Rating: 
Summary: A good overview
Review: All in all, given that the book is fairly short, it was a very thorough overview of 2000+ years of history.I read this book prior to a trip to Spain to try to get a little historic background prior to the trip and I think it really made a difference by placing many of the sites that we ended up seeing into a greater perspective. I had only two complaints:
1) I found Mr. Williams to be somewhat biased toward Spain. While this probably makes the reading better (because he seems to care tremendously about the topic and conveys this in his writing style), it was a little over-the-top. He seemed particularly harsh in downplaying the Moorish society in favor of what followed; and,
2) I would have liked more detail on the Spanish Civil War and the Franco era as it has so greatly shaped modern Spain. I found this section confusing overall. All in all though, this was a comprehensive overview read on a long and fascinating history and I would recommend it for this purpose.
Rating: 
Summary: A History-Reader Must
Review: Being an avid student of history, I found the book "The Story of Spain" by Mark Williams a magnificently well written, factual, unbiased, and complete synthesis of Spain's complex history compiled in less than a 300-page volume. Yet, it covers with amazing detail from pre-historical times to our very present. Many are the merits of this outstanding book. For one, instead of presenting a succession of dry historical facts as is often the case, this book is written in such a fluid and exciting manner that the reader gets passionately involved in its lecture as if going through the most intriguing fiction drama hard to set aside. Further, internal events and external influences are precisely narrated to convey their progressive impact in forging the unique, often tragicomic, always dramatic Spanish personalities - the reader clearly understands each new development as a natural result of a prior build up. Furthermore, from beginning to end, all its historical and cultural protagonists are vividly presented as true human beings, with their predominant characteristics but also with their strengths and weaknesses skillfully outlined by well-selected phrases, back-and-forth comparisons, and anecdotes. But its principal merit in my opinion is the extraordinary ability of this author in grabbing the undivided attention of the reader, walking effortlessly through some 15,000 years while impressing a remarkable sense of perspective that other authors require volumes to convey. Humbly conceived by its author for the educational enjoyment of English-speaking tourists, it is pitiful that such a jewel has not been translated into the Spanish language as serious history students in Spain and Latin American could gain much insightful knowledge. Having read lots of books on this topic (Madariaga, Menendez-Pidal, Castro, S. Albornoz... as well as Livermoor, Carr, Bertrand...), I emphatically recommend this brief "story" as superbly narrated, highly perceptive, and very comprehensive.
Rating:
Summary: Good read, especially if you're going to Spain
Review: History wasn't my favorite subject in school but if only my textbook was written like this book! This book really helps you understand this culturally and historically rich country. I can say that after a 3 week trip to Spain, which was fantastic. It's written well and the characters really come to life in the book. I even bought my uncle this book. He's the ambassador to Spain and he wished the foreign ministry bought him this book instead of all the long briefings. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: A History of Spain in One Week
Review: How many books have you picked up and finished in one week? (Okey, so I am a slow reader). My wife and I are planning a trip to Spain so I decided to bone up on my Spanish history. I hit upon this book and loved it. The book dispels a lot of the myths in Spanish history such as the Black Legend perpetrated by England. This is one of the better books on history I have read.
Rating:
Summary: A Winner
Review: I found "The Story of Spain" to be a highly readable, informative book about a very complex subject. So I was puzzled by another, quite mean-spirited review attacking the book. Spanish history lite? Well, telling the entire exciting story in under 300 pages must have been a challenge, but Williams was up to the task as all other reviewers agree. The John Crow book, "Spain: The Root and the Flower," is also excellent, if a bit more academic in approach, and would make a good follow up for those wanting another perspective. In fact, Williams himself cites it as a source for further reading. Regarding the use of an identical quotation, that must be common in history books. I doubt if Mr. Crow was there to hear the words direct from the saint! (He too copied it from somewhere.) And in fact Williams acknowledges using Crow and many other traditional sources (the usual boring history) to tell "the story" with breathtaking clarity. The scholarship must be sound as well, if so many professors have endorsed it. Indeed, Williams' book has been highly praised by Dr.Paul Smith, who used it for several years in a course he taught for the Spanish department at U.C.L.A. That's the same place where Mr. Crow once taught, I believe. Yet it's "The Story of Spain" that was selected. To me, that says a lot.
Rating:
Summary: Very good overview
Review: I got this book to prepare for a tourist trip to Spain. It gives a very good overview of the history of Spain starting from prehistoric times up to about the mid-1990's. The more modern history is understandably rather cursory. The Spanish Civil War was a bit confusing with the multiple political parties and really requires it's own book to understand. The author gives a small biography on each time period for futher reading. The best feature of this book is that after each chapter the author gives tourist sites related to each historic period. For example after the Roman history chapter, he lists sites with Roman ruins and how it relates to what you just read. This makes the book a good reference to bring along on the trip. It you plan a tourist trip to Spain and only have time for one book, this would be the one to pick up.
Rating:
Summary: It is Europe's most fascinating country!
Review: I picked this book up because I'm going to Spain for 10 days and I wanted background. What a page-turner. All those people hovering around the perifery of my historical knowlege are examined and put into perspective in the history of Spain: Cervantes, Goya, Velezquez, the Holy Grail, Sephardic Jews, Muslims, the Alhambra, Catherine of Aragon,the Altamira Cave, the Roman aqueducts, Napoleon and his brother Joseph (King of Spain, ever so briefly),the Basques,Hadrian again, and on and on. A scholarly synthesis of Spain's history wonderfully written immensely readable and hard to put down.
Rating:
Summary: Great, Brief History
Review: I picked this up right after it came out in the US after spending a long time looking for a history "survey" Spain. I have read a lot abut the country in Spanish classes, but wanted it all in one place.
This book was well written, easily read (as opposed to the dry stuff you normally find) and pretty comprehensive. Definetely a survey that offers you options if you want a more in-depth view on a time period. The travel info helps too.
Overall, a good read and serves it purpose very well.
Rating:
Summary: Perfect introduction to Spain
Review: I reviewed The Story of Spain, as well as several other books, to see if I would recommend it to my Spanish students. To my surprise I found it well-written and fast-moving. Mark Williams covers a huge stretch of time, but does it in an manner which is both interesting and at times, amusing. He vividly recreates each of the dramatic events and social changes in the history of the peninsula.
He also closes each chapter with a list of places in Spain where artifacts, architecture and art, typical and representative of the time period covered in the preceding chapter, can still be found today. This is very useful for anyone travelling to Spain.
The modern history of Spain is complex, and we bogged down a few times with the endless list of political activists, but this is minor. I think the greatest testiment is that most of my students (college & high school) enjoyed this book so much, they read ahead.
Rating:
Summary: Michner
Review: In his last interview before his death,Michner said, " After Rome and Greece, Spain is the most historically interestiing county on earth !" Enyone who was anything came to Spain, conquered, built and stayed to infuse their culture into the melting pot that is now Spain. I have made four trips totalling 16 weeks and , it's never enough. I am proud of my roots!
|
