Spain Books

Rafael Alberti (1902-1999) is one of the most notable poets of the 20th century. He is not nearly as well known as his friend Federico García Lorca and most of his work is still unavailable in English translation. City Lights has made an invalubable contribution in the effort to widen the availability of Alberti's work to English speaking readers. This collection from 1929, here in a bilingual version, is considered by many to be Alberti's greatest poetic achievement. Translator Christopher Sawyer-Laucanno set himself a monumental task and he comes through with dignity and grace. The brief introduction by noted Hispanist Ian Gibson (a Lorca specialist) is helpful and Alberti's autobiographical note (from 1955) is fascinating.
Critical inertia has set "Concernng The Angels" in a surrealist context, but the work is not at all exemplary of surrealist art nor does it reflect in any important ways significant surrealist influences. The collection is, rather, an immensely creative narrative of the redemptive value of imaginative art. Alberti, who two years after publishing this book began a life long engagement with the Communist Party and a commitment to political activism, here makes his best and most radical political statement. Read this book and discover what it is.

This book illustrates why City Lights Books is the most important tourist stop in San Francisco - they are the publishers of this excellent book. The Andalusian poet is a contemporary of Lorca, Dali etc. In his brief autobiographic note, he states that these poems were written at night in a frenzy. I believe him. At least three-quarters of the poems have a sense of being inspired rather than crafted i.e. as if they came as whole to the poet, i.e. as if they came directly from within as an expression of state-of-being rather than being created consciously by the artistic intellect.

Within the poems there is a significant variety in structure and tone although most share a sense of disorientation. There are very inventive images which absolutely fit in the poem although standing alone, that seems impossible. Throughout the poems there was only one image that jarred, one (to my mind) misplaced "piano". Some examples: "Ah yes. A suit of clothes went by / uninhabited, hollow" or "The earth was an enemy, / because it fled. / The sky an enemy, / because it never stopped."

This volume is bilingual - something I appreciate (or demand) in translations of poetry. It is a volume that bears reading and rereading in either or both languages.

Rafael Alberti's "Concerning the Angels" stands as not only one of the strongest & greatest collection of poems by a Spanish author in the twentieth century, but as the back cover states it is on par with other essential poetry books from all countries of the last century. Alberti's brief & poetic autobiographical statement at the beginning brings light to his mental state when he wrote the book in 1927-28. "What was I to do? How could I speak? How could I shout? How could I give form to that enmeshing tangle with which I was engaged in combat? How could I raise myself again from that catastrophic pit in which I had sunk? Submerging, burying myself more and more in my own ruins, covering myself up in my own rubble, with my insides torn, my bones splintered." Judging from the poems alone, one can tell that Alberti was in an anguished state. Alberti's recurrent idea of the soul in it's different conditions deserves to be examined closely & not be taken in a religious context, just as he informs us that, "the angels revealed themselves to me, not as Christian, bodily angels of the sort found in beautiful paintings or prints, but instead as irresistible forces of the spirit, maleable to the most turbid and secret states of my nature."


If people now find it hard to contemplate the notion of the soul in other than a strictly religious context, I have no reservations in stating this is one of the more lamentable effects of our consumer-driven society. As much as Alberti writes about the soul it is evident from these poems that he was witness to man's demoralization:

"body that for soul

had the void, nothing,"

"Ruined men, fixed,

in the wrecked cities,"

"Lost among equations, triangles, formulas and blue precipitates,

between bloody events, ruins and toppled crowns,

at the time of gold hunters and bank robberies,

in the tardy blush on the flat roofs

voices of angels anounced to you the casting off and loss of your soul."

Lorca brought "Concerning the Angels" with him to New York & was influenced by it while writing, "Poet in New York" esp. in his poems criticizing the greed of American capitalism. If capitalism & industrialized societies have offered us comfort & luxury, it has been enormously detrimental to our being, modern capitalism has turned people into exploitable objects with a dollar sign on everything. Beginning with Blake & Novalis, poets have been warning mankind about the negative effects of capitalism.


For Alberti physical death is preferable to anguish, especially after the loss of love. Rimbaud gave us a memorable definition of this when he wrote, "the only thing that is unbearable is that nothing is unbearable." The poet Ruben Dario writes of a different hope in death: "...Tell me that this horrible dread of agony which posesses me is my own wicked fault; that, dead, I will see the light of a new day, and then will hear you say, "Arise and walk!" Indeed, in extreme desperation what Alberti longs for more than anything else is either the void of death or a return to a state prior to becoming acquainted with love's disappointments. Usually this state assumes the form of childish innocence, but since this is more unlikely than the void of death, the most memorable lines of the book belong to the latter solution:

"Fly now from me, dark

Lucifer of quarries without dawn,

of wells without water

of caverns without sleep,

now, ember of the spirit,

sun,moon...

Oh, burn me!

More, more, yes, yes, more! Burn me!"

"Ugly one, sooty and muddy

I don't want to see you!

Before, you were snowy, gilded,

in a sled across my soul.

Ornamented pines. Slopes.

And now through the carriage houses,

of charcoal, filthy.

Out! Out! Away!"

"Always at counterlight,

never overtaken, alone,

soul alone...

Soul in pain:

lifeless brilliance,

you conquer."

In "Concerning the Angels" anguish usually appears in the form of mist, in fact three sections of the book bear the title, "Guests of the Mist", a line from G.A. Becquer, who Alberti dedicates one of the greatest poems of the entire book, "Three Remembrances of Heaven." This mist is the physical manifestation of Alberti's mental states, either completely obscuring anything colorful & promising or bringing back even more painful memories:

"Neither sun, moon, nor stars,

neither the unexpected green

of lightning or thunder

nor the breeze. Only mists."

Again the poem mirrors the conditions under which Alberti wrote them, "a creature of darkness, I began to write blindly at any hour of the night without putting on the light in my room."

We move with the poet through these skeins of mist, knowing all along, "to go to hell there is no need to change one's place or posture." Alberti keeps searching for what will eclipse his pain completely, the reason it is usually death he sees as the answer is because with every other solution, even a new love, there is the potential of old memories reappearing and throwing him back into extreme agony, what Alberti wants from death is to be cauterized not only from his present torments but from the painful memories as well. The poet's hope he puts into his death is, "there is always a last time after the fall of the wasteland, the advent of cold in forgetful dreams, and the tumbling down of death on the skeleton of nothingness." Alberti's conviction in the soul & his longing for the complete void of emotions that death promises may at first seem a paradox, but it is not. Only for someone who acknowledges the soul as something absolutely vital to living, as opposed to merely existing, would require death's permanence as a solution to their persistent agony, and the reason it is so intolerable is because it refuses to end. With "Concerning the Angels" Alberti has given us one of the most magnificent poetry collections, a veritable catharsis of the soul.

In a letter quoted by Buddy Levy in his magnificent Conquistador, Hernan Cortes confesses that he and his men suffer from a particular "disease of the heart": a lust for gold and power. The tale of the unhappy outcome of that disease, the destruction of one of the New World's mightiest empires in an astoundingly short time by an astoundingly small handful of adventurers, is the most apparent storyline in Conquistador. Levy tells it with eloquence and accuracy.

But there's another storyline in the book that I find just as fascinating. The disease of the heart which afflicted Cortes and his men also troubled Montezuma, for the Aztec Empire, despite its achievements in science and art, was also a bloodthirsty machine that subjugated native peoples, sacrified tens of thousands to pitiless gods, and created caste systems in which the many were ground under the feet of the few. What Levy gives us, then, is a double portrait of two invalids suffering from similar illnesses. One, a European captain with fewer than 500 men, the other a divine emperor with life-or-death power over 15 million people. In the end, both of them died from their diseases, Montezuma and his empire literally, Cortes morally and (despite his sporadic religious zealotry) spiritually. Curiously, neither of them seemed to have quite the necessary stamina to survive their illness.

In telling the story of the clash between these two men, Levy explores the tactics by which Cortes managed to defeat Montezuma: a combination of bluster, good luck, superior technology, alliances with disgruntled indigenous peoples, and hard fighting. His description of La Noche Triste, the night in which Cortes and his men were forced out of the royal city of Tenochtitlan by rallying Aztecs and nearly destroyed, is surpassed only by his account of the 2-month siege that retook and destroyed the city. (Cortes, for example, dug a one-mile canal to launch battle ships in the lake surrounding Tenochtitlan. Over 200,000 Aztecs, including Montezuma, perished in the resulting fight, which Levy describes with the gusto of Homer's account of the fall of Troy.) Afterwards, Cortes built his palace on the ruins of Montezuma's.

The relationship between Montezuma and Cortes has always been a strange one, with both men appearing both attracted and repulsed by the other. Levy suggests that part of the ambivalence may've been because Montezuma, overpowered by the splendor of the invaders, fell victim to the Stockholm Syndrome (a sense of loyalty to one's oppressors). It's a fascinating suggestion.

All in all, a splendid book that combines historical narrative with much insight about how diseases of the heart can bring down both individuals and empires. Something to think about.

I was a huge fan of Levy's first biography of David Crockett, and was eager to read Conquistador. Once again Levy was able to paint an amazing portrait of these historical figures, while illuminating historical events in an entertaining manner. The final siege on Tenochtitlan makes an amazing climax to this epic.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in historical non-fiction.

i couldn't put this book down. the incredible deceit and politics that went on and still continues today. you could really see the humanity in both Cortes and Montezuma. very well-researched. now i want to go to mexico city and dig deep in its streets and sewers to find all that lost gold!!!!

A great read and it has tasty easy to make recipies. What more can you want, except to actualy be in France?

My husband and I and another couple travelled with Kate Ratliffe for a week on the Garonne Canalin her barge, the Julia Hoyt. The book describes both the journey and the wonderful food on board. If you buy the book you'll want to take the trip and if you take the trip you'll want to buy the book! Her 800 number is in the back of the book

I first picked this up at my library, expecting another in the growing genre of "lifestyle fantasy literature" -- you know, bohemian boomer quits rat race, goes abroad, buys quaint house (or boat), creates rustic & soul-satisfying alternative lifestyle and then =tortures= the rest of us by writing a glowing book about it... But now, Ratliffe's work is in a hallowed place on my cookbook shelf between Richard Olney's "Simple French Food" and "Lulu's Provencal Table." Like those books, Ratliffe's takes us deep into the heart (and soul) of a regional French cuisine, through timeless villages and fragrant home kitchens. Even if the book were recipes alone, it would be worth its price for the seasonal simplicity of "asparagus with scallions, mint and green garlic shoots," or "radish leaf soup." But Ten Speed Press has made it a feast for the hand and eye as well, with loving photos of the Garonne canal country and buff paper reminiscent of a sketchbook or travel journal. Few chefs write this well about the daily meditation of cooking, the inspirations, the happy accidents and the patiently learned techniques. Even if you never spend a night on the "Julia Hoyt," by the time you cook your way to "Flan au Floc" for dessert you'll feel you know this land and its people intimately.

For years, my Queasy List (words or events
that I know are important but don't know
enough about to explain to an 8th-grader)
included the "Enlightenment," the "Suppression
of the Jesuits," and the Paraguay "Reductions."

Trower's "Danger to the State" moved all three to my
Got It List. Plus, it's plenty good enough as a novel
to keep me excited about the plot and the fate of the
characters.

Since reading it, then stumbling across his monograph,
"The Church Learned and the Revolt of the Scholars"
(available by free download), and then speaking to him
for a few minutes, I've come to believe he is as honest
and fair a historian as one is likely to find.

Marshall Fritz
www.HonestEdu.org

Joanne Bogle, writing in "The Catholic Family" (No.38 IV 1998) writes: "This book genuinely deserves the comment, "I couldn't put it down". Combining vivid descriptions with a magnificent plot, interweaving high adventure, intrigue and haunting romance, it is the story of the Jesuit supression in the 18th-century. It describes their magnificent work in South America, stalks spies and politicians through the courts of Europe and shows how decisions and compromises made by leaders of Church and state have effects on the lives of ordinary people. Philip Trower's prose is free of clichés or lavish wording; he has produced a novel that is both readable and with an epic quality. He brings history before our eyes and makes its conversations and tensions echo in our ears and minds. I recommend it particularly for anyone in their late teens or twenties".

Trower's book is a fictional depiction of the historical events surrounding the supression of the Jesuit Order in 1773. When Pope Clement XIV issued the brief decommissioning the Society of Jesus, he wiped out a religious order founded in 1540 by St. Ignatius of Loyola. At the time of its demise, there were almost 23,000 Jesuits in Europe, the Far East, and the Western Hemisphere. The Order had 39 provinces containing 845 educational institutions over 600 of which were secondary schools and colleges all of which were well endowed and tuition free. No wonder the Enlightenment enemies of the Church targeted the Society of Jesus! It was like a formidable intellectual and unsinkable battleship which made short work of silly fools like Diderot and sybaritic fops like Rousseau. The Jesuits had to be swept away in order that the Enlightenment could have a free hand. The results: intellectual confusion and the disintegration of Western civilization -- legacies that still plague us today. The novel is focused around a Spanish noble family, both of whose sons are Jesuits, one a novice in Spain, the other a priest in Paraguay. Trower's story fleshes out the dry historical bones of this little remembered episode in history. He accomplishes it well by sound historical research, masterful character development, and not without intrigue and mystery. The Order eventually was restored in 1814, kept alive in Russia during the interim by Catherine the Great, who recognizing the Jesuits' formidible intellectual and teaching skills, would not allow the papal brief of suppression to be promulgated. Even this episode makes its way into Trower's drama. Ignatius Press does not as a matter of course publish fiction unless it is of the highest quality. Once again Ignatius made a sound editorial decision. the reader will not be disappointed.

Benzion Netanyahu's brilliant scholarly study of Don Isaac Abravanel will be of interest to any serious student of medieval life during the period of the Spanish Inquisition. This biography of the statesman, philosopher, mystic, writer, and royal financier is painstakingly researched, using an abundance of primary source material. It is an indepth, masterfully written examination which meticulously scrutinizes and illuminates the life of Abravanel in the royal court and, later, as a Jewish exile in Naples and Vienna, where he solidifies his political and religious world view. Highly recommended as a serious, contemplative work. This is an interesting and enlightening read, particularly for the historian and scholar.

Don Isaac Abravenel lived at the juncture of the Medieval and the Renaissance, and through the expulsion of the Jews from Spain. His writings help preserve the Jews through this troubled time, but also delayed the resettlement of the Land of Israel.

Ben-Zion Netanyahu (father of the hero of Entebbe, and of the recent Israeli PM) first tells of the life of Abravenel, and then discusses his outlook and religion. This unusual treatment works very well. Netanyahu first introduces us to the attitudes and assumptions of the people who lived at the time, which are so often very different than our own, and then discusses how Abravenel fit into, or differed from, that zeitgeist. By building step by step -- World Outlook, View of History, Political Concepts, and finally Messianism, the author educates us about Abravenel's world, as well as his beliefs. I was surpred at Abravenel's prediction that the coming of the Messiah would be immediately preceded by a war between Christians and Moslems.

The endnotes, bibliography, and index are all very helpful.

[This review is based on the original 1953 edition.]

Don Isaac Abravenel lived at the juncture of the Medieval and the Renaissance, and through the expulsion of the Jews from Spain. His writings help preserve the Jews through this troubled time, but also delayed the resettlement of the Land of Israel.

Ben-Zion Netanyahu (father of the hero of Entebbe, and of the recent Israeli PM) first tells of the life of Abravenel, and then discusses his outlook and religion. This unusual treatment works very well. Netanyahu first introduces us to the attitudes and assumptions of the people who lived at the time, which are so often very different than our own, and then discusses how Abravenel fit into, or differed from, that zeitgeist. By building step by step -- World Outlook, View of History, Political Concepts, and finally Messianism, the author educates us about Abravenel's world, as well as his beliefs. I was surprised at Abravenel's prediction that the coming of the Messiah would be immediately preceded by a war between Christians and Moslems.

The endnotes, bibliography, and index are all very helpful.

[This review is based on the original 1953 edition.]

I picked up Johnson's book on Don Quixote because the novel is large and intimidating to me and I felt I'd need some preparation before reading it. I also felt I needed something to undo the prejudices I had formed against the main character from seeing The Man of La Mancha. Johnson provides an excellent orientation to the many things going on in the novel. His scholarship is current and insightful; the extended discussion in the chapters "A Book about Books" and "Readers and Reading" were especially helpful. I also liked his explanations about how Parts I and II relate to one another (part II is clearly more than just a sequel or "more adventures"). Johnson concludes his study by revealing his own personal reading of the text. I found it plausible (it's mostly a psychological reading), but Johnson by no means suggests that his reading is conclusive or better than any other reader's reading. This is a book I plan to keep at hand as I begin (once again) to try to make it all the way through Cervantes' classic and ground-breaking novel.

My comment. I took a two semester course on the Quijote. This book is excellent in that it points out why this work of Cervantes is landmark for all world literatures in the way that it discusses fiction and metafiction, and also, the merits of the different theories about realism and verisimilitude in literature. It very simply and easily points out to the reader why the Quijote is such a masterpiece and why it continues to be. ...BW

I'm a fan of the Twayne's series of studies, which offer an undergraduate course in about 100 pages. Johnson's little book on Don Quixote is one of the best. It's much better than either the Nabokov book or the studies in the Norton edition, all of which are chatty and interesting but not very helpful in coming to terms with Cervantes' long, often boring, brilliant novel. Johnson provides enough dollops of literary theory, history, biography, culture, and critical exegesis for the reader to really start to work independently. What I liked most was his final reading of Quixote as a man fleeing his incestuous desire for his niece, madly projecting and fantasizing to relieve the pressure. His description of a world where Moors and Jews lived secret lives while passing as Christians, ne'er-do-well aristocrats like Quijano suffered lives of quiet desperation, and encounters with the Other in the New World radically altered Western consciousness at the very time that print brought people into closer communion, provided grist for many hours of thought and appreciation. The sections on reader-response and literary theory were a bit more conventional, but they were clear and compelling nevertheless. If you choose one pony while mounting Rocinante, this is the one to ride.

~Donoso Cortes: Cassandra of the Age~ is an intriguing political biography of a reactionary Spanish conservative who opposed the radicalism fomented by the French Revolution. Don Juan Donoso Cortes was a remarkable nineteenth century Spanish statesmen and Catholic traditionalist. In his formative years Cortes even flirted with liberalism only to react strongly against it. Cortes embodies Real-Politik and shows influence from St. Augustine, Hobbes and Machiavelli. Born shortly after the tumultuous upheavals wrought by the French Revolution, Cortes was eerily prophetic and saw a dark future of socialism, mass politics, and the rise of the herd. In his country, there was a deep divide between defenders of the monarchy (absolutist, clerical, conservative, and traditionalist) and liberals of varying shades who advocated embracing elements of the 1791 Revolution.

For Cortes, liberalism was the nebulous creature paving the way for socialism and itself was an incubator for socialism, rationalism and democracy (the deification of the masses). He found the idealized abstractions of the French Revolution, that is "Liberty, Equality and Fraternity," to be noxious and repugnant for they made crude caricatures of Christian principles. In promising unlimited freedom, the Revolution only brought strife, tyranny, and bloodletting. Cortes had no whimsical views about the innate goodness of mankind like Rousseau. His worldview accounted for original sin and man's depravity. Thus, Cortes recognized that when people lose their religious moorings, they lose their public virtue as well. When this occurs, Cortes held that dictatorship must fortify established authority, otherwise revolution or anarchy will ensue. For Cortes, dictatorship was a necessary corrective to thwart chaos. Cortes was no totalitarian, however, and recognized that the revolutionary malaise was destroying the intermediary associations between the individual and state. It was destroying social bonds, traditional hierarchy and leading to the creation of hyper-atomized and individuals corrupted by countless -isms (i.e. atheism, rationalism, materialism, and socialism.) Moreover, Cortes was distraught by the moral corruption wrought by these pernicious ideologies, which he characterized as a demonic theology. Yet he had a peculiar awe for revolutionary adherents, particularly Proudhon, because of their fervor, commitment and dedication to their cause.

Cortes was prophetic in predicting a fusion of pan-Slavic nationalism with socialism, (which was unleashed by the Bolsheviks.) He obviously saw the signs. The seeds of discontent were planted in Russia by the nihilism of 19th century Russian intellectuals and by revolutionary agitation from abroad. Fascism too was wrought out by the mass politics and itself was a heir to the French Revolution to which even Hitler acknowledged. Cortes was committed to a movement of Christian counterrevolution and renewal. He was overwhelmed by a sense of pessimism. Ultimately, Cortes held to a Deutero-Isaiah view, believing that deliverance could only come from God. He had no misplaced faith in the masses and democracy. This intriguing book by R.A. Herrera sketches an intriguing biography of Cortes with some interesting quotations. Though, if you want to delve deeper into Cortes' political thought than you might want to buy _Selected Works of Donoso Cortes_.

"An apocalyptic vision that has become a good diagnosis of our own time." (cover blurb)

Cassandra was a legendary prophetess from ancient Greek fable cursed by the gods to utter true and unerring prophecy that was never listened to or taken into serious account. Such a predicament aptly describes the subject of this very short intellectual biography, Juan Donoso Cortes. The author, R. A. Herrera, is a professor of philosophy at Seton Hall University and an authority on Spanish themes in literature. Herrera sheds some light onto this obscure 19th century Spanish ultra-conservative and counter-revolutionary intellectual.

Donoso Cortes was a Spaniard of noble birth who studied at Salamanca at a very young age before his subsequent career as a journalist, diplomat and court-adviser. In his youth he imbibed ideas from the radical French revolutionaries and romantics who were very popular amongst Europe's educated elite. Later on, however, Donoso began to espouse ideas contrary to his youthful liberal inclinations. Donoso's later literary influences were Scripture, Roman Catholic dogma and, in particular, the works of St. Augustine such as _The City of God_. Perhaps Donoso took Augustine's allegory of a "Kingdom of Man" contending with the "Kingdom of God" too literally, as Herrera notes. Donoso became a very devout Catholic in his later years, in some respects resembling a Saint. He noted the various trends that he saw taking hold of European civilization and what has become its almost totally irreversible trend toward liberalism and socialism in the political sphere equaled by deism, agnosticism and atheism in the religious sphere. What particularly irked Donoso, as Herrera repeatedly underscores, was democracy's idolatrous worship of "freedom of speech" and of constant discussion and speculation upon ideas, postulates and theories that by their very nature cannot establish absolute truth-and often at best only serve to define the tyranny of the 51 percent. Donoso argues for the authority of the Church to establish and identify without dispute certain dogmas about life and the nature of reality and put them beyond human discussion. He is also in favor of a strong absolute monarchial government that can protect the Church and the rest of the nation from subversive influences. The main vehicle of subversion is of course the press and its army of propagandist editors and journalists. Many of the radical, anti-Christian social changes have been whipped up by demagogues and rabble rousers inflaming the ignorant masses against properly established authority for the political ends of the demagogues (and needless to say, of those funding them). Donoso believes that a strong dictatorial government is necessary to put people in their place and preserve tradition and order in society. This puts him at the polar opposite of the entire liberal-democratic bourgeoisie ideology with its emphasis on abstract "rights" and constitutional government. In addition to standard political liberalism, Donoso also hated socialism and its belief in the inherent good of man and the possibility of a perfect and just society as the antithesis of traditional Christianity. Donoso held no positive beliefs in regarding human nature. Man was fundamentally evil and disillusioned about his own innate abilities. People are obviously not equal. If it was not for the Church, civilization would not have developed to the richness that it did in Europe because the Church made definite statements about the very things that man cannot know through sovereign rationality and reason. Rationalism and reason could only end the way they did in the later 1900s: in the affirmation of the absurd as the only reasonable way to interpret a cosmos devoid of a higher power that imposes a transcendent order and principles through human and other physical agencies. Furthermore, Donoso advocates the Catholic practice of decoration Churches with elaborate gold and precious stones because it allows fallen man, bound to physical realities in the world, relate to what is above and beyond himself. As Herrera carefully points out, Donoso only drudgingly gave man's capacity for goodness and generosity as much credit as Catholic dogma mandated. Donoso took many other reactionary positions as well. He regarded war as a sinful activity, but sinful inasmuch as man himself is sinful. War is a human necessity and has been used for positive purposes such as defending the innocent and as catalyst for innovation and cultural advancements. He also defended the traditional patriarchal family structure and argued against the feminist ideas prevalent and on the spread) during the1800s. Donoso's _magnum opus_ was an extensive work on what has been dubbed "political theology:" _Catholicism, Liberalism and Socialism_. In this book Donoso explains how radical anti-Christian politics and ideologies are heretical, demonic and satanic deviations of the Christian faith. Except for occasional short-lived dictatorships and reactionary movements that can keep the spirits of liberalism and socialism at bay, the entire world is headed to a reign of the Antichrist. This is the "Man of Sin" and the "Mystery of Iniquity" that St. Paul warned of in his epistles and "the Beast" of St. John's vision in the Apocalypse. Of course, the Antichrist and his worldly hosts will be ultimately defeated by the return of Christ and the Church will emerge redeemed and triumphant, with the universe restored by Divine, transcendent intervention that silences human whining and carryings-on forever. While Donoso recognized the unique role of tsarist Russia as Europe's main force of conservatism, he also believed correctly that Russia would be the first nation to fall to the onslaught of socialist revolutionaries and terrorists and the future bane of Europe.

Such apocalyptic belief is not uncommon today and takes many varieties and forms. Some speculate that Donoso's mind was afflicted by a case of syphilis or repressed homosexuality (as per Freudian analysis). However, I recommend this title to Christians who are interested in politics and how they relate to theology. Are Donoso's ideas taken seriously today? Only in groups in individuals who are far outside of the political/religious mainstream, subject to outright ridicule and derision by the vast majority of today's intelligentsia.

_Donoso Cortes: Cassandra of the Age_ is an excellent biography of the nineteenth century Spanish political and theological thinker Donoso Cortes. Donoso Cortes is famous for his reactionary beliefs concerning the French Revolution and the subsequent ideologies inspired by it and as a political prophet of the coming crises of his age. From his beginnings as a moderate liberal intellectual and journalist in early nineteenth century Spain, Donoso turned to the traditions of the Catholic Church and came to regard his age as afflicted with a loss of center due to the denial of tradition and the established order. Like other Catholic traditionalist counter-revolutionaries such as Joseph de Maistre and Bonald of his time, Donoso believed his age was headed for disaster in its denial of God and his rightful place among men as well as that revealed tradition of God in society so that it could only be saved through outright divine intervention. Unlike the liberals of his time, Donoso understood man to be rooted in sin and capable of radical evil due to his fall from grace. For Donoso, humanity would be entirely irredeemable were it not for the constraints imposed upon him from revealed tradition and the saving grace of Christ. In fact, Donoso's prophecies concerning his age were so dark and pessimistic that many have failed to see any hope for mankind at all in them short of a direct divine intervention. Donoso served as both a journalist and friend to the Queen Maria Cristina of Spain as well as a diplomat to both Berlin and Prussia and later to France. He had various relationships with certain central political figures of his time including the emperor Napoleon III as well as the pope. Donoso predicted the coming bloodshed in Europe, the nationalist and socialist revolutions in the next century, as well as making predictions for an innate saving power residing in the people and traditions of Russia and its civilization. It is the importance of these darkened predictions to the modern age that have made Donoso a figure who was revived in more recent times by various conservative political writers, among them the jurist and Third Reich intellectual Carl Schmitt. Donoso's early writings were written from the perspective of a moderate liberal and emphasized the role of intellect in political affairs. Later Donoso would take a sharper turn towards reaction rejecting the ideals of the revolution, and in his most famous work _Catholicism, Liberalism, and Socialism_ would outline the major differences between these political ideologies. For Donoso, liberalism represented a sliding point between the traditional order which consisted of the Catholic Church and the monarchy and the extremes of socialism and nihlism. Donoso respected socialism for having its own "demonic theology" and admired (though he sharply criticized) the famous anarchist philosopher Joseph Proudhon. Donoso observed the move away from God through pantheism (represented by democracy which deified the masses) towards His outright denial in atheism and nihlism. Donoso remarked frequently about the dangers of excessive discussion and parliamentarianism and the loss of the role of authority. The author, R. A. Herrara, contends that Donoso served as a Cassandra for his age, a prophet whose dark interpretations were doomed to be ignored in his time, but whose revelations demonstrated profound truths. This book provides an excellent biography of a lonely figure who stood for tradition and the authority of Catholicism in a time of crisis - a Catholic traditionalist and a dark prophet for his time.

"Artfully designed...the perfect holiday gift" Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "Makes dining in 19 Spanish speaking destinations easy and enjoyable" Toronto Star. "A dietary dictionary to help you decipher ropa vieja as shredded beef, not old clothes" Caribbean Travel & Life. COMING IN SPRING 1999: EATING & DRINKING IN ITALY: Reading Menus in Italian.

I liked this book a lot- you know, I can't really speak Spanish, but I went to Mexico and I wanted to eat, and, you know, this book did the trick. I recommend it to anybody who wants to understand Spanish menus.

This menu reader is so easy to use. Unlike other menu readers which are divided into categories (fish, soup, salad), this one is an easy-to-use, alphabetically organized menu reader.The drawings in the margin are very clever and funny.

This book is a marvel. The full color pictures of the View of
Toledo, The Crucifixion, The Martyr of Saint Maurice and the
Baptism of Christ are worth the price paid. The text describes
how the Latin West, Eastern Orthodox-Greek and Islam coexisted
in the 16th century. This book would be perfect for historians,
artists, cultural enthusiasts and a wide constituency of
scholars in almost every area of formal academe.

It is about time that a book come out on the brillian artist that is Domenikos Theonopolis! Ever since I visited Spain in 1994 I have been an avid fan of El Greco but sadly have been unable to find any books on him until now. This is a wonderful book celebrating the prolific works of this genius. It is a beautiful collection full of amazingly colored images and information about El Greco. Whether an avid fan or just wanting to learn more about this artist, this book is an excellent resource.

"As certain as the payment I receive is inferior respect the value of my sublime work, is also that my name will take across to posterity as the one of the greatest genius of the painting."

El Greco is one of the most controversial, admired and weird figures in the story of the plastic arts. From Crete, he takes across to the Renaissance Italy; he will meet Ticiano; and eventually with Tintoretto, being in contact with Miguel Angel.
This brief but fruitful influence will constitute for him the basic training to get start his primary genius.

His particular style, consisting in the use of stylized figures to remark the spiritual tension, the use of cold colors (blue, green, metallic gray and a very clear yellow) the use of the human masses, volumes and colors to underline dramatic aspects.

To my mind, El Greco' s portentous dimension must be seen over and over again, to understand even more similar approaches in the Gothic art and with minor exuberance in the Byzantine art. The employment of lengthened figures was even more important than the same reality, because it was equivalent to a plastic language, able to express spiritual values with genuine grandness.

The text is relevant because it explores with minuteness fundamental, determining and clever aspects of this genius.

Go for it without dilation.

NADIE LO SABE PERO CERVANTES ERA DEL MADRID, PERDIO LA MANO EN UN MADRID-BARCELONA

El Quijote es de esos libros que invitan al lector a repensar en su propia vida, a buscar nuevos caminos para expresar la maravilla de vivir. Quien tiene contacto con este bello texto termina pareciéndose un poco a Don Quijote, esto es, una persona que no se resigna a ser un pobre diablo y se inventa para si un mundo lleno de fantasia, retos, desafios, y por supuesto de amor, logrando de este modo una nueva experiencia vital

ESTE LIBRO ES CHACHI Y TODO ESPAÑOL DEBERIA LEERL