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R. A. Fletcher

Moorish Spain Paperback – January 1, 2001

by Richard Fletcher (Author)

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Written in the same tradition as John Julius Norwich's engrossing accounts of Venice and Byzantium, Richard Fletcher's Moorish Spain entertains even as it enlightens. He tells the story of a vital period in Spanish history which transformed the culture and society, not only of Spain, but of the rest of Europe as well. Moorish influence transformed the architecture, art, literature and learning and Fletcher combines this analysis with a crisp account of the wars, politics and sociological changes of the time. 'Richard Fletcher makes a winding and wonderfully evocative journey through Spanish history...His mastery of his sources is hardly less remarkable than his vivid, almost physical grasp of the Spain he describes' The Economist

Print length

208 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Orion Publishing
Publication date

January 1, 2001
Dimensions

5.98 x 0.79 x 9.21 inches
ISBN-10

1842126059
ISBN-13

978-1842126059
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Orion Publishing (January 1, 2001)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 208 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1842126059
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1842126059
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.9 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.98 x 0.79 x 9.21 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #940,826 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #13,853 in European History (Books)
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4.4 out of 5

148 global ratings

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"Nostalgia is the enemy of historical understanding"

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 8, 2013

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This was one of several books used in a course on "Literature and Culture of Muslim Spain" that I took in 2009. As our professor pointed out, the period from 711 to 1492 is difficult because the Muslim culture flourished early in Iberia and then went into a centuries-long, anticlimactic decline. At the time I took the course I found this book difficult to absorb and much preferred the Maria Rosa Menocal's book on the same subject. However, post-graduation I've had time to read these two books separately and in their entirety. Fletcher's book has risen mightily in my esteem. While Menocal's very entertaining collection of essays does make it easy to relate to "Muslim Spain," Fletcher's task is far more difficult. He's trying to help the general reader make sense of a chaotic and scantily-documented period. His basic approach is chronological, but events often were affected by other events happening in the Middle East, North Africa, and beyond the Pyrenees, sometimes simultaneously, which often necessitates a little backtracking. Fletcher's writing is concise. It was often necessary for me to put the book down and think about what I'd read. However, by reading carefully the reader can learn a lot about the historian's tools. The book would be valuable to me for this reason, if for no other. "Nostalgia is the enemy of historical understanding," writes Fletcher in the final chapter of this book. As Ms. Menocal's book so aptly exemplifies, there is a tendency to romanticize al-Andalus. Fletcher romanticizes nothing. His agenda is historical understanding. I'd recommend, if possible, reading both Fletcher's and Menocal's books. They reinforce and support each other. Five stars for Fletcher, too.

36 people found this helpful

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Koen Wastijn

Moorish Spain a reality check

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 19, 2020

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This book offers a well written historical insight in a unique but often romantisized part of one of the cultural hotspots of the world. I really appreciated the no-nonsense reality check approach of the author.
A must for whoever spends more than a week in Andalucia and who is a very demanding reader.
Entertaining and factual. A subtle balance.

4 people found this helpful

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Larry N. Stout

Informative and interesting

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 2, 2012

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I can't compare this book with other treatments of the Muslims in Spain, because it's the only one I've read. Being both compact and comprehensive, it can be very dense in places; nevertheless, it is both enlightening and readable. The book served to considerably augment my avocational, patchwork grasp of world history, and I enjoyed it. It should appeal to a wide audience.

3 people found this helpful

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Donald Scott

A general history of Moorish Spain

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 8, 2013

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This is not a scholarly history but a "popular" account of Moors' dominion in Spain lasting almost seven hundred years. For the contemporary reader it explains the odd Christian-Muslim architecture one sees in Spain and finds exceptionally confusing. It evaluates the so-called compatibility between Jews, Christians, and Muslims alledged by amateur historians, and watches the languid plodding of European Christian efforts to settle Spain and convert it to a European country. A fine book for beginners in the study of a Spain often left out of European history.

2 people found this helpful

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demetrius egan

An incredible work and marks the void and absence of ...

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 27, 2018

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An incredible work and marks the void and absence of such an important period in world history that has been relegated to the periphery of European history, and regarded in nostalgic terms with early Islamic history.

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M. Orbuch

Probably the best popular work on the topic

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 4, 2006

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Richard Fletcher's "Moorish Spain" is a refreshing tonic against the plethora of books on Islamic Spain idealizing the supposed 'Convivencia' (especially, "The Ornament of the World" by Maria Rosa Menocal). Fletcher avoids the tendency among many scholars who wish to find an apt, hopeful (albeit unrealistic) Christian-Islamic modus vivendi for Europe's present-day demographic predicament based on a romaticized model of medieval Spain. Presented in a well-researched, matter-of-fact fashion, the 'good' is presented in the context of the 'bad and the ugly'.

23 people found this helpful

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peejay

brilliantly written without pedantry

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 23, 2003

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This book is one of those books that makes you wonder why you bother with fiction. Fletcher has created such brilliant characterizations, and his writing is so witty and fine, that it is a sensual pleasure to read. This kind of book is why one bothers to read at all; truly lovely.

22 people found this helpful

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SF

Three Stars

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 16, 2018

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the service was great I just had some issues about the book's content it is personal.

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S. Smith

The Moorish impact

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on December 10, 2016

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There are today two conflicting and extreme views of Muslim Spain, one is that it was a multicultural paradise where different faiths were tolerated and a conduit for the transmission of classical Greek and Persian learning to Western Europe, the other that it was marked by religious and cultural repression and that its Arab and Berber rulers were incapable of appreciating or transmitting classical culture. Richard Fletcher does not subscribe to either view but gives a nuanced interpretation of almost eight centuries of contact between two different religious and cultural traditions, sometimes in conflict but often having to accommodate each other.

Fletcher explores the effect of the Muslim occupation of much of Spain on its language, arts ideas, and politics. While the greatest effect of what he terms the Moorish impact, because it mostly derived from North Africa, was during the Middle Ages, it continued to shape Spanish culture even after the fall of Granada. After a rapid conquest, by 1000 A.D. of most Christians had converted or emigrated, although Christian and Jewish minorities tried to preserve their faiths in some Muslim areas. Moorish innovations in agriculture, including irrigation and new crops, new industries and integrating Spain into international trade routes transformed the country.

Moorish Spain is an introductory summary which offers no new interpretations. However, Fletcher’s clear grasp of the subject based on a variety of sources and his readable writing style make this a valuable introduction. The lacks reference and footnotes is understandable but at least some readers would like to follow up some of the matters only briefly touched on.

Returning to the original conflicting views mentioned, Fletcher is clear that toleration of any deviation was at best limited and in the periods when North African fundamentalists ruled, almost non-existent. Christians, Jews, Berbers and even Muslims who did not follow the accepted conventions were more often persecuted that grudgingly accepted and the best that could be said is this was no worse than the situation in the Christian kingdoms. On the other hand, he is clear that Al-Andalus was the main conduit for Greek and Persian philosophical, scientific and medical knowledge translated first into Arabic then re-translated into Latin to reach and enrich Western Europe, rather than Sicily or the Crusader kingdoms.

In summary, “Moorish Spain” is a very readable introduction not only to Muslim Spain but towards an understanding of the history of Muslim influence on Europe.

18 people found this helpful

Jacob la Cour

Very interesting

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on August 2, 2016

Verified Purchase

Very interesting historical description of the period where parts of Spain were under muslim rule. The book goes through the events in chronological order. In the early chapters the author stresses the lack of sources and he also stresses who wrote the sources we have. That is very good to highlight. There are a bit too many names and dates, although the author here and there says that the details are too confusing and irrelevant. The latter chapters are, however, very good! The author also has a great humor.

3 people found this helpful

Ampthill bookworm

A wonderful read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on September 25, 2013

Verified Purchase

If you ever watched the film El-Cid and wondered how much was truth and how much Hollywood invention, this book is the answer. The author states that his aim is to inform those that are taking a trip to Spain and to provide enough detail to explain the events and what lay behind them. He does this supremely well with plenty of historical detail, yet told in a style that keeps the pages turning. Covers 800 years and provides everything you are likely to want to know about this fascinating period with parallels to today's difficult relationship with Islam.

4 people found this helpful

Inkwork

No colour plates

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 12, 2019

Verified Purchase

Really disappointed no colour plates. Yet to read book so cannot comment yet on content.

3 people found this helpful

Rev47

Unbalanced

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 5, 2021

Verified Purchase

Not everything the Muslims did was so wonderful. This writer has lost his balance.

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