Customer Reviews

The Basque History of the World

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(15)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I've always been interested in basque culture and language, have even tried to learn euskera on my own. That said, I also am very interested in spanish culture (castilian, galician, catalan etc.) as such and have lived in Madrid for a while.

I found this book very readable and hard to put down, Kurlansky has a knack for presenting the material in an entertaining and readable fashion without getting stylistically bland. Despite that, I have some gripes with it. Kurlansky is obviously a journalist and writes the book as such, but I for one would have wanted more of a historians account. His choice of not using footnotes or endnotes, but just supplying a general bibliography at the end, is very annoying, because that way he is able to put down statements without backing them up. I even found one wrong statement, that basque ships had been sighted in Iceland in 1412. That's wrong, these ships were english, ushering in what is called the English Age in icelandic history (basques didn't arrive in Iceland until the end of the 16th. century, there are at least no accounts available of earlier encounters). Kurlansky is not the only one guilty of making this mistake, but if he would have dug a bit further he would have found out the truth. So it goes to show, if he trusted is sources so blindly in this case, what else is inaccurate there? Again, the use of footnotes/endnotes would have solved this, as one would have been able to verify each statement.

Kurlansky is also quite romantic, and even if he tries to criticize when criticism is due, it's quite obvious that his sympathy lies with the basques. This mix works quite well in the earlies chapters on prehistory, but not as well when he talks about the political situation today. Although I doubt that what he says of the Madrid government is wrong, but he doesn't back it up sufficiently, again, something that would have been solved by using footnotes or endnotes. Furthermore, he doesn't tell much of the deeds of ETA except for the more heroic ones in the 60's and 70's. ETA has of course been guilty of extreme cruelty through the years, which Kurlansky fails to mention. He also fails to describe how ETA has changed through the years, getting more extremist every year as more moderate members leave. He also is guilty of inaccuracies such as stating that "Euskal Herritarrok" is just "Herri Batasuna" with another name, which is not entirely true. He's also not entirely right that the street violence (or "kale barroka") is not favourable to ETA or its supporters, as members of Herri Batasuna have recently shown support publically. He also doesn't mention that there are members within Herri Batasuna that feel that ETA should give up their violent struggle. I don't know why Kurlansky chose not to give a more balanced account, perhaps he found it necessary because the spanish (Madrid) press is usually is very biased against basque nationalism (not just ETA), and that is usually the viewpoint that comes across in the international media. Kurlanskys viewpoint deserves to be heard, though, the spanish government has not been the innocent bystander they like us to believe and it is amazing that accounts have not yet been settled after the Franco years. The authorities just seem to trust that these times will be forgotten in the "New Spain". Anyway, I give the book 3 stars, it's very readable and hard to put down and gives a good overview of the history of the basques, but shouldn't be taken at face value as it is not without bias and also is guilty of some inaccuracies and sometimes a bit careless handling of source material.

Kurlansky has written a brilliant introduction to a mysterious people. It is also a timely one, although not universally popular considering its rather lax treatment of ETA violence. Kurlansky does perhaps harbour sympathies for the Basque people and even for the most extreme of their nationalist tendencies, but he does not let this completely cloud his judgment, and it is not entirely clear that Kurlansky "takes sides" or endorses one course of action or another. I can see why it would be easy to become so attached to the Basques and their culture, their language, and the ongoing fight they have pursued in order to keep these fundamentals of who they are intact. People deserve to keep their history, heritage, language, and cuisine, and the Basques have a long, rich, and misunderstood history which deserves the kind of recognition Kurlansky's book brings to their cause, wherever Kurlansky's personal sympathies lie.

I felt that Kurlansky presented basically unbiased information, particularly about the history of the Basques in centuries past. The book is filled with revelations about this formidable and fascinating culture, and I feel that these kinds of explorations in Kurlansky's research and writing dominated this work much more so than current political issues or separatist violence. Sure, it is easy enough for me to say this, completely isolated from the violence and the everyday problems these tense relations may create, but I can say that there are groups in the world who are routinely terrorized by other groups without provocation. (Perhaps "terrorized" is not the ideal word choice because I do not see a reign of terror in the making. I do see that some people may perceive the unrest as such depending on their vantage point).

I, however, was an interested reader who was wholly ignorant of Basque culture and history and wanted to learn more. I got lucky when I wandered through the Halifax, Nova Scotia airport one afternoon and found this book there. Kurlansky has written a well-organized, clear, and thoughtful introduction to the Basque people... people who are misunderstood, underrepresented, and unknown in some cases (I rarely meet Americans, for example, who know what a Basque is. When I tell them they scoff and wonder why I would care to know). I emphasize that I consider this book to be only an introduction or a stepping stone. Kurlansky has not provided the definitive and comprehensive history of the Basque people. He has merely provided a useful tool for further study. One thing that was a fascinating, albeit seemingly random, addition to his work was the interweaving of Basque culinary information. Although I sincerely enjoyed those tidbits, I found their placement a bit annoying.

At the heart of the book is the question that lingers on... "if Euskera is the oldest living language in Europe, are the Basques the oldest European culture?" Euskera has been called an impossible, obscure and incomprehensible language, and for much of history the Euskera speakers were left to themselves, and they developed and explored (as other reviewers point out). They became expert whalers and fishermen, the world's first capitalists, industrialists and the first modern bankers in Spain. Yet there is little more than speculation to corroborate ideas that the Basques were so advanced, particularly in crossing the Atlantic earlier than anyone else.

Major turning points for the Basques have included the 1600s, when, as a nationless nationality, they were more or less locked out of the fishing industry. In the 1700s, the abolition of the Basque traditional laws, the Fueros, followed by the abolition of traditionally collectively held land, also seemed to change things. A pivotal character in the history of Basque nationalism was Sabino Arana, who invented words to create a nation, if in language only, for the Euskera speaking people. "In the Basque language, which is called Euskera, there is no word for Basque. The only word to identify a member of their group is Euskaldun-Euskera speaker. Their land is called Euskal Herria-the land of Euskera speakers. It is language that defines a Basque." Arana wanted to change this by making a new word-Euskadi-to give their region a name.

This is another key question-what exactly makes a person Basque? Is it parentage, residence in Basqueland, or speaking the language? The definition of a Basque has changed over time, but Kurlansky did a fine job exploring some of the changes in attitude and questions surrounded what makes a person Basque. In recent years, there has been a renaissance of "Basqueness" and trying to discover Basqueness. People in the region have been learning and teaching Basque language and culture, and there has been a more prolific creation of a Basque literature. I felt that these issues were key to the book, or at least I hope they were, because that was the most beautiful idea I could think of. The Basque people have survived centuries of adversity, and I think it is much more useful to look at the everyday people rather than ETA extremism. I feel inspired to travel to the Basque region and also to take up the study of Euskera myself (for anyone interested, the University of Nevada in Reno, USA offers online courses and even a PhD program in Basque!)

I am a Basque woman living in New York. It is the first time I have read a positive history about my people. Unfortunately, we Basque people have not been good in keeping our written records and most of our history has been written by people who wanted to conquer and dominate us. "The Basque history of the World" is a beautiful informative book about what it is to be Basque in a world that has not been able to understand our way of life. Most countries want to expand, and to create empires. Basques did not and do not want to expand. This different point of view is not well understood by people who believe there is something strange in a group of people who have travelled all over the world, who have been among the first to go and help conquer the new world,but who have never really wanted to broaden their borders. Mark Kurlanski's attempt to try and explain the rationale of Basque people is commandable. I thank him for this pleasure.

If you don't mind a little historical romanticism a la Michener, then you will probably greatly enjoy this fine introduction to the Basque people. I frequently travel to Northern Nevada where I've met many Basques and eaten at most, if not all of the Basque restaurants there. Yet when I rave about these places at home, a blank look appears on most faces followed by the question "What is a Basque?" Kurlansky's book goes a long way toward answering that question and shows how the Basque, despite not having a formal country, has been able to hold on to language and culture and to have an important influence on the development of the Americas from Argentina to our American West. Intertwined in his easy to read history are all sorts of fascinating tidbits about this little understood people. I only wish that there was more about the Basques in America because it is they who have given the most flavor to the western Great Basin. After reading this book, you will surely want to know more. If you can't make it to Euskadi, check out the Basque Festival in Elko or go by J and T's in Gardnerville and ask Marie to sell you a "Nevada, so many sheep, so little time" bumper sticker and then enjoy a Basque feast.

I began reading Kurlansky's book about Basque history with some reservations. His engaging story about Cod, "...the fish that changed the world", was filled with speculation disguised as fact and half truths supporting some very dubious conclusions. Yet it was a wonderful yarn, well written, cleverly marketed as a "biography", and a joy to read. Given my deep admiration for the Basque people, I was hoping he would produce a better effort this time around.

Unfortunately, Mr. Kurlansky has reverted to his old habits of exageration, bias and a highly selective use of fragmented and questionable historical evidence ranging from the supposed medieval design of steam engines to the existence of multiple north and south American whaling colonies in the fourteenth century, all the product of Basque genius and daring. The reader is treated to an almost laughable interpretation of European history; to wit: the Basques invented nearly everything, they discovered the entire world, were the bravest soldiers, the best seafarers, most intrepid businessmen and greatest thinkers of the Iberian Peninsula. Oh, by the way, no footnotes.

To say that many of Kurlansky's claims are suspect or subject to interpretation, or possibly just a teeny bit overblown, would be charitable. Some are just wrong and others are impossible to verify. It is at least arguable the Basques are not the most Catholic people in Europe. Elcano was not the first man to circumnavigate the globe as Kurlansky suggests. Magellan had reached the Philippines sailing east before undertaking the westerly journey to the same area where he lost his life in a skirmish.

It's one thing to say the Basques were great fishermen which is true. It's something else to claim, as does Kurlansky without doubt or reservation, that they were the first to fish cod and whales off north America. That is a proposition which has sharply divided historians for years. To assert that the Basques developed the first commercial law of the sea is to ignor the Rhodian Code, Amalfi "Tablets", Rules of Oleron, parts of Justinian's Digests and the Llibre del Consolat de Mar of Barcelona.

The point of all this is that Kurlansky's book about Basque history is biased, misleading and distorted. His fondness and respect for the people of Basqland apparently has clouded his judgement to the point that credibility becomes an issue in the second or third chapter. I had trouble finishing the book. He is an author desperately in need of an editor, fact checker and some balance in his approach to European history.

Here is a book which I--an American with no Basque ancestry, who immigrated to the Basque Country 25 years ago--recommend to family and friends who want to understand the people whom I have become a part of. This is not a book for those of us who live in Basqueland, as Mr. Kurlansky calls it. Basques of all political hues will find bones to pick and hairs to split as none are portrayed in a totally favorable light (Note the vehement criticism of many readers of Basque extraction). Despite omissions and some erratas, "A Basque History" provides a perceptive glimpse of the Basques and the contrasts and tensions of life in our little corner of Europe. Attractively packaged popular history, this is the best work on the Basques I have come across in English.

I found this book particularly interesting because I am part Basque and Spanish. Prior to reading this book, I had been confused about the Basque culture. Where could this group of people have derived from given that their language has no direct relation to other European languages?

Were the Basques' related to the Celts? American Indians? Why is it that their language has similarities to Hebrew, Persian, Hungarian, or Finnish? Could they be related to the Roma people (incorrectly referred to as Gypsies)? Are they descendants from the hypothetical people of Atlantis? Are they perhaps Russian? or relate to those living in Georgia? Could they even be descendents from Asia? or one of the lost tribes of Israel?

After reading Kurlansky's book. I offer a far more simple explanation on the "mysterious origins" of the Basque people. Perhaps they always lived in the valleys between the Pyrenees Mountains and because of their isolation from other cultures, they maintained an unconquered language and culture despite not being recognized as an official nation.

Perhaps they descend from no one and perhaps they are not as complicated as pointed out by linguists, anthropologists, and historians. What Kurlansky's book brilliantly points out is that because the Basque People have never had their own officially recognized country, their history has been obscured, twisted, and distorted by other countries where their land has been.

Where the French established the notion of "witch hunts" and the spanish persecuted any who associated with Jews, the history books have inaccurately documented this culture who had not been outspoken about what their culture is or what their language is.

This book is a great introduction on the Basque Culture and explains their role in European history from the beginnings of Capitalism and as discoverers of the New World.

It seems that because the Basque's yielded their land to the Romans with free access to the land of the Gauls (France), their language and culture survived without being conquered by Romance language influences as what occurred in France and Spain.

Ironically, their loyalty to the Roman Empire, which gave birth to this culture's loyalty to the Roman Catholic Church, eventually led to their near demise by the Spanierds.

This book goes into these aspects of history. However, in between history lessons, Kurlansky tries to spin off history with Basque culinary ideas and link the two. I found that style a bit tiring and distracting. Making a history book and recipe book into one is not the most efficient manner in which to explain the Basque culture and as a result, makes the book unnecessarily complicated.

I enjoyed the first 70 pages which discusses the Basque's contribution in shipping, whaling, capitalism, and trade.

It's given me a tremendous insight on my own personality and my cultural roots.

Knowing virtually nothing about the Basque people, I recently purchased a paperback edition of Mark Kurlansky's engrossing book entitled, "The Basque History of the World." Prior to my reading of this book my only image of them in my mind's eye was that of a rowboat containing 3 or 4 burly men, heads crowned with berets. Having said that, I do have some positive comments and, unfortunately, a negative one.

Beginning with the positive, I must say that Kurlansky is a very gifted writer. As one reads his account of this fascinating people, he feels as if he has been invited into the home of a friend who regales his visitor with wondrous tales of unknown places and people. I do believe that he knows and loves the Basque people.

Now to go to the negative aspect of this book let us turn to page 70 of the paperback edition. He states, in speaking of Ferdinand, "His union with Isabella had given him, in addition to most of Spain, only a daughter, who was known as Juana La Loca-Juana the Mad." This is a glaring error. In truth, Isabella gave Ferdinand ten children, four of whom lived to adulthood. How could anyone forget that their youngest, Katharine, was the unfortunate first wife of Henry VIII of England? Frankly, I cannot imagine how this got past the editors and other readers! Seeing this error, it caused me to wonder about the authenticity of his other historical statements.

Hating to end on the negative, let us go back to positive thoughts about the book. Regardless of errors I do believe this to be a good place to begin a study of the Basque people. Certainly, Kurlansky makes his subject exciting and interesting. Hey, in preparation for your next dinner party, turn to page 105 of the paperback edition and prepare "Espelette Peppers and Duck Hearts." I just bet you will be unique among your friends for preparing the new and the unusual!

Wrapping it all up, I do think the book worth reading. Just keep in mind that errors can be found, but also you will find much of entertainment and interest in its reading.

This is a great all around prep book for visiting Basque country. I then took it with me on my trip.....and everywhere I went in San Sebastian, Bilbao, etc people said: 'Oh, yes.....Kurlansky is far and away the best book about Basque country.' Any questions?

The Basque History of the World by Mark Kurlansky is another great book by a great author. I truly enjoyed his others books Cod and Salt (especially Salt, which shouldn't be missed). His love for the Basque people shone through in both of those previous books as he devotes sections to them in each. This book was his great opportunity to share his love for the people with the world and help us to gain a greater understanding for this nation of people without borders who have clung to their languages and their land through thousands of years of occupations and wars. The beginning of the book starts well describing the Basque people and their reported origins and includes interesting tidbits about their biology (40% type O blood), but there are no real answers. There are interesting quirky recipes I can't imagine anyone actually trying, but they are lovely to read. The middle of the book slows down as Kurlansky gives special attention to the plight of the Basques during World War II, especially the bombing of Guernica, and the rise of Franco to power. I can feel Kurlansky's love for these people, and so his passion spills across each page as he describes the struggles the Basques went through under Franco, but much of the book slogs down under the political manipulations, and part of beauty of the book slips away. At the end Kurlansky returns to the stories of the individuals who make up the Basque nation and gives a feeling of hope for them. Ultimately the reader feels as though they have spent time in the country, seen some customs, met some fascinating people, and learned a little about their history, but now the vacation is over and it's time to return to the real world, unable to truly grasp what it really means to be Basque. And I think that just how a Basque would want it.