A History of Medieval Spain

Rating:
Summary: In depth survey of medieval Spain
Review: O'Callaghan provides us with an in-depth (728 pagess), well written survey of medieval Spain, starting with the Visigothic era in 415. The major sections of the book cover the monarchs, government, society, economy, culture and religion through the reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella. The book includes numerous maps, illustrations and genealogical charts. I highly recommend this book for the historian, student and general public with an interest in medieval Spain.

Rating:
Summary: Inadequate
Review: O'Callaghan's history of the Iberian peninsula, though exhausting in its detail, falls prey to typical western biases and employes the fallacious traditional historiography of Iberia, emphasizing the "Re"-Conquest and a supposed "move towards unity." This approach is woefully inadequate for understanding the events of Medieval Iberial, and fosters an unfair appraisal of the Muslim culture that flourished there for centuries. Additionally, O'Callaghan has managed to, through his exceedingly dry prose, completely emasculate this otherwise exciting and vibrant subject. In all my years as a history student, I have never read another text from which I retained so little; my classmates concur on the matter. Therefore, I wholeheartedly denounce this text.

Rating:
Summary: A good reference but a tough read
Review: The major problem with this book is that it tends to get bogged down in narrative without enough analytical insight. The result is that the reader is faced with hundreds of pages of which kings fought which, married whom and so on. While there is commentary on which events are more important than others and why, it is a little sparse. I read all but the last 100 pages or so as I just ran out of steam. However, as a person who is interested in Spain and Spanish history, I plan to keep it on my shelf for reference purposes.

The book is sensibly divided into major historical time periods (i.e. Visigothic, Caliphate, etc) that give a good organizational framework. Each time period typically has two chapters. The first is more or less a historical narrative and is usually the more difficult to get through. The second is an often interesting discussion of the social and political institutions of both Christian and Islamic Spain. For example, there is a chapter that outlines the major officials of the Umayyad caliphate, their roles, powers, prejudices and so on.

Rating:
Summary: A good reference but a tough read
Review: The major problem with this book is that it tends to get bogged down in narrative without enough analytical insight. The result is that the reader is faced with hundreds of pages of which kings fought which, married whom and so on. While there is commentary on which events are more important than others and why, it is a little sparse. I read all but the last 100 pages or so as I just ran out of steam. However, as a person who is interested in Spain and Spanish history, I plan to keep it on my shelf for reference purposes.

The book is sensibly divided into major historical time periods (i.e. Visigothic, Caliphate, etc) that give a good organizational framework. Each time period typically has two chapters. The first is more or less a historical narrative and is usually the more difficult to get through. The second is an often interesting discussion of the social and political institutions of both Christian and Islamic Spain. For example, there is a chapter that outlines the major officials of the Umayyad caliphate, their roles, powers, prejudices and so on.