Fandango Rock [Paperback]

John Masters (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Macdonald & Co (December 31, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0722105770
• ISBN-13: 978-0722105771
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,470,883 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Darned good for its age, February 12, 2010

By 

John Bonavia (Needham, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fandango Rock (Paperback)

Absorbing and well-crafted. Much of the appeal is the full immersion in the world of 1959: the action takes place at an SAC base in Spain (Hands up those who remember what SAC stood for). The Cold War is in full swing, and B-52s are stationed all over the globe ready to drop H-bombs on anyone who is rash enough to drop one on the US (remember the "MAD" strategy?). However, the focus of the book is mostly on the gigantic culture clash between the US servicemen and the life of the (fictional) town of Medina. This was before the era of cheap vacation flights to Europe, before the Internet, before cell phones. The cars the base officers drive in through town are De Sotos and Hispano-Suizas and one of them is started by the chauffeur cranking the starting-handle (Google it).

Of course, we have a love story - actually two, and they cross the cultural divide: we have in-depth expositions of the spirit of Spain, all history, dignity, and bullfighting: we have vignettes of the good and the bad of Americans overseas in the 1950s: we get an overseas view of American policies which rings surprisingly true today:

"You want everyone to love you and no one does. You say you love the French and send arms to Algerian rebels who are killing Frenchmen {do I hear "Nicaragua" - or many other countries]...If Panama had seized the canal the way Nasser seized Suez your parachutists would have been there much quicker than they arrived in Little Rock, but because Suez was only the property of allies you sold them for Arab friendship [refers to the Suez incident in 1956], and more oil. You'd sell the Constitution for oil." [Hmm...he saw GWB coming.]

Lots of political incorrectness, of course: someone thinks the matadors "walk like fairies," the n-word puts in an appearance (not from Masters, from a character). But it remains an amazingly good read. Did I mention the detailed account of B-52 missions sweeping across the globe, seen from the cockpit, and the move-by-move detailed choreography of bullfights? And more...