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Death and Money in The Afternoon: A History of the Spanish Bullfight
Bullfighting has long been perceived as an antiquated, barbarous legacy from Spain's medieval past. In fact, many of that country's best poets, philosophers, and intellectuals have accepted the corrida as the embodiment of Spain's rejection of the modern world. In his brilliant new
interpretation of bullfighting, Adrian Shubert maintains that this view is both the product of myth and a complete misunderstanding of the real roots of the contemporary bullfight.
While references to a form of bullfighting date back to the Poem of the Cid (1040), the modern bullfight did not emerge until the early 18th century. And when it did emerge, it was far from being an archaic remnant of the past--it was a precursor of the 20th-century mass leisure industry. Indeed,
before today's multimillion-dollar athletes with wide-spread commercial appeal, there was Francisco Romero, born in 1700, whose unique form of bullfighting netted him unprecedented fame and wealth, and Manuel Rodriguez Manolete, hailed as Spain's greatest matador by the New York Times after a fatal
goring in 1947. The bullfight was replete with promoters, agents, journalists, and, of course, hugely-paid bullfighters who were exploited to promote wine, cigarettes, and other products. Shubert analyzes the business of the sport, and explores the bullfighters' their social and geographic
origins, careers, and social status. Here also are surprising revelations about the sport, such as the presence of women bullfighters--and the larger gender issues that this provoked. From the political use of bullfighting in royal and imperial pageants to the nationalistic "great patriotic
bullfights" of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, this is both a fascinating portrait of bullfighting and a vivid recreation of two centuries of Spanish history.
Based on extensive research and engagingly written, Death and Money in the Afternoon vividly examines the evolution of Spanish culture and society through the prism of one of the West's first--and perhaps its most spectacular--spectator sports.
interpretation of bullfighting, Adrian Shubert maintains that this view is both the product of myth and a complete misunderstanding of the real roots of the contemporary bullfight.
While references to a form of bullfighting date back to the Poem of the Cid (1040), the modern bullfight did not emerge until the early 18th century. And when it did emerge, it was far from being an archaic remnant of the past--it was a precursor of the 20th-century mass leisure industry. Indeed,
before today's multimillion-dollar athletes with wide-spread commercial appeal, there was Francisco Romero, born in 1700, whose unique form of bullfighting netted him unprecedented fame and wealth, and Manuel Rodriguez Manolete, hailed as Spain's greatest matador by the New York Times after a fatal
goring in 1947. The bullfight was replete with promoters, agents, journalists, and, of course, hugely-paid bullfighters who were exploited to promote wine, cigarettes, and other products. Shubert analyzes the business of the sport, and explores the bullfighters' their social and geographic
origins, careers, and social status. Here also are surprising revelations about the sport, such as the presence of women bullfighters--and the larger gender issues that this provoked. From the political use of bullfighting in royal and imperial pageants to the nationalistic "great patriotic
bullfights" of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, this is both a fascinating portrait of bullfighting and a vivid recreation of two centuries of Spanish history.
Based on extensive research and engagingly written, Death and Money in the Afternoon vividly examines the evolution of Spanish culture and society through the prism of one of the West's first--and perhaps its most spectacular--spectator sports.
- GenresHistory
288 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1999
About the author
Adrian Shubert
44 books1 followerAdrian Shubert is a Canadian historian and Hispanist, professor, and chair of History at York University in Toronto.
He has authored works such as Hacia la revolución. Orígenes sociales del movimiento obrero en Asturias, 1860-1934 (1984), A Social History of Modern Spain (1990), Spain at War: The Spanish Civil War in Context, 1931-1939 (1995), Death and Money in the Afternoon: A History of the Spanish Bullfight (1999), A las cinco de la tarde, una historia social del toreo (2002), and a monumental biography of Spanish General Baldomero Espartero, Espartero, el Pacificador (2018), among others.
He has authored works such as Hacia la revolución. Orígenes sociales del movimiento obrero en Asturias, 1860-1934 (1984), A Social History of Modern Spain (1990), Spain at War: The Spanish Civil War in Context, 1931-1939 (1995), Death and Money in the Afternoon: A History of the Spanish Bullfight (1999), A las cinco de la tarde, una historia social del toreo (2002), and a monumental biography of Spanish General Baldomero Espartero, Espartero, el Pacificador (2018), among others.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 18, 2012
Did you know that other than in Ancient Rome there were no stadiums built in Europe until the construction of bullfighting stadiums in the late 1700's? The next sport to build stadiums would be baseball, decades later, and that of course was in the U.S., not Europe. Seems to me that rather than accusing Spain of being trapped in its 'barbaric past,' we should celebrate Spain for its modernity in leading the way to the spectator-sports industry of today. That's right, sports like football, basketball, baseball, NASCAR, etc., owe it all to bullfighting. In this book you can read about the genesis of the spectator-sports industry, if you read with a thoughtful mind. All the participants are here: (1) promoters, (2) players (matador and bull), (3) trainers, (4) owners, (5) advertisers, (6) unions, etc. You will read how local governments assist in the funding of new stadiums too. Sound familiar? This is an interesting sport (or art), and unlike hunting deer with a rifle, in bullfighting the bull has a chance to win. The book did not cover bullfighting on horseback, which I consider to be more artful. In Spain this is referred to as "Rejoneo" and is also the standard method for bullfighting in Portugal.
November 6, 2011
Some interesting bits regarding culture and gender, but this book could have easily been a long magazine article. Read the introduction and skip the rest.
July 16, 2012
Could have been fascinating, but is instead dry, dull and virtually unreadable. Written like a scientific paper rather than a book, and mostly a history prior to the 20th century.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews