Customer Reviews

A Concise History of Spain (Cambridge Concise Histories)

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this is a superbly written book that presents and discusses the broader themes that shaped the history of the iberian peninsula and also examines historical events in detail. excellent book for history students and casual readers who are interested in spain.

Got this book to read while recuperating from some surgery. I didn't notice the Christian bias another reviewer spoke about. I am a Christian who grew up with parents who taught at Christian colleges. Unfortunately, the ways that Jesus taught haven't always been practiced by the Catholic church which is what I understood the book to be talking about. Both good and bad has been practiced by that church through the centuries and Muslims were not the only faith to have been "It is my way or the highway", with its beliefs. Some native american languages and traditions were suppressed, sometimes violently by Catholic churches and mission schools in the history of my country (USA). I understand the history of the world to be whoever is in power and/or wants more power tends to try to suppress the opponents beliefs and the ability to express them. I learned many things I did not know about Spain. I like the guide in the back for more information on each section of the book. I also like the chronological listing of rulers in the back of the book as that became confusing with the same name with different roman numerals being used again for leaders. I was amused by the authors pointing out more than once that inbreeding was very harmful to the leaders of Spain being able to produce heirs who lived long enough to rule without becoming mentally incompetent. I would have liked a glossary in the back for the names of the different political parties and terms so I wouldn't have had to flip back to try to find them when they were mentioned again.

After further review, I had thought this book would be pretty fair, when in fact the author seems to be anti-Chrisitan and is biased towards the Christian Faith. He makes it seem as if Spain was some "example" of how Jews Christians and Muslims could live in harmony. Which is a bit absurd. They live in harmony because Islam requires submission or be killed! There was no harmony, there was nothing but war in Spain against the Muslims. Believe me, I know, years of research on the subject. The author makes other weird and absurd claims as well with the Church and its relations with the invaders (Muslims). The book disappointed me overall and was not happy with it. I thought it would be a very well written book, well researched because of the Cambridge connection but in fact, fails to deliver adequate and balanced views with the Spanish and their Christian Faith. As if the Church was some invading force against peace. The Spaniards have in fact preserved who THEY ARE. The grossly exaggerated claim that there was this massive Islamic influence is completely false. The Spaniards preserved there way of life apart from the Muslim Invaders which imposed their rules and religion on the Spanish people however, the Spanish are a strong people and preserved their very identity completely different from the Muslim invaders. The book was very poorly balanced and was not fair in anyways. Very disappointed in this book.