Customer Reviews (2)

Refreshingly clear
I am a fan of Amerigo Castro's The Spaniards, which heavily influened my understanding of the people whith whom I have spent much of my life as an importer and Spain enthusiast.

This book has a new, but complementary thesis which I found very enlightening.He is invaluable in his discussionof the relationships of Islam, Judaism and their interaction the Christians, and also fills out the Civil War which is usually so distorted by Romantics.

It is a detailed book, and some of his lists and cameos of the disinherited exiles are both enlightening and too exhaustive for any one but a serious scholar.

A must read book if you want to understand Spain and her people, ans therefore put aside the shallow sterotypes promoted by the culture we live in.

The hatred of Spaniards toward one another painted, though not dissected.
I started by being rather sceptic about some historical judgements, specially in regards to the much stressed influence of Islam's centuries of occupation of Spain. Kamen supports the great historian Americo Castro rather than the other great historian Sanchez-Albornoz on this issue, but the latter's interpretation of Spain must not be dismissed on account of this one issue. Whatever the influence the Moors have had on our historical intolerance toward each other, it doesn't say anything good about Islam: on the contrary, the bigger the influence the heavier the sin we inherited from those Hispanic muslims of yesteryear, I mean, if we count their positive influence on us (art, etc) we must also admit their part of responsibility for making us, Spaniards, as we are: intolerant, arrogant, vain and all the rest that you can guess from the reading of this great book.

Everywhere else the author hits right on the mark, and exposes our hypocritical nature, our Spanish capital sins. Revelatory statements: "Spaniards seem always ... to have acepted little more than the outward forms of the Catholic religion" (p.128). "The image of a fundamentally Catholic Spain was always a fiction". One thing the author forgets to pinpoint is our unending habit to curse everything sacred, our foul-mouths that Sánchez-Albornoz noted so well in his great essay Espania: UN Enigma Historico deserves a deep analysis, or at least an "honorary" mention. Sánchez mentioned our foul language as a sign of our un-Muslim character. However, I would have interpreted this feature as pointing -paradoxically- more to Muslim influence.

The author cleverly unveils the unending hypocrisy and phoniness of Spanish self-called intellectuals: "To identify themselves as unique, they adopted specific manners of dress. Azorín put on a monocle and went everywhere carrying a red umbrella; Valle-Inclán let his beard grow down to his waist; Pío Baroja wore a cap and dark overcoat; Maeztu dressed like an English gentleman." (p.234) "Unamuno knew no Greek but was given the chair of Greek at the university of Salamanca..."

The best quote, one which works as an epitaph for Spanish silliness whatever the region they come from, goes: "These poor deluded and amiable creatures, who have no notion of who they themselves are and are therefore incapable of making their own future. If they really get around to knowing who they are and why they are, maybe one day they will be able to assume the reins of their own collective destiny." Américo Castro dixit. How true!

About Buñuel: "His public, however, could never be sure whether his message was to be taken seriously, since behind his realism (or Surrealism, or nihilism, or any other ism) it was difficult to find any sustained set of attitudes or beliefs." Brilliant.

This book is a great read, and one of the things which makes it great is that it doesn't go bowing to any cultural figures, it tells things as they are ("al pan pan, y al vino vino"). It portrays a nation always divided against itself, as the great painting by Goya of the two Spaniards beating each other with clubs, this is to me the most representative image of the Spanish soul. I look at it and say, yes, that's us. It's the story of our exiles since 1492 (should have started earlier), exiles due to religious and political intolerance. The victims are all the elite of Spanish society: the rich, the cultured... The author admits there are many more exiles that the book doesn't cover; they too need a book. And it ends with the Franco era. We've had about 30 years of democracy and relative economic progress, but we are at it again, and no mention is made of it. If the author is really honest he should deal with our present times in the same way he dealt with our past.

One thing that left in me a sour feeling was that the author doesn't dare to explain the sad facts by anything but simple intolerance, motivated by religious or political interests. But those are not reasons why, those are rather symptoms of a real spiritual cancer, a cancer deserving another kind of book. Fernando Díaz-Plaja in his great essay on Spain's capital sins El Espanol Y Los Siete Pecados Capitalessays it well: "the blasphemer -and in Spain there are many- is deep down a believer. How can you grossly insult what does not exist?" Unfortunately, demons are also believers. ... Read more

Product Description
Explores new ways to think about privacy and disclosure. ... Read more

Product Description
These essays present a balance of theory and practice, of literary and cultural criticism, of gender, race, aesthetic, colonial and political issues. ... Read more

Product Description
This contribution to the study of institutional change from the authoritarian to the democratic regime in Portugal and Spain focuses particularly on the relationship between political structure and culture. The concept of "political systemic culture" is introduced to show the structuring process of socialization, participation, and state agencies in building up a democratic regime. ... Read more

Product Description
This is the first complete reference book on Spanish history, life, and culture from prehistory to 1994 and the only book on Spain in English or Spanish that is organized by region and province. It is designed to assist students and interested readers in identifying and understanding regional and provincial history, economy, literature, art, music, social customs and cultural life, historic sites, and provincial cuisine (recipes included). Organized into entries on the 18 regions and subdivided into the 50 provinces, this one-stop reference makes gathering information on each region and province easy. A map of each region and photos accompany the text. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Super Reference Work
This book has a dictionary-like format, with regions listed alphabetically, and a standardized sequence of topics for each region.It is full of facts and the kind of fascinating detail that gets passed over in general works about Spain.The author treats the history, geography, literature, music, art, even a recipe for each region.Lots of fun to browse or to prepare for a trip!However, not a sit-down-and-read-cover-to-cover type of book.

EXCELLENT CONTENT--FORMAT COULD BE IMPROVED
I found the book to be an excellent source for the history, geography, culture, literature, art, sites, and even dress, cuisine, and dance characteristic of each of Spain's 50 provinces. However, there are several errors in the statistical data given (POPULATION, AREA,ECONOMY), --for example, confusing Huesca and Huelva. I also would have wished to have better maps, more photos and possibly some color in the illustrations. The author also groups the regions and provinces alphabetically which might have been better if done by population or geographically. Overall, however, excellent and a wonderful reference for anyone interested in Spain. I only wish other nations had such a concise yet complete guide by region and political unit as has been done by the author for Spain. ... Read more

Product Description
In the 13th and 14th centuries, the Crown of Aragon was among the most active powers of the Mediterranean world. This volume examines the attempt by its ruling dynasty to "rationalize" its court so as to expand the monarchy's ability to gather and deploy resources in support of royal ambitions. ... Read more

Product Description

A provocative, brilliant, and groundbreaking historical reconsideration of the roots of Spanish culture.

Product Description
Examines the relationship of Spain's 1960s tourist boom to Franco's right-wing dictatorship. ... Read more

Product Description
Dans le monde actuel, parler du rôle du français ?juridique, plus particulièrement, n'est guèrefacile: soit le sujet pèche pour être trop débattupar la société, soit il semble être difficilementanalysable, car très vaste. Lalangue et la société qui la parle étant vivants, onne saurait dire que notre état des lieux estdéfinitif.La langue juridique en tant que langage despécialité juridique et administratif est une sourceimportante d'informations pour des étudessynchroniques et diachroniques dans le domaine dudroit, de la politique comparée, etc. Cette analyse se révèle intéressante dans le contexte dela francophonie et de l'Union Européenne, car ellemontre des tendances linguistiques et politiquespassées et à venir et peut apporter ainsi deséclaircissements dans le présent. La formation à lafrançaise des acteurs des structures administrativeset juridiques reste un des piliers de lafrancophonie dans le monde, et un moyen efficaced'assurer la présence de la langue française dansles instances européennes et internationales. ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Curriculum Review, published by PaperClip Communications on March 1, 2009. The length of the article is 321 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Students explore Portuguese culture.(social science education)
Author: Gale Reference Team
Publication: Curriculum Review (Newsletter)
Date: March 1, 2009
Publisher: PaperClip Communications
Volume: 48Issue: 7Page: 8(1)

Distributed by Gale, a part of Cengage Learning ... Read more

Product Description
* Provides a deeper, long-term understanding of the nation and its people
* Designed to supplement the “usual suspect” guide books

A guidebook can show you where to go, a phrasebook what to say when you get there. Only Speak the Culture: Spain will lead you to the nation’s soul.

Spain boasts a rich and sometimes misunderstood culture, itself infused with the influences of other great and distant civilizations. Spanish life, language and culture in its widest sense is a major force of growing influence. How many outside it understand its origins and significance?

Through exploring the people, the movements and the lifestyles that have shaped the Spanish experience, you will come to an intimate understanding of Spain and the Spanish.

There are many travel guides and manuals on living in Spain. Speak the Culture: Spain is different: a superbly designed, informed and entertaining insight into Spanish life and culture and who the Spanish really are.

For new residents, business travelers, holidaymakers, students and lovers of Spain everywhere, Speak the Culture: Spain is an engaging companion and guide to an enviably rich civilization at the heart of Europe.

Excerpt
“As you might expect Spain’s traditional vernacular architecture isn’t easily pigeonholed; regionalism generates marked variation. Available building materials and, more significantly, climate have always dictated how people build their houses or outbuildings. The Spaniards’ approach to living arrangements is more easily summed up. They’re nothing if not sociable; while northern Europeans anxiously section off their own plot of terra firma, in Spain they seem to enjoy living on top of each other, clustered in apartments and houses around the plaza mayor. It’s not like they’re short of space either—a population density of around 85 per sq km is one of the lowest in Europe.” ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

good and interesting book
This is a good and interesting book for anyone who's now learning Spanish and want to know more about its rich and wonderful culture including ways of life written in English.

Highly recommended to armchair and onsite world travelers alike
There's more to understanding people than language. "Speak the Culture: Spain" is a guide to those who may be visiting the land of Spain in the future. A guide to understanding the Spanish people, their culture, and how to avoid cultural misunderstandings, as well as what to expect, the contents within are as vital as a fluent grasp of the Spanish language. Also serving as a book of history, "Speak the Culture: Spain" is highly recommended to armchair and onsite world travelers alike. ... Read more