthy Spaniards overseas to administer it. In addition, of course, Spain was emerging from a long period when Muslims, Jews and Christians lived competitively, perhaps, but also peacefully under Moorish rule. It is worth reminding oneself regularly that the desire and requirement for religious conformity during the reconquest was imposed from above.

Completing Henry Kamen's The Spanish Inquisition prompts the reader to reflect on which other major historical reputations might be based on reconstructed myth. One is also prompted to speculate on the future of an increasingly integrated Europe, a continent forcibly divided for half a century where xenophobia and religious intolerance might be closer to the surface than most of us would want to admit.

the votes for how helpful this review is are for a previous review that i have since deleted. this book is simply fascinating. especially for the reader with a generalized understanding of the spanish inquisition, it offers innumerable corrections to common misconceptions about the roles jews played in spain, the history of the new christians and the conversos and many other details. i guarantee that any student of history, after reading this book, will rank it among their favorites.

I read this book about six months ago and as I recall it was very informative. However I should say it is important to not base one's beliefes on just one source. The inquistion is serious subject that deserves indepth research. This book source I felt was more to do with appologetics than showing how religious dogma can be used to justify crimes against humanity.

This is a worthy addition to the Sharpe canon. Ripping battle scenes, a nasty villain, and interesting plot complications. My only quibble(and it probably only bugs me) is that I wish the Adverb Police would visit Mr. Cornwell. He has a character say something"briskly" not once, not twice, but three times, all within the space of 2 pages. Surely the proof reader should catch that. But that is really a minor annoyance in a very enjoyable read.

Great read, engrossing and thrilling. You will always be wanting to pick up the next one.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The action was great and it just was a book that was difficult to put down. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys military history.

With Napoleon facing no other opposition in Europe and having put 300,000 French troops in Iberia, the Brits and the Portuguese are beleaguered and falling back. Marshal Massena pushes forward, planning to take Lisbon soon. He needs to: Wellington has scorched the Portuguese earth and the invaders are hungry.

Massena meets unexpectedly stiff resistance at the ridge of Bussaco before his soldiers plunder Coimbra and his army turns south.

There, in an amazing feat of both engineering and secrecy, Wellington has managed to construct a 50-mile long fortification from the River Tagus to the Atlantic. He has altered rivers, flooded lowlands, moved entire hillsides to create unscalable cliffs, built hundreds of forts and filled valleys with thornbushes, creating a major killing field.

Sharpe fears for his career when Colonel Lawford "temporarily" places his pompous brother-in-law in charge of Sharpe's rifle company at Bussaco. And Sharpe runs afoul of Ferreira, Portuguese intelligence officer, and the latter's rogue brother Ferragus, whom Sharpe realizes secretly conspire to feed the French and secure a place under their regime.

Captured while searching for the food caches, Sharpe and Harper, along with loyal Portuguese officer Vincente and Ferreira's English governess Sarah Fry, must make a harrowing escape, first from their cellar prison and then across the French-controlled countryside. Sharpe, needless to say, still wants to catch the brothers and get even. An enjoyable installment in the series. The battle detail, particularly at Bussaco, is very good.

Another classic Sharpe. Like other Sharpe books, this one is a very easy-reading and entertaining book.

I thought this was an excellent view of Spain, not found in American schools. We learn such a narrow vision of history when taught by the conquerors.

This book was written by a Brit, Stanley Lane-Poole in the 1880's and has been published in many editions since then. Unfortunately it seems to have been adopted as required reading in many "Black Studies" departments in recent years mostly on the mistaken belief that the Moors of Spain were black Africans who are normally associated with the tribes in the sub-Sahara rather than the North African tribes which are a mixture of Berbers, Arabs, Semites, and numerous other categories.
The book is really a mishmash of fantasy and fact that is so intertwined that it is impossible to know which is which unless you have read some more serious scholarship on the history of Iberia from the invasion of the peninsula in the 8th century until the Moors and Jews were banished from Spain by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella in 1492.
The introduction by John Jackson of this edition is really beyond dumb. It shows a complete lack of understanding of what nonsense the original book was, and compounds them with even bigger heaps of poor scholarship.
The history of the Moors in Spain was very complex, and the blending of the various Mohammedan dynasties and their very different approaches to their rule of the "infidels" of Iberia's vastly complex tribal subdivisions in this book makes it pretty close to worthless as history.
If you are looking for a book on this fascinating region that does a much better job than this one, you could do worse than start with Reilly's The Medieval Spains (Cambridge Medieval Textbooks).

I am very glad Mr. Stanley Lane Poole wasn't as prejudiced as the eurocentric scholars and students today.If he had been he wouldn't have been able to peice together such an exquisite peice of work on the facts of history. It seems eurocentricists and those miseducated by eurocentricism, are absolutely obsessed with trying to prove that other nations, races and peoples are "less" than them and will go to no ends to convince themselves that their illusion is true.Its really pitiful. I understand though because for a eurocentricist to admit the moors were black africans whom raised and taught the people of Spain ,whom were savage barbarians at the time, would be giving the africans..a little too much credit.

By the way, if you want to know who the moors were race-wise, check the country of Morocco's archives, look up Sultan Sidi Muhammad, grandfather of the sultan who signed "the treaty of peace and friendship" with America (in 1787), when you see his picture you will see without a doubt,that he was a black african.A descendant of the african moors who occupied spain.

This book initially grew in popularity over a decade ago through Ivan Van Sertimas book on the Moors in which this book was well quoted. Stanley Lane Poole was one of those unique writers who could write an accurate historical book in a style that was easy to read. This book covers the hstory of Andalusia or Muslim Spain from the initial conquest to the downfall of Granada and the expulsion of the Muslims from their homeland.

Its almost comical these days that a book like this would be considered 'politically corretc' Thing is, it was published over a century ago in an age much less tolerant than our own when Britain and the was in conflict with a declining Ottoman Turkey and almost at the peak of European colonialism. Yet still, we could find scholars of this quality.

Highly recomended.

A debt of gratitude is certainly in order to the eminent historian Stanley Lane Poole for his voluminous literary contribution to Moorish/Islamic culture and history. Lane Poole was a pioneer whose works in his field not only carried the standard of the era, but were nonpariel in his day.

The Story of the Moors in Spain, written roughly a century ago, is of course, a classic work, and its resurrection today to a rife readership, along with Lane Poole's general body of work and other literary contributions from authors addressing Moorish history, coincides with the contemporary movement of conscious Moors to awaken the general masses to an almost obscured and "forgotten," but relevant history.

Lane Poole renders an outstanding educational retelling of the history of the rise and fall of the Moorish Empire's North African annexed rule in Spain, which is ultimately the account of the beginning of the end of a once powerful people and their empire. I am most pleased and impressed that the book hedges not to identify the Moors in subject, as an African phenotype, although some will insist otherwise. There is much included here for conscious readers to be thankful for; but then there is perhaps much omitted. We must consider that recording the truth about African civilizations and their viable contributions to the world was a daring academic initiative in the 1800's for any author (even before the ascent of anti-Arab prejudice), especially since European academia obsessed with the golden rule of proliferating copious volumes of repugnant canards about Africa in general.

Readers will perhaps shed a tear or two (as I initially did and still do) ingesting Lane Poole's account of the final stand of the Moors; the fall of Granada. From the fierce resistance in the alpajarras, where vivid descriptions of battle read like Tolkien; to the gallant charge and final battle of Musa, who deserves much more ink in any historian's account of this time period; to the disgrace of King Boabdil as he relinquishes the throne he hastened to obtain through viciously selfish motives, and foolishly squandered through cowardice and ignorance; and finally, to the sad exile of the Moors, "You may weep like a woman for what you could not defend as a man."

So, this work certainly earns its place in the firmament of Moorish history literature (a sky which, unfortunately, doesn't necessarily teem with stars), and students of history will find it a great read and perfect Moorish History consultation. It is a monumental work for the ages, beautiful in that while holding a firm position on the tapestry of scholarly and academic merit, Lane Poole writes in a style that even children can comprehend and appreciate. An overall great and wonderful read.

And while it is unlikely that lane Poole could have predicted his work would one day find profound appreciation with a reading constituency that didn't exist as such when he wrote, he must be pleased today, for his contribution extends well beyond his grave.