A History of Spain and Portugal

by William C. Atkinson

Includes Chronological table, bibliography and index.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

382 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1960

Reviews

[GoldGato · Rating 5 out of 5]

One day I woke up and decided I needed to know more about Iberia and its people. Trotted off to the used bookstore (a vanishing species) across from the office and right there sitting on the shelf waiting for me to arrive was this volume. Some things are just meant to be.

If you can only read one book about Spain and Portugal, this be the one. A full history is provided on wars, culture, peoples, literature, and the fantastic arts. There is something about the Peninsula that draws...perhaps it is the age of exploration, when these two countries dominated the world. Perhaps it is the culture, where the national passion for bullfights co-exists with food that elevates companionship to paradise. Perhaps it is the art of Goya, El Greco, Velazquez, Picasso, Dali. The grinding poverty that led to Spain's Franco and then to a revival that blazed forth at the Barcelona Olympics. Perhaps it is the Lisbon quake and catastrophe that saw a little nation rebuild itself anew. The Inquisition of the Church, the solidarity of football (soccer). Stunning.

Happy the country that has no history.

This is the type of book that makes you want to walk up to an air terminal and hop the next flight to the Lands of Magellan.

Book Season = Year Round (see the world before it's gone)

[Meg Onthemove Reading · Rating 2 out of 5]

An overly complicated (I had to look up several words in a dictionary - 'contumely' anyone???? .... And back track multiple times to gain a better understanding), anglified (it doesn't help knowing that John is João in Portuguese and Juan in Spanish when there are so many of them from different Royal houses and mini-kingdoms with the same soubriquet or regnal number) and assuming a great deal of prior knowledge of an incredibly complex and difficult national history ... Parts of which I know but other parts are new to me.

Will read something more modern on the subject.

[Simon Collis · Rating 1 out of 5]

Confusing and difficult to read. The author seems to enjoy going backwards and forwards in time. Many events are skipped altogether - the 1755 quake in Lisbon merits only a passing mention.

The "art and literature" chapters are bewildering lists of things the author seems to like. No mention of, for example, Bocage. He lauds Camões as Portugal's greatest poet in a section on his war record, while missing him out entirely in the art and literature section.

This book isn't entirely without merit, and it's possible that the style reflects more on the 1950s and the author's personal preferences than anything.

I'd give it two stars were it not for the author's praise for the dictatorships in Spain and Portugal at the time the book was written, which left me feeling uncomfortable.

[Joyce · Rating 3 out of 5]

a perhaps too compressed general summary which becomes almost sickening in the back half as atkinson essentially "well, actually"s franco and salazar, who were still in power at the time of writing

[Oliver Hodson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I haven’t read enough about Spanish History to know if this is comparatively a good history or not. It seemed pretty decent in terms of tracking trends throughout time, but what I couldn’t come at was it’s world view! Serves me right for reading an op shop pick up.

There was reference to the merits of breeding for eugenics (applied to the royal dynasty), open spite for monarchs with mental health issues or disabilities, and the book couldn’t quite work out if multicultural Spain was a good thing that gave the country it’s unique wonder or a bitter problem because not everyone non-Catholic could be expelled.

Probably shouldn’t have bothered, and i would recommend going an updated history to give the nuance- even when reflecting or reporting on these outdated ideas.