Barcelona

Rating:
Summary: A slightly inflated history of Barcelona
Review: First, let me say I thoroughly enjoyed Hughes' "The Fatal Shore" and the now classic "Shock of the New" and it was because of his track record for both regional and art history that I opened "Barcelona" with anticipation. I should have stopped at the introduction, wherein Hughes explains that he'd originally intended to write a much smaller work focusing on Barcelona's modernistas at the turn-of-the-century. Instead, at his publisher's urging (undoubtedly timed to capitalize on the 1992 Olympics) he broadened the scope to include Barcelona's story from prehistory to about 1925. The result is a wordy book which reminds me of the times I had to puff up a term paper with accurate, but nonessential facts in order to get to the required twenty pages. I would agree with another reviewer that this work is missing Hughes' usual spark and I can't help but think his heart wasn't in this one. Hughes states early on his love for Barcelona but unfortunately this compassion doesn't come across in the book. I would have been much happier if he would have extended Barcelona's history in the other direction. That is, beginning with the modernistas and proceeding to the Surrealists, the Civil War and through to Barcelona's post-Franco revival as a cultural center of Europe.

Rating:
Summary: An important historical perspective
Review: I read Hughes' Barcelona before I went to Barcelona for the first time, and it made all the difference in the world. I arrived not as a stranger, but as a student of Catalan culture and history. The book gave me the background to have an informed perspective on what I was seeing. It may be long, but it has tons of information. My only complaint is that Hughes assumes the reader has a knowledge of history that I, for one, don't have. So there were things I didn't understand.

I liked that Hughes sometimes talked about the big things -- big events, important people, and he sometimes talked about the little things that make a place distinctive. His love of the place came through to me, and I fell in love with it too.

Rating:
Summary: Visca Hughes!
Review: Pundits might argue that Mr. Hughes published this book with a commercial-minded orientation in light of the 1992 Summer Olympics. However, if you read it and absorb its calculated research, astounding lexicon and well-balanced content, you will be rewarded with a generous dissertation about the sociological, political, religious, historical, mythological, and, above all, architectural aspects of Barcelona. For the average reader this work is downright overkill and increasingly sluggish; its style lacking a dynamic and artful flow. Mr. Hughes' trade is not particularly conciseness, so his book spits out a plethora of events, politicians, noblemen, artists, anarchists, "casas", churches, and annecdotes that will overwhelm the reader. "Barcelona" was written for both the scholar and world-trotter (not that one who will pop in for a brief layover, though.) The art history chapters, specially those depicting the excessively ornamented Modernistic architecture, teem with ornate descriptions, yet Mr. Hughes provides us with poor, small, and black and white photographs incapable of accompanying the writer's flow. I deem inexcusable the author's lack of grit and abuse of honesty in acknowledging his inability to write about the Civil War, Francoism and contemporary Barcelona; highly appetizing topics.

Rating:
Summary: Gateway to the City
Review: Robert Hughes's book is a very enjoyable history of Barcelona from its founding by the Romans to the death of Gaudí in 1926.

In his preface, Hughes warns that "this is not intended to be, in any sense, a "scholarly work". It is a general introduction." That's fair, if a little modest. Certainly, you do not get a general history of the city. Hughes's style is to follow themes rather than to adhere to a strict chronology. Therefore, although by the end you have indeed arrived at 1926, the journey in between was a wandering one, with frequent overlaps. Like Hughes's history of early Australia, "The Fatal Shore", it's better to think of the book as a series in interconnected extended essays.

Hughes is an art critic; the real strength of the book lies, not surprisingly, in his analysis of developments in art, culture and architecture. Most of the book is devoted to these themes. Social, economic and political issues (though not neglected) are relegated to briefer sections. "Barcelona" is still a good read, but I suspect one would need to look elsewhere for a more in-depth examination of the socio-economic and political history of the city and treat this as a taster - just as Hughes wanted.

G Rodgers

Rating:
Summary: Turgid
Review: This book is effectively a 540-page Encyclopedia Britannica article -- lots of facts dryly presented. I read it after spending 7 days seeing what I thought were the worthwhile sights in Barcelona, and soon had a list of things I missed good for another 7 days. I recommend it to anyone planning a visit to Barcelona, since I am not aware of any other source of information about the city that is as comprehensive.

Hughes does a fine job of describing the architectural history of the city, particularly the Modernisme (Art Nouveau) period, but wastes far too much time on Catalan music, literature and art, which even he admits are mediocre. You will do yourself a favor by skimming those chapters.

Note that this book was written in 1993, after the city had been spruced up for the 1992 Olympics but still 11 years ago. It is an even better city today, with nice people, excellent and reasonably priced food, and plenty of things to see and do. The comparison that comes to mind is "Tuscany 25 years ago."

Additional recommended reading: George Orwell's "Homage to Catalonia"

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant or boring
Review: When on his game Hughes' writing is insightful, witty, observant, educational. Here that would be the first 100 pages and the last 120, of the 574 pages which reveal that the Catlans are not Spanish, but Catalan; their art, architecture and politics come from their history of being with or against the rest of Spain, having their own language and culture, with economic/political battles against Madrid from early Roman history to today (Beckham was going to Barcelona F.C. before Real Madrid stole him away at the last second). I imagine he started with the idea of writing a book about the fantastic Art Nouveau architecture in one of the most architecturally interesting cities in the world, to discover that the Catalan spirit was such a force in shaping the uniqueness of the style that more needed to understood about who these people with their own language and culture that is sometimes banned by the national government. Unfortunately the author goes too deep in cataloging the complexities of the history of Barcelona, some of which is just not that interesting, the large middle of the book saps the reader's strength. The text comes alive again for the ending sections on the late 1800s when Barcelona was the bomb throwing anarchy capital of the world leading into the development of the Art Nouveau/Modernista movement, although slowing a bit before finishing with a really excellent examination and comment of Gaudi, the person and his work.
Mr Hughes needed a stronger editor for this book, it would be a brilliant 250 page book. Some severe editing to take out the boring but academic sections was really needed.
That said, it is worth reading. Scim the middle sections. When Hughes is on his game it is good reading