A Traveller's History of Spain

Rating:
Summary: Terribly disappointing
Review: Bought this book in Canada from Chapters. Dropped it after the first 100 pages. I love history and enjoy history books, but this one is terribly boring and unprofessional. There is no systematic approach whatsoever: events, places and names mentioned without proper introduction or reference. The book fails to build link between the places you might visit (it's a "travelers history" after all) and the historic events. It is neither popular reading nor academic textbook.

Rating:
Summary: Read Iberia instead
Review: Having read several other Traveller's History books (Turkey, China, Greece) and enjoyed them, I expected much more than I got from this book. The author makes no connections and assumes the reader already knows a lot about Spanish history, in which case, why read this one? I was particularly turned off by the author's terrible punctuation and sentences that went on for 10 lines. Doesn't anyone edit anymore? Wish I had read the other reviews before buying this book. Someone planning a trip to Spain should read James Michner's Iberia instead Ñ not as much history, perhaps, but a lot more understanding of the country and what shaped it.

Rating:
Summary: Terribly disappointing
Review: This is neither a good history text nor helpful in any way to the traveller.

Rating:
Summary: Read Iberia instead
Review: While shallow enough for those like me who have little patience for over-scrupulous books, it is strikingly biassed and opinionated. Some remarks about historic figures are blatantly subjective, and bias reaches its zenith when the author goes to great length criticising the Socialist government of Felipe Gonzalez. As a Spaniard who has lived that period, while I acknowledge the right of the author to hold an opinion on Gonzalez's period in office, his comments go way beyond admissibility in a history book. I cannot recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: Biassed history always unwelcome
Review: While shallow enough for those like me who have little patience for over-scrupulous books, it is strikingly biassed and opinionated. Some remarks about historic figures are blatantly subjective, and bias reaches its zenith when the author goes to great length criticising the Socialist government of Felipe Gonzalez. As a Spaniard who has lived that period, while I acknowledge the right of the author to hold an opinion on Gonzalez's period in office, his comments go way beyond admissibility in a history book. I cannot recommend this book.