The Basque History of the World

Rating:
Summary: Bad literature over serious matters
Review: Unfortunately Mr Kurlansky has fell victim of a child-like version of the history of the world.

Whoever reads this book will not understand anything of the current strugle of the majority of the basques, trying to leave in peace and freedom in a region with more self-government than any german lander. Nor will they understand why several basque university profesors have fled to the United States looking for a secure place where they can speak and writte their own minds.

Mr Kurlansky pastoral and bucolic depiction of a preexisting paradise inhabited by guilt free, innocent beings living in a natural beatifull landscape and enjoying the most delicious dishes from bountifull mother hearth that suddenly is perturbed by the invasion of a foreign race is, unfortunately, a common feature of other histories of the world where there is a chosen people, a race that used to be pure and is threatened to be contaminated. It is also unfortunately similar to other accounts of history, from white supremacists to serbian propaganda, in which many small details are wrigth but the whole picture is wrong.

Mr Kurlansky mixing of landscape and food with uncritical accounts of crimes does provide for bad literature but does not help in the pursuit of thruth. He is, at best, a naive an impresionable nature, and, at worst, a travel companion of a small group of basques that follow, yes an ancient tradition in human kind, racism.

Anybody seriously interested in learning what is happening in the Basque country, should instead read the books from , perhaps the most important philosopher in Spain today, himself a Basque, Fernando Savater, who just received the European Parlament Sajarov Human Rights Award for his contribution.

Tragically the same mixture that Mr Kurlansky blends in his book is the account of the last crime of this group of Basques. In the beatifull landscape of Guipuzcoa a cook was blown to bits by a mine under his car. He will not be able anymore to prepare the delicious recipes that Mr Kurlansky blends with his bland account of history.

Rating:
Summary: Exceptionally good history
Review: The Basque History of the World is a delightful, detailed and non-controversial history of the Basque people and their land(s). Mark Kurlansky has cut through the myths and mis-information surrounding the Basque history, their culture and their traditions to come up with a pretty clear and accurate vision, told in clear and concise prose.

The Basques have a proud history and culture which they are (and should be) proud of - this book captures all this well and truly.

regards,

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Rating:
Summary: Preparing to visit the Basque country
Review: I bought this book in preparation for an upcoming trip to the Basque region of Spain and France. Turns out that I not only learned a lot about the Basque area and the history, but received a new and different historical perspective. The history of Spain is very interesting. As a bonus, one learns a lot about European and World history as well. I recommend the book to anyone either interested in history [especially European history] or anyone preparing to visit Spain.

Rating:
Summary: LET US BE WHAT WE ARE GAREAN GAREANA LEGEZ
Review: 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!)

Rating:
Summary: Support terrorism, please!
Review: If you would like to support a terrorist group who has killed almost 1000 people in the last thirty years, this book is a must read. "Sure"-you must think-"those killed people were assasins or torturers themselves". Well, the last victim (as of today, it is hard to keep up with ETA so by the time you read this it probably won't be the last) was killed because he defended that all sides in the "Basque problem" should sit down and talk. ETA recognized that this was very dangerous and, thus, killed him and produced a public note explaining their reasons. Not to mention that most of his latest killings have been public officials elected in democatric elections (contested by not a single international organization). Long live democracy!... but let's kill the mayor if he is not from our political party.

Again, you may think that this review was written by some crazy hothead. Well, think about this: Take a look at the reviews about this book and see how many negative ones include the author's name. I did not see a single one (of course, there is a slight possibility that this may not be true when you read this, but I doubt it). Do you want to know why? Because anybody who speaks against ETA is forced to remain protected for the rest of his/her life. On the other hand, take a look at the positive reviews: You will see that some (if not all) of them carry the author's name. Now, think about how life is in the Basque Country for those people who are not ETA symphatizers.

Oh, I almost forgot. The author forgets to mention in his book that polls show that a majority of Basques consider themselves also Spaniards and that only a small percentage is in favor of independence. Gee, I wonder why that does not appear in the book.

A Basque.

Rating:
Summary: Ignore the nonsense on this page!
Review: This book was an excellent read about the Basques, their history, culture, and cuisine. The reviews have centred on Kurlansky's view of ETA. What about the rest of the book? Whales, cod, Elkano, Loyola, Arana, Aguirre, pelota, elvers .... It is amazing to find out the a Basque was the first to circumnavigate the globe, that two Basques founded the Jesuits, that Simon Bolivar was descended from Basques, and so on. Silhouette is a Basque word. Canadians will remember a great football plyer named Sam Etcheverry. Was he, too, as Basque as his name suggests?

I did not think this was a book about ETA. But from the reviews on this page, one would think this was a great big book glorifying terrorism! I have read this book twice. I would suggest you read it too. For once we have the chance to read about a people from their own point of view.

And for those who think there is too much politics in Kurlansky, forget it, life is politics! I will give you some politics for free. Like the Welsh , the Basques have been obliterated from the map for several hundred years. But entities such as "Spain" have only been in existence for a couple of hundred years, while the Basques trace their origins to prehistory. Spain seem to have given up all their colonies except those closest to home. The Spanish did quite a bit to keep this lucrative colony, including using the Luftwaffe to flatten Basque market towns. (Incredible now that they will not allow Picasso's Gernika to be shown in Bilbao.)Trying to kill off the Basque language,a unique tongue unrelated to any known language, was just an immense disservice to humanity.

The Basques (and Welsh,) however, will be there long after Spain and Britain and other empires have ceased to be. Within the European union, there is no longer a need to keep these small nations in subjection and to deny them their rightful place.

Again, I say, ignore the above reviews, read this book, and decide for yourself.

Rating:
Summary: Colorful, but Dangerously Misleading
Review: I am a moderate basque nationalist, firmly against violence. Those pro-violence / pro-ETA basques represent at most 15% of the population, yet, they have manageed to get their point accross beatifully through Mr. Kurlansky. He should not forget either, that we are a plural society and that half of us do not consider themselves nationalits.

ETA should not be mistified nor glorified. They kill people, including moderate basque nationalists (Korta, Goikoetxea, etc) and non-nationalist basques (Buesa, Jauregui, Iruretagoiena, Izaustre, Blanco, Zamarreno, Perdrosa Urquiza, etc.)and are classified as a Terrorist Group by the US Government.

Mr. Kurlansky has, through the evil ignorance of a non-basque, at best portrayed a biased picture of Basque history and politics, and at worst contributed to the death and violence of ETA.

Rating:
Summary: A sectarian and misinformed depiction of the Basques
Review: As a Basque person, I find this book a poisonous gift. Kurlansky has obviously enjoyed his time amongst us (probably while researching his excellent book on cod) and all that cider at the "sidreria" has somehow gone up to his head while writing about the Basque Country. With the craft of an experienced storyteller, he manages to put together all the cliche, victimism, and bigotry that is still afflicting us. Ironically, his passionate tale helps to understand why so many people are still today passionately murdered, kidnapped, tortured, and forced to exile. Gezurrak (edo sasiegiak) ez dira askatzaileak: Lies and half-truths do not liberate us.

Rating:
Summary: A colourful read
Review: I have always been interested in the Basques, since studying the Spanish Civil War in high school. I received this book as a present and have read it twice in five months. Since then I have investigated Basque culture on the internet and am interested in living there for awhile and learning the language. Kurlansky spins a great story, and there is plenty here to tell. The Basques, like the Welsh, have been a minority within a larger and more powerful nation-state for centuries, and have been subjected to numerous attempts at assimilation. But nonetheless they have survived against all odds, and have prospered. For those whose sympathies lie with the small nations, this story is one of hope. Read this book! A footnote to this is that I was able to recognize the Basque names on a few of the soccer players in Euro 2000 (and saw an ikurrina in the stands). I have a feeling a Basque team would be very competitive.

Rating:
Summary: Hard to put down, but...
Review: 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.