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While the Civil War of 1936-39 dominated Spain's twentieth-century history, the country's fateful and bloody division into left and right had its roots in the events of the Napoleonic era. In Modern Spain: A Documentary History, the first broad-ranging collection in English of writings from this entire period, Jon Cowans presents 76 documents to trace the history of Spain as it struggled for political and social stability and justice through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Beginning with Napoleon's occupation of Spain in 1808, the selections include decrees of the liberal Cádiz Cortes of 1810-14, an 1841 plea for the revival of the Catalan culture and language, an 1873 anarchist manifesto, an 1892 argument for the education of women, a Basque nationalist's 1895 diatribe against Spaniards, José Ortega y Gasset's Invertebrate Spain, General Francisco Franco's 1936 manifesto and his 1940 letter to Hitler, the Spanish bishops' 1950 press release on immorality and indecency in the mass media, King Juan Carlos's speech on the attempted coup d'état of 1981, and a 1999 report by SOS Racismo on immigration and xenophobia in contemporary Spain.

Covering political, cultural, social, and economic history, Modern Spain: A Documentary History provides a valuable opportunity to explore the history of Spain through primary sources from the Second Republic, the Civil War, and the Franco dictatorship, as well as from the period of Spain's profound transformation following the ascension of King Juan Carlos in 1975.

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The medieval Visigothic kingdom--even after the full-scale conversion of the population from Arianism to Catholicism--was barely held together by a fluctuating mixture of tradition inherited from Roman law, Germanic and provincial influences, local custom, and Catholic values. In her study of a society riddled with instability and conflicting paradigms of power, Rachel Stocking dissects the social meaning of consensus in the early medieval state. Using the compelling example of contemporary records and by drawing out the often-conflicting aspirations of kings and bishops, she addresses the dynamic and contradictory relationship between the ideals of Christian governance and early medieval social conditions.
This eloquently presented, exhaustive study concludes that legislation, however persistently enacted, was unequal to the task of remedying a lack of unity and other social and political ills. Notions of consensus are explored as a way of maintaining community cohesion and order in the absence of strong central authorities. Other issues the author confronts are Catholic tolerance and intolerance toward heterodox and non-Christian "others;" the transformation and transmission of ancient ideals and social structures from the Roman to the later medieval worlds; and the position of medieval Spain in relation to the mainstream of western European history.
This nuanced study is a must-read for anyone interested in medieval life, politics, religion, and the precarious nature of the medieval state.
Rachel Stocking is Professor of History, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.
... Read more

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Recovering voices long relegated to silence, The Lives of Women deciphers the responses of women to the culture of control in seventeenth-century Spain. In this new history of Inquisitional Spain, Lisa Vollendorf incorporates convent texts, Inquisition cases, biographies, and womenÂ's literature to reveal a previously unrecognized boom in womenÂ's writing between 1580 and 1700.

During this period, more women wrote for the public book market and participated in literary culture than ever before. In addition, the rise in convents and female education contributed to a marked increase in texts produced by and about women in religious orders. Vollendorf argues that, in conjunction with Inquisition and legal documents, this wealth of writing offers unprecedented access to womenÂ's perspectives on life in early modern Spain, and that those perspectives encompass diverse ethnic backgrounds and class differences. Many of the documents touch on issues of sex and intimacy; others provide new ways of understanding religious practice in the period. Perhaps most important, these writings give a richly textured view of how women reacted to the dominant cultureÂ's attempts to define, limit, and contain femininity. Vollendorf shows that the texts reflect a shared preoccupation with redefining gender and creating legitimate spaces for women.

As The Lives of Women vividly illustrates, hundreds, if not thousands, of womenÂ's stories await rediscovery in archives. The book provides a roadmap for understanding the experiences and concerns of wives, widows, sisters, and daughters who lived in a key moment in the development of the Spanish nation and the Hispanic world. At its core, The Lives of Women argues for a reconceptualization of history, one that will rely on the experiences of women and minorities as much as on the words and actions of kings and conquistadors. ... Read more

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Originally published in 1903.This volume from the Cornell University Library's print collections was scanned on an APT BookScan and converted to JPG 2000 format by Kirtas Technologies.All titles scanned cover to cover and pages may include marks notations and other marginalia present in the original volume. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Very Concise
Very concise history, providing key events in Spanish history from pre-Roman times up to the early 1970's.The book is written with a mild leftist viewpoint.The author is overly judgmental on the Church, the Nationalists, and others of traditional persuasion---hardly objective, but still informative.A good quick read, and well worth the time, if you get past the authors subjective opinions. ... Read more

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Reports, orders, journals, and letters of military officials trace frontier history through the Chicimeca War and Peace (1576-1606), early rebellions in the Sierra Madre (1601-1618), mid-century challenges and realignment (1640-1660), and northern rebellions and new presidios (1681-1695). ... Read more

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Excellent Scholarly Work on the First 130 Years of Northern New Spain / American Southwest
This work is an awesome compiliation of records, accounts and analyses of the beginnings of the American Southwest from the Documentary Relations of the Southwest project formed to provide the necessary documentary history of Spanish colonial times.It succeeds magnificently, and should be a starting point for future works on the American Southwest.

The normal assumption made about a colonial period so long ago is that the records are few and far between, but with respect to New Spain this is decidedly not the case.In fact the documents available in Mexico City alone stagger the imagination, but are unorganized and almost inaccessible.The Project computerized the records putting them together both chronologically and by topic.New Spain's social institutions were organized into four groups: presidios, missions, mines and haciendas.This work focuses on the presidios, defined by Spanish common usage to be the military outposts and garrisons protecting the frontiers of New Spain.Around them the towns and cities grew as the land became settled.The reports and letters translated in this work into English are also given in their original Spanish for those who wish to read the original documents.

This work begins with its coverage of the war with the Chichimecas, an fierce Indian tribe of nomadic hunter-gatherers who unsuccessfully fought the Spanish from 1550 to 1590.This war characterized the Spanish expansion to the North through the establishing of presidios and the resettlement of hispanicized Tlaxcalans among the Chichimecas.

The second chapter deals with the early rebellions by the Acaxee, Xixime and Tepehuanes who rebelled unsuccessfully against Spanish policies.The suppression of the Tepehuanes in 1618 finally opened up the northwest coast and central corridor to Spanish expansion and settlement.

The third chapter focuses on the challenges in the North from 1640 to 1660 and the difficulties with the Tobosos and rebelions by the Tarahumara in the future state of Chihuahua.

The last chapter takes the reader into El Paso del Norte (the present El Paso in Texas) and ends with the campaign against the Pima Indians of Sonora and Arizona.

It should be emphasized that this is first and foremost a scholarly work containing a selection of representative and important reports and letters that describe the Spanish conquest of Northern Mexico and the lower part of the American Southwest.The book has 756 pages including the Index, and there is much to learn here.The authors, Thomas Haylor and Charles Polzer are to be commended.

The presidios were strengthened through the granting of military ranks to civilians and their organization into local militias to help combat Indian uprisings.Some of the writings delve deeply into this aspect of the local social organization.

If the 2nd volume, parts 1 and 2, conform to the high standard of this volume, then all historians of the American Southwest will owe the Project a debt of gratitude.The 2nd volume covers 1700-1756, part 1 the Californias and Sinaloa-Sonora, and part 2 the Central and the Texas Corridors.I will submit a review on these two books as soon as I am finished reading them.

I highly recommend this work in spite of the rather high price -- it is definitely worth it. ... Read more

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From the late-fifteenth to the mid-eighteenth century, Spain was the most extensive empire the world had seen, stretching from Naples and the Netherlands to the Philippines. This provocative work of history attributes Spain's rise to power to the collaboration of international business interests, including Italian financiers, German technicians, and Dutch traders. At the height of its power, the Spanish Empire was a global enterprise in which non-Spaniards -- Portuguese, Basque, Aztec, Genoese, Chinese, Flemish, West African, Incan, and Neapolitan -- played an essential role.

Customer Reviews (18)

Another piece of Anglo-Saxon Protestant propaganda passed off as objective analysis
Very disappointing; Mr. Kamen is another undercover Anglophile propagating Anti-Spanish and Anti-Catholic views fabricated by the English and other Protestant Europeans since the 1600s. His attempt to re-write history from an Anglo-Saxon perspective is nothing new to me. I have seen this type of stealth propaganda infecting my history books in high school and college. The argument that the Spanish Empire was not built by Spaniards is completely ridiculous and unfounded (another of numerous attempts to expunge all credit to the Spaniards)! Mr. Kamen will probably conjure up in his next book, that the Romans did not speak Latin but English and the Roman Emperor was the Queen Elizabeth with a bad hairdo!

How The West Was Built
Taking into consideration this book and Kamen's following work, Disinherited, the Greco-Persian Wars come to mind. 300 Spartans did not defeat the Persians (an empire which made use of defeated former empires). But how little is written of the 700+ Spartan slaves, and thousands of other free-Greeks? And do we not still refer to ancient 'Greece' as though it was one unified empire?

Spain, like every empire before and after her, came to be a world power through keen vision. Without the resources or the warm bodies to do all she aspired to, the Spanish Crown had to exercise it's holdings and take full advantage of its influence. As a Puerto Rican-US citizen, I am in a position to draw comparisions between this great European empire and the psuedo-European empire of which I am a citizen.

Citizens of the Crown worked, toiled, and fought for it... just as citizens of the Flag work, toil, and fight for what they believe is the greatest land on the planet. These citizens did/do this with little care for ethnicity. And they are not the only nations to implore this strategy.

The Portugese were dependant on their subjects (Portugese and otherwise). The French empire was dependant on the Polish, Austrians and Americans among others... the Austrians were dependant on the Hungarians... the Austro-Hungarian empire was dependant on the Slavic people... the Polish-Lithuanian 'Commonwealth' was dependant on Prussians, Russians, Ukrainians, Germans, Catholics, Jews, Muslims, etc... and so on. It is refreshing to read this self-critique coming from Kamen. He too has benefited from the successes of the subject of his writings.

I look forward to his future writings on how the US, his second home, became a world power. He is a fascinating and invaluable historian.

A simplistic book full of prejudices
This book has been a disappointment to me. I expected a well balanced revisionist work. What I found is an attempt to re-write history for political motivations.

The author lives in Barcelona, has adhered to the thesis of Catalonian independentism, and clearly repeats like a parrot a number of unfounded 'Catalanist myths':

1) The Spanish Empire was not built by Spaniards.
2) However, Spain's rivals don't owe anything but to themselves.

As ridiculous as it sounds, the author repeats these two lines once and again, until they become a 600 pages book. The evidence presented is mostly anecdotal.

Any smart reader will come with a number of questions after page 2: "But if the Spanish Empire was built by Germans, as the author wants to make us believe, why is German not spoken in America? And why wasn't it called "German Empire" in the first place?". The reader won't find the answer to these questions in this book ... because the questions presented in this book make no sense in the first place.

Kamen's prejudices at his worst
Henry Kamen's prejudices against his main subject of study- Spain- are well known. What is really surprising is that he is still considered to be a serious historian at all. There are so many mistakes and fallacies in this book that only mentioning some of them will bring to light the ignorance of the man. For instance, he says that Spaniards did not care about learning other people's languages. Nothing could be further from the truth. Did he know that the first Chinese book to be translated into a modern European language was the "Espejo claro del claro corazón" by a Spanish dominican? Did he know that the first modern European method to study Japonese was created by a Spaniard? Did he ever know that most pre- columbian languages were enriched with bilingual dictionaries compiled by Spaniards?. As to the assertion that Spain- or Castille was a poor country on the periphery of Europe at the beginning of its rise as an Empire that is simply laughable. Poor compared with whom? Economically and socially speaking the different kingdoms of Spain, starting with Castille, were among the most dynamic ones in Europe and had been at the crossroads of the main innovations and cultural advances since the times of the Arab invasion and the Reconquista. As to the decline in the XVII century, again, that is a ridiculous myth. Until the end of the Napoleonic cycle at the beginning of the XIX century did Spain indeed ceased to be a great power. In the XVIII century, even with a change of dinasty Spain had controlled more territories than England or France and its navy again and again kept on repelling and humiliating any British attempt at conquering Spanish America - remember the defeat of the English Armada by Blas de Lezo in Cartagena de Indias? of course, if you are English you do not know anything about it because it is not taught at the English schools....that is the way English historians keep on lying about their own history and the history of others.

Edit your post:
Henry Kamen's prejudices against his main subject of study- Spain- are well known. What is really surprising is that he is still considered to be a serious historian at all. There are so many mistakes and fallacies in this book that only mentioning some of them will bring to light the ignorance of the man. For instance, he says that Spaniards did not care about learning other people's languages. Nothing could be further from the truth. Did he know that the first Chinese book to be translated into a modern European language was the "Espejo claro del claro corazón" by a Spanish dominican? Did he know that the first modern European method to study Japonese was created by a Spaniard? Did he ever know that most pre- columbian languages were enriched with bilingual dictionaries compiled by Spaniards?. As to the assertion that Spain- or Castille was a poor country on the periphery of Europe at the beginning of its rise as an Empire that is simply laughable. Poor compared with whom? Economically and socially speaking the different kingdoms of Spain, starting with Castille, were among the most dynamic ones in Europe and had been at the crossroads of the main innovations and cultural advances since the times of the Arab invasion and the Reconquista. As to the decline in the XVII century, again, that is a ridiculous myth. Until the end of the Napoleonic cycle at the beginning of the XIX century did Spain indeed ceased to be a great power. In the XVIII century, even with a change of dinasty Spain had controlled more territories than England or France and its navy again and again kept on repelling and humiliating any British attempt at conquering Spanish America - remember the defeat of the English Armada by Blas de Lezo in Cartagena de Indias? of course, if you are English you do not know anything about it because it is not taught at the English schools....that is the way English historians keep on lying about their own history and the history of others.

Not an entry-level history
I agree that this book suffers from poor organization and an overwhelming avalanche of detail. Kamen often shifts from one continent to another with no transition at all, only an extra line between paragraphs. A paragraph that presents an argument about one century will use as evidence an example from 200 years and a continent away. I am a huge history buff and patiently plod through even the driest field, but I found his text exceedingly hard to follow.

Perhaps Kamen is an iconoclast blasting away at received wisdom about the Spanish empire, but I lack the background to say what arguments he is overturning here. If you are looking for an overview or general history of Spain, this book is not what you're looking for. Maybe I will come back to it when I have read some other works in the field and have a better grasp of the basics. ... Read more

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This book is intended for ages 9-14. Spain's history, climate, and geography have shaped many of the customs and practices of its people. This fascinating new book follows the history of Spain's many cultural groups and portrays modern daily life. Traditional foods and entertainment such as bullfighting are featured. The other topics include: the history of Spain's First Peoples, Greeks, Iberians, and Romans; unification of Spain and the Spanish Civil War; village and city life; education and family life; homes in urban and rural areas; and, leisure activities. ... Read more

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Bernal Díaz del Castillo (1492-1584) was a foot soldier in the army of Mexico's conqueror Hernán Cortés, and participated in the campaigns that led to the fall of the Aztec empire in 1521. This 1928 translation of his journals derives from the 1904 edition by the Mexican historian Genaro García - the first edition based on the original manuscript. Written as a corrective to accounts that overemphasised Cortés' exploits, Díaz's epic focuses on the experiences of the common soldier. The most complete contemporary chronicle of the Mexican conquest, this important historical document is also a captivating adventure narrative that combines factual accuracy with many dramatic anecdotes. Volume 1, in which Díaz recounts his first two expeditions to the Yucatán coast and the beginning of his service in Cortés' army, contains chapters 1-81 and includes part of García's 1904 introduction to his edition. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

Myths and Half-Truths
Mr. Kramer's books are always entertaining and provocative and this one is no exception.His knowledge of Spanish history is vast and his prose style is clear and agreeable.His point of view is often, if not always, diametrically opposed to that of the majority, thence the appeal his books have for me even, when I do not agree with his conclusions.The myths he examines in this book have been obvious to some of us Spaniards but few authors, if any, have stated them so clearly. Although I think he is out of his depth when he refers to Spanish America, both in this book and especially in his previous one, The Disinherited, I highly reccomend Imagining Spain.
Margarita Costero ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (2)

Great Book Great condition
Book was needed for summer class, came in just in time and great shipping price.Condition was good as well, thank you.

Fantastic collection of essays
This book is a very helpful tool for those who know little or nothing about Spanish history, and provides excellent background knowledge to understand the many issues that makeup what Spain is today. It is a great companion to any undergrad or grad history course, so any student wishing to expand her or his library with a solid book should think about getting this one. ... Read more

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This book charts a thousand years of Spanish history from the tenth century BC to the Roman conquest. In recent years, the archaeological data on the first millennium BC in Spain have significantly changed our understanding of the period. Drawing extensively on this research, the author examines how during this period Spain gradually changed from a country of similar economic standing to the rest of Bronze Age Europe to a region opened up through its growing contacts with the more advanced Eastern Mediterranean and transformed into one of the western classical cultures.

Iberia in Prehistory charts the increase in the Atlantic metal trade during the Bronze Age and the diverse cultural interchanges between the different regions in Spain. The book then looks at the "Tartessic Culture" and the influence of both Phoenician colonists and Greek merchants. Finally, the author examines the development of Iberian cultures during the period 500-280 BC. During this period a strong hellenic influence flourished in the south and east, but the author shows that the differences between "civilized" Iberia and the rest of the country were very strong. ... Read more

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This comprehensive survey of Spain’s history looks at the major political, social, and economic changes that took place from the end of the Civil War to the beginning of the twenty-first century.

• A thorough introduction to post-Civil War Spain, from its development under Franco and subsequent transition to democracy up to the present day
  
• Tusell was a celebrated public figure and historian. During his lifetime he negotiated the return to Spain of Picasso’s Guernica, was elected UCD councillor for Madrid, and became a respected media commentator before his untimely death in 2005
  
• Includes a biography and political assessment of Francisco Franco
  
• Covers a number of pertinent topics, including fascism, isolationism, political opposition, economic development, decolonization, terrorism, foreign policy, and democracy
  
• Provides a context for understanding the continuing tensions between democracy and terrorism, including the effects of the 2004 Madrid Bombings

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The death of General Francisco Franco in November of 1975 ended thirty-six years of fascist-style dictatorship in Spain. The subsequent transition to liberal parliamentary government was remarkably smooth, particularly when compared to the recent difficulties experienced by other states, such as the former Soviet Republics and Eastern Europe. Ortiz traces Spain's success back to the development of a liberal tradition and a public sphere in the last decades of the 19th century during the Restoration period. He uses this era as a test case to demonstrate that liberal practices can develop even within a political situation where state institutions and the social infrastructure do not necessarily support them. ... Read more

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This is the first study in English of the political history of Muslim Spain and Portugal, based on Arab sources. It provides comprehensive coverage of events across the whole of the region from 711 to the fall of Granada in 1492. Up till now the history of this region has been badly neglected in comparison with studies of other states in medieval Europe. When considered at all, it has been largely written from Christian sources and seen in terms of the Christian Reconquest. Hugh Kennedy raises the profile of this important area, bringing the subject alive with vivid translations from Arab sources. This will be fascinating reading for historians of medieval Europe and for historians of the middle east drawing out the similarities and contrasts with other areas of the Muslim world.

Customer Reviews (3)

Very good study of Islamic Spain
Very good book, not too sure what Amazon is on about describing this book as the first to be based upon Arabic sources.What about chejne or Taha or any number of orientalists such as Lane Poole?

Anyway, this a well written book, sraight and to the point.Fairly easy to read and covers all of the most important aspects of the history of Andalusia.For anyone wanting to study that period of Iberian history they may want to start with Lane Pooles book, move on to this one then look for the exellent books of L.P. Harvey.

Good introduction
Kennedy's book is a great introduction to the political history of Muslim Iberia.Densely packed with information, the book could have used more maps and lexcionic information.If you are not already familiar with the general outline of the situation in medieval Iberia (either from an encyclopedia or a survey of the Middle Ages), you may want to become so before tackling Kennedy's work.This book should serve as a foundation for building a larger and more detailed understanding through future reading.

A condensed summary of events from a different perspective
Hugh Kennedy attempts to summarize nearly eight centuries of complex History into a little over 300 pages. The result is a tedious, incomplete yet interesting read.

His intentions are to give the Muslim side of thestory (an aspect which has been seriously considered by so-called"western" scholars only in the last half century, and which issparking increasing interest especially in North, Central and SouthAmerica).

As an academic Historian he achieves his goal at the price ofhaving to oversimplify and often make assumptions based on the most currentopinions. This is not necessarily to say that he is biased. But I dobelieve that he has over-extended the possibilities with this book. Thereis way too much information, which is too complicated to be compressed intosuch a small space.

He is to be admired for his ambition, but I'm afraidthat unless you are already aware of the History of the area and just needa summary of events which is a bit more detailed than any encyclopedia,this book is going to be a heavy load to carry.

For the beginner who justneeds to know more about Muslim Spain, this is a reliable source, but don'tget discouraged by the density of its contents, take it one chapter at atime, and you can greatly benefit from it. For further details on certainaspects and for a list of sources, Kennedy provides a very goodbibliography at the end, which will undoubtedly enrich your knowledge ofthe subject.

I give it four stars for its factual content (a very highachievement on its own), but won't give it the extra star because of theoverload it causes. ... Read more

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Widely hailed as a revelation of a "lost" golden age, this history brings to vivid life the rich and thriving culture of medieval Spain where, for more than seven centuries, Muslims, Jews, and Christians lived together in an atmosphere of tolerance, and literature, science, and the arts flourished. of photos. 3 maps.Amazon.com Review
María Rosa Menocal's wafting, ineffably sad The Ornament of the World tells of a time and place--from 786 to 1492, in Andalucía, Spain--that is largely and unjustly overshadowed in most historical chronicles. It was a time when three cultures--Judaic, Islamic, and Christian--forged a relatively stable (though occasionally contentious) coexistence. Such was this period that there remains in Toledo a church with an "homage to Arabic writing on its walls [and] a sumptuous 14th-century synagogue built to look like Granada's Alhambra." Long gone, however, is the Córdoba library--a thousand times larger than any other in Christian Europe. Menocal's history is one of palatine cities, of philosophers, of poets whose work inspired Chaucer and Boccaccio, of weeping fountains, breezy courtyards, and a long-running tolerance "profoundly rooted in the cultivation of the complexities, charms and challenges of contradictions," which ended with the repression of Judaism and Islam the same year Columbus sailed to the New World. --H. O'Billovich ... Read more

Customer Reviews (60)

better than the average text book
If not for a university class, I probably wouldn't have bought this book.Be that as it may, it remains in my library and not as a used book on the shelf in the bookstore via their buy back program.It is a worthy introduction to the subject of how three monotheistic religions managed to coexist in Medieval Spain.An introduction.My main complaint is that it leaps back and forth in a confusing manner, dropping the story line only to pick it up again in a concluding remark at the end of the chapter.Much is left unsaid, leaving me curious and thinking of further study, which may be the point after all.

A highwayscribery "Book Report"
"Ornament of the World," asserts that the history of modern life passed through medieval Andalusia and does a good job of making the case.

The subtitle to Maria Rosa Menocal's engaging volume is "How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain," but that doesn't say the half of it.

Which is fine, because the subtitle that can do justice to this alternately sweeping and efficient book probably doesn't exist.

In fact, the featured period of tri-partite harmony is but a brief one in the book, shattered by the kinds of antagonisms that sustain our state of violent tension today.

In those days of European ignorance and atavism, Menocal writes that, "Arabic beckoned with its vigorous love of all the things men need to say and write and read that not only lie outside faith but may even contradict it -- from philosophy to erotic love poetry and a hundred other things in between."

Menocal explains how the prophet Muhammad would not perform miracles, given that the Quran, the book off God's revelations, was the true miracle.

Latent in the Arab's linguistic passion was a respect for the Christian and Hebrew reliance on scriptures.

Pagans subjected to the Arabic invasions covered in this book were required to convert, while the two "Peoples of the Book," were granted religious freedom under a covenant known as the "dhimma".

Under the prescriptions of the visionary Abd al-Rahman, founder of Al-Andalus (Arab moniker for the region of southern Spain),"the Muslims did not remain a ruling people apart. Rather, their cultural openness and ethnic egalitarianism were vital parts of a general social and political ethos within which the dhimmi could and did thrive."

If it doesn't sound much like the Afghani Taliban you know only too well, that's because there are Muslims, and then there are Muslims.

The good ones were the Umayyad.

How they became the faction they did (descendants of Muhammad's brother-in-law's sister's mother or something) is not so important as the fact another faction, the Almoravids, did them in on behalf of an Islamic intepretation more in-line with that which mystifies today.

The authoress maps out the rising tide and recession of ambulant Islam, the countercharge of Christian warriors, the religiously confused alliances of enemies when battles of family succession and greed intervened to rent the otherwise clear lines of battle asunder.

And the point of these events, for Menocal, is how the cultures involved were affected and transformed.

"Ornament of the World" is mostly about an assortment of intellectuals, dreamers, poets, and philosophers who informed these transformations, mostly forgotten, but sometimes lionized down the years.

"Ornament" details the Jewish intellectual Hasdai's rise to the exalted position of foreign secretary in the Cordoban caliphate because he, "spoke and wrote with elegance and subtlety, and because the 'vizier' possessed a profound knowledge of everything in Islamic Andalusia culture andpolitics that a caliph needed in his public transactions."

Much the same happened to a wealthy merchant of Malaga now known to history as Samuel in the taifa of Granada. Another star of Arabic letters, his appointment as The Nagid established him as leader to the city's Jews.

South and West of Granada, in the hamlet of Niebla, lived Ibn Hazm, a contemporary of the Nagid, and an exile from the Almoravid sacking of Cordoba's imperial city, Madinat al-Zahra.

Ibn Hazm remained dedicated his countless writings to the tolerant glories of Umayyad Cordoba, where he had thrived in younger days.

Considered alternately by scholars as embittered or sad, "He was, in any case, an astounding intellectual, his life a fitting tribute to and a noble and melancholy end point for the caliphate he never ceased to long for and lament, as if it had been a lost lover."

That caliphate fell to a malevolent force that, Menocal writes, "was often rooted in what they considered the Andalusians inappropriate relations with the Jews and Christians."

Which is not to single out Arabs as the sole possessors of intolerant habits.

Upon the Christian conquest of Granada, the famed Ferdinand and Isabella granted dhimma-like rights to their Muslim subjects. But they turned out to be paper promises.

Unfortunately for us, hundreds of years on, the results are still being reaped.

Menocal demonstrates the cultural contortions involved in this subjugation by dissecting Miguel de Cervantes' strange set-up to "Don Quixote" as the work of an Arab historian, found in the Jewish quarter of Toledo, and translated for him by a Christian Arab.

She turns something most of us shrug and pass over into a stark political statement on Cervantes' part, and necessarily alters one's consideration of "El Quixote."Itis worth the price of the book.

Cervantes'literary arrangement demonstrates how, in the end, the Catholic monarchs, "chose to go down the modern path, the one intolerant of contradiction. The watershed at hand was certainly the rise of a single-language and single-religion, a transformation that conventionally stand at the beginning of the modern period and leads quite directly to our own."

Good for the non-initiated.All others, refrain.
I highly recommend this book for those with little to no background in Spanish and Jewish medieval history.The author draws from other historian and critics' researches -without appropriately crediting her sources - to inspire the non-initiated to learn about this period. For this I believe Ms. Menocal is brilliant and I hope that she can attract hordes of best seller readers and encourage a few to deepen their knowledge and hopefully keep on reading about history.The author successfully caters to today's urban tastes for multicultural themes, with a penchant for reverse bias, favoring the achievements of perceived minorities.For those who need no cheers to read history, can do without over simplistic comparisons, over abundance of adjectives, and editorial comments, I recommend to go directly to historians, linguists, and other erudite and original work.For example, most of the basis for this book can be found in Ramon Menendez Pidal bookEspaña, eslabón entre la cristiandad y el islam.

too much anecdote for a very big claim
My oh my, reading some of the extremely negative reviews of this book and seeing the obvious bias of some of the reviewers makes me wish that I could come out swinging in Menocal's defense.

Unfortunately, I cannot. While Menocal clearly has deep affinity and love for the subject matter she fails to support her thesis as she only could have done by reaching farther than culture and poetry for reference. She makes some interesting suggestions through anecdotal evidence, but I found it extremely frustrating that she made no effort to more fully flesh out a claim that would have been very interesting, if true. Furthermore, I do not find that the book was contextualized as simply being a piece of the puzzle of Medieval Spain. I find that it made grander claims for itself. This could well be the fault of the publisher, who recognized a timely topic when he/she saw one (the book was published in 2002). But still, it hurt the overall credibility of the work not to strongly delimit in the beginning both what it is and what it is not.

I have heard much said about Menocal's writing style, both positive and negative. I will grant her a smooth hand with prose. Sadly, she does not exhibit anywhere near the same skill with structure. I found the text did not cohere well and tended to be jumpy and difficult to follow.

She clearly loves her poetry from the time, and I am looking forward to reading some of the writers that I discovered through the book. I found the "Other Readings" chapter particularly valuable. She gets an extra star for all the wonderful poetry that I'm anxious to read.

An Introduction... to the say the least
I enjoyed this book. From my limited understanding of the time period and my inability to read history (facts after facts never interest me... the human element, devoid of many historical accounts, does...).

I have read the positive reviews and the negatives. I can understand either. I will say this book is a great introduction. It is romantic, an account of a world seen with Rosy-Tinted Scholarly eyes. Perhaps it is not going to be the greatest book for the nitpicking historians - and hey, I can see their point - but it is a good place to start, to know the names, the dates, and some of the scenery.

I wish more history books were like this. What is 'history' - a story... the word is there within the greater word most scholars will defend, arguing our need to be objective and search for the facts ('just the facts, 'mam'). But isn't that life, "stories" interweaving, facts important sidenotes to the human element. I respect this work because it has introduced me to a world I have heard about before. It will be my choice to move on further and read other works.

Those who have written their one-star reviews have their point. There is a lot missing here. I don't doubt it. But if a work of history introduces and inspires curiosity, is that a bad thing? Ideals are ideals and ideally, this isn't meant for the historian but for the layman. I am a layman, I enjoyed it. If you're looking for an introduction to a fascinating time in Spanish/Western history, this is a fine place to start. I don't know enough to squabble over details or put the author down for 'misreading' history. I'll simply say, Menocal has written a story about a time and place. Her writing is infused with melancholy and wonder, looking back to the golden aspects of a time believed to be harmonious.

If history was written from the perspective of the people, not so much the events and politics, I would read more history. But then again, I'm not a historian and this book suits me fine. I'll read further but I am thankful I had this book to open my eyes to an interesting time in human civilization.

The final word: historians, you know enough, so don't read this because you'll probably just write more negative reviews and negativity is really tiring at times. (If you don't have something nice to say, don't say it all all... I've written the odd negative review, so I'm guilty...) Layman and Laywoman, if you have a passion for a literary interpretation of history, enjoy this book. It is like wine for me. I savoured it, I took it in, I will remember and go on to the next. But I value the beginnings of what I have learned. And that's the facts, 'mam. ... Read more