Tag: Spain

The Thirty Years War by C.V. Wedgwood

As their dates of publication recede into the past, books of history increasingly become artifacts of what they chronicle. They illuminate two periods: the one about which they are written, and the one in which they are written. With academic or more specialist works, this process is faster and more conscious; monographs are written in …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2016/05/05/the-thirty-years-war-by-c-v-wedgwood/

The Spanish Civil War by Stanley Payne

All civil wars and revolutions are confused in their narrative accounts, but the Spanish Civil War is even more confusing than the French Revolution. Who, exactly, was rebelling against whom? The Leftists were supposedly the “revolutionaries,” but they actually supported the Republic. Franco’s Nationalists were the “counterrevolutionaries,” but they were dedicated to overthrowing the Republic. …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/09/02/the-spanish-civil-war-by-stanley-payne/

Spain: The Root and the Flower by John Crow

The best book on this little-studied corner of Europe I have read so far. The author sees Spanish history mostly as a series of tragedies and disappointments, implying that while the rest of Europe was forging ahead on the path to progress, Spain lagged irremediably behind. But he is full of admiration for the qualities …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2012/10/14/spain-the-root-and-the-flower-by-john-crow/

The Spanish Inquisition by Joseph Perez

The author is obviously a committed Catholic. In this book he soft-pedals the Spanish Inquisition, arguing that it was bad, but really not as bad as all that. He argues that originally the aim of the Inquisition was not to eliminate Jews but merely to eliminate Judaism…a distinction that Jews will probably not appreciate. He …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2012/01/07/the-spanish-inquisition-by-joseph-perez/