Spain Books

R. Conrad Stein has written enough books for the various series published by The Child's World press that he not only know the formula, but how to exploit it to his advantage. Like all of those other volumes, "The Conquistadores: Building a Spanish Empire in the Americas" is required to have four chapters, but Stein is allowed to have detailed sidebars in each chapter and he really takes advantage of that in this book.

The first chapter on Spain and the Conquistadores explains how fighting for several centuries to free their land from Moorish rule created a warrior class in Spain that took advantage of the discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus to take armies across the sea to serve God and the monarch (and also to get rich). The other three chapters are devoted to the three most famous conquistadores, namely Hernando Cortes and the Conquest of Mexico, Francisco Pizarro and the Conquest of the Incas, and Francisco de Coronado, Explorer of the American Southwest. But then Stein also devotes sizeable sidebars to Vasco de Balboa, Discoverer of the Pacific, Cabeza de Vaca, the Compassionate Conquistador, and Hernando de Soto, Explorer of the Mississippi. The Time Line in the back of the book shows who was doing what when and where to help put each conquistador in perspective. The result is a nice introduction to a half dozen of the key conquistadors who helped to establish a Spanish presence in the New World on a level that is at least comparable to what you would expect to find in the early chapters of a standard grade school American history textbook.

The book is illustrated with historic prints and paintings (the cover is a detail of Spanish soliders taken from Juan O'Gorman's "Historical Mural). The first eight volumes in this series, "A Proud Heritage: The Hispanic Library," were published last year and "The Conquistadores is one this year's eight new volumes. The others are devoted to "Christopher Columbus: Opening the Americas to European Exploration," "Emiliano Zapata: Revolutionary and Champion of Poor Farmers," "Frida Kahlo: An Artist Celebrates Life," "Hernando Cortés: Conquistador and Empire Builder," "Mario Molina: Chemist and Nobel Prize Winner," and "Pancho Villa: Mexican Revolutionary Hero," as well as a volume on "The Changing Face of America: Hispanic Roots, Hispanic Pride" (the first set had a volume on Coronado). Given that Hispanics are now the second largest ethnic group in the country the value of a series like this is better than ever.

Couldn't put this book down; reads like suspense. Neither hero nor villain but a little of both, De la Mora brings the Spanish Civil War galloping to life. Cultures, classes and countries collided in De la Mora's tragically foiled attempts to avert both civil and world wars. Fox's picture of how would make quite a film: Madrid and Paris, Moscow and New York, Mexico City and Cuernavaca; revolutionaries, Roosevelts and refugees; artists, aristocrats and the lost in the 1930s and 40s. Constancia's expedient route "from the White House to the Blacklist" led to 10 years of exile in Mexico and her not being permitted back into the US. Fox doesn't pussyfoot however and rather proves that De la Mora did not write her own famed 1939 'auto'-biography, In Place of Splendor. Ruth McKenney did. Funny, frank and fair, Fox clearly delineates many (13?) of the fractions who fought in 1937 and illustrates why, unaided by the US, England or France, Spain lost World War II to fascism.

Author: Amell, Samuel.
Title: The contemporary Spanish novel : an annotated, critical bibliography, 1936-1994 / Samuel Amell.
Publisher: Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 1996.
Edition Date: 1996
Language: English
Notes: Includes indexes.
Physical Details: 273 p. ; 24 cm.
Series: Bibliographies and indexes in world literature, ISSN 0742-6801 ; no. 50
Subjects: Spanish fiction--20th century--History and criticism--Bibliography.
ISBN: 0-313-24784-6 (hardcover : alk. paper)

This book is a wonderful thing for me. Because, I'm working on "the Relations Between Muslims and Christians at the Period of Almoraides-Almohades in the Medieal Spain". I'm very glade to the author of the book and thanks. I hope that the book would be very useful for mankind on the earht.. LUTFI SEYBAN, SAKARYA UNIVERSITY-TURKEY

The following review appeared in the February 2005 issue of CHOICE.

42-3615 E78 2003-70398 MARC

Sandos, James A. Converting California: Indians and Franciscans in the missions. Yale, 2004. 251p bibl index afp ISBN 0300101007, $35.00

Historian Sandos (Univ. of Redlands) provides a richly contextualized history of the California missions from their inception under Junipero Serra in 1769 to the time of their secularization in 1836. The author deftly steers between sanctification and vilification of the California mission system by examining not only the material and political goals of the Franciscans, but also their theological and cosmological understandings of the world around them. Sandos applies this same interpretive agenda to the vast array of Native peoples in California. Chapters focus on often-ignored topics such as the role of music in the mission system, the devastating impact of syphilis on Native demographics, and the importance of Native resistance, accommodation, and acceptance of this outside force. The author concludes with the impact of the mission and a discussion of the moral legitimacy of the mission process. While some will not be happy that Sandos eschews partisan judgments against or exonerations of Franciscans and the Spanish system of colonization, his work clearly sheds considerable light on this highly controversial encounter while encouraging even further study, thus serving as a model for future research. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels and libraries. -- R. A. Bucko,S.J., Creighton University

Those of you who know me, know that my mother is from Mallorca, that she's a whopping good cook and that she's somewhat of a critique. My mother-in-law is from Mexico and she's a whopping good cook too. So having these two women over at my house at the same time, dining at my table, ingesting something I've made, can be a challenge. This book has saved me. I've had it for years and even though I know many of the recipes in it by heart, I still go back to it time and again. Yes, I play with them, adding and subtracting spices, but that's what cooks do. Good recipies are starting points and if you want to try cooking up real Spanish food, this book is a wonderful place to start.

Review Submitted by Captain Katie Osborne

This book is a compelling and fascinating description of the essence of Spain. Although the book dates from the 1960's, when Franco was in power, the most important insights of the book are still helpful. I haven't seen a better description.

Feibleman is the kind of fellow that you'd wish to have over for dinner just to listen to his experiences. An actor and writer, he seems to have been a vivacious traveler: he mixed with people, watching them cook and trying everything.

The book is a journey through Spain and Portugal, describing each region's people, landscape, agriculture, cooking, food and wine. Good pictures and recipes. Although the recipes themselves have been slightly adapted for the 1960's American kitchen's electric ovens and appliances, his narrative always details the authentic preparations and methods.

If you own this book, you will probably read every page (and stain many of them with olive oil).

This is a kids book- it only has about 16 recipes in it, but we tried 8 of them and they were all hits with the boys. Nice background information about Spain.

Berlitz guides are not what you may call heavy-duty full-scale guides. They are cheaper - and also thinner on research, sticking to simpler matters and giving just a quick glance at the area. If you do not have excessive expectations, this book will not disappoint you.

Berlitz Costa Dorada is very good for a holiday-maker who will be spending most of the time on the beach and will keep cultural exploration as a firm second priority. For these travellers, a big and substantial guide (such as any thick book covering Catalonia) would not represent ideal value for money.

I found most details accurate and writing readable if uninspired. Again, you cannot judge this book by applying standards of a full-budget travel guide. Photographs are good, and some descriptions are in fact very honest compared to bigger brothers who often try to be too vague trying not to offend anyone.

Hal Jennings book on human interactions at our best and worst scores on all levels. The Fiesta of San Fermin in Pamplona, Spain (made famous by Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises and the festival's running of the bulls)is the perfect setting with it's ability (many who attend would say requirement)of drawing on the full range of emotions. The characters are vivid in representation yet vague enough in their surety so as to bring their conflicts to light both with each other and with themselves.