Southern Spain Yesterday & Today: Madrid, Granada & Seville

Named a Book of the Year by the Times Literary Supplement, this lavishly illustrated work explores the vibrant interaction among different and sometimes opposing cultures, and how their contacts with one another transformed them all. It chronicles the tumultuous history of Castile in the wake of the Christian capture of the Islamic city of Tulaytula, now Toledo, in the eleventh century and traces the development of Castilian culture as it was forged in the new intimacy of Christians with the Muslims and Jews they had overcome. The authors paint a portrait of the culture through its arts, architecture, poetry and prose, uniquely combining literary and visual arts. Concentrating on the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the book reveals the extent to which Castilian identity is deeply rooted in the experience of confrontation, interaction, and at times union with Hebrew and Arabic cultures during the first centuries of its creation. Abundantly illustrated, the volume serves as a splendid souvenir of southern Spain; beautifully written, it illuminates a culture deeply enriched by others. https://www.amazon.com/Arts-Intimacy-Christians-Muslims-Castilian/dp/0300142145/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=the+arts+of+intimacy+christian+jews&qid=1571308697&s=books&sr=1-1

The story of the Spanish knight adapted for children and enhanced by the delightful illustrations of Walter Crane. https://www.amazon.com/DON-QUIXOTE-MANCHA-Retold-illustrated/dp/197319998X

A collection of essays, verbal sketches and stories by American author Washington Irving (1783–1859) inspired by, and partly written during, his 1828 visit to the palace/fortress complex known as the Alhambra in Granada, Andalusia, Spain. https://www.amazon.com/Tales-Alhambra-Washington-Irving/dp/154403587X/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=tales+of+the+alhambra&qid=1571308655&s=books&sr=1-1

Mythology and history are inextricably entwined in the fabric of Spanish life. In this guide, the author selects 50 paintings with mythological or historical themes by artists such as Goya, Poussin, Rubens and Velazquez and explains the stories behind them. This is a book for all who are fascinated by the subject matter of these great paintings and want to know more about the legends and the historical events depicted in them. https://www.amazon.com/Mythology-History-Great-Paintings-Prado/dp/1857592050/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=mythology+%26+history+in+the+great+paintings&qid=1571306898&s=books&sr=1-1

Spain's Moorish past is evident everywhere you look. For centuries, Christians, Muslims and Jews lived in Spain side by side in peace, and it was home to some of the greatest minds in the world. After the Moors' expulsion in the seventeenth century, much of their knowledge, skill and artistry was lost. Jason Webster originally travelled to Spain to play the flamenco guitar. A qualified Arabist, he now embarks on a quest for Spain's forgotten Arab legacy, and gets embroiled with characters who are as wild and original as those he described so vividly in Duende. What lessons can we learn today from the harmony that existed for so long in medieval Spain - and from the subsequent expulsion of its Muslims and Jews? https://www.amazon.com/Andalus-Unlocking-Secrets-Moorish-Spain/dp/0385605072/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=andalus+unlocking+the+secret&qid=1571305122&s=books&sr=1-1

Spain owes its special historical position in Europe very largely to his intensive encounter with the Orient. In the summer of 710, a small force under the command of a Berber named Taî f ibn Mâ lik landed to the west of Gibraltar. The Islamic armies that followed in its wake succeeded in conquering large areas of Spain within a short span of years. The conquerors gave the country the name of "Al-Andalus". Thus began a period of cultural permeation that was to last for almost 800 years. In spite of intolerance and animosity, there developed between Muslims, Christians, and Jews a shared cultural environment that proved the basis for great achievements. Moorish-Andalusian art and architecture combine elements of various traditions into a new, autonomous style. Among the outstanding architectural witnesses to this achievement are the Great Mosque in Cordova and the Alhambra in Granada, recognized and admired as part of the world's heitage right up to the present day. They are described in detail in this book. The main centres of Hispano-Islamic art and architecture, the cities of Cordova, Seville and Granada, are discussed within the chronological framework of developments, both political and cultural, from 710 to 1492. https://www.amazon.com/Moorish-Architecture-Andalusia-Marianne-Barrucand/dp/3822896322/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1571306614&sr=1-1

This handbook to contemporary Spain and the Spanish language is packed with essential information on politics, economy, and institutions, covering the basics that are taken for granted by most Spaniards. Intended for readers without specialist knowledge in any of the subjects concerned, this is a valuable handbook for English-speaking students of Spanish. https://www.amazon.com/Contemporary-Spain-2Ed-Christopher-Ross-dp-0340762152/dp/0340762152/ref=mt_paperback?_encoding=UTF8&me=&qid=1571305398

The appearance, more than sixty years after the Spanish Civil War ended, of mass graves containing victims of Francisco Franco’s death squads finally broke what Spaniards call “the pact of forgetting”—the unwritten understanding that their recent, painful past was best left unexplored. At this charged moment, Giles Tremlett embarked on a journey around the country and through its history to discover why some of Europe’s most voluble people have kept silent so long. Ghosts of Spain is the fascinating result of that journey. In elegant and passionate prose, Tremlett unveils the tinderbox of disagreements that mark the country today. Delving into such emotional questions as who caused the Civil War, why Basque terrorists kill, why Catalans hate Madrid, and whether the Islamist bombers who killed 190 people in 2004 dreamed of a return to Spain’s Moorish past, Tremlett finds the ghosts of the past everywhere. At the same time, he offers trenchant observations on more quotidian aspects of Spanish life today: the reasons, for example, Spaniards dislike authority figures, but are cowed by a doctor’s white coat, and how women have embraced feminism without men noticing. Drawing on the author’s twenty years of experience living in Spain, Ghosts of Spain is a revelatory book about one of Europe’s most exciting countries. https://www.amazon.com/Ghosts-Spain-Travels-Through-Silent/dp/0802716741/ref=sr_1_1?crid=29EZYTAR3HIV6&keywords=ghosts+of+spain+travels+through+spain+and+its+silent+past&qid=1571306235&sprefix=ghosts+of+spain%2Caps%2C221&sr=8-1

Spain has undergone significant transformations over the past three decades, from a dictatorship to a democracy and from a mostly local and agriculture-based economy to one of the biggest financial systems in the EU and internationally. Until 2008, it enjoyed a major influx of foreign investment and the most rapid economic growth of any of the countries in the EU, resulting in half of the new jobs created during the early days of the Union. Yet, it now faces the highest rate of unemployment in Europe and slow growth for the foreseeable future. Additionally, the country faces internal strife from the separatist Catalan region and stringent austerity measures. https://www.amazon.com/Spain-What-Everyone-Needs-Know-C2-AE-dp-0199936463/dp/0199936463/ref=mt_paperback?_encoding=UTF8&me=&qid=

Basic information is given for kids about the history & culture of Spain, followed by material on Spanish food & a group of representative recipes. https://www.amazon.com/Taste-Spain-Food-Around-World/dp/1568471882/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=a+taste+of+spain+goodwin&qid=1571306275&sr=8-1

Much has been written about the Spanish Civil War's effects on Spain and its citizens, but little attention has been paid to the women involved in the conflict. In this beautifully written biographical work, Paul Preston tells the forgotten war stories of four exceptional women whose lives were starkly altered by the war. The portraits in this provocative, yet objective volume mirror the war itself, with the left pitted against the right. On the left side are Margarita Neken, the revolutionary feminist, writer, and politician; and Nan Green, the communist nurse who left her children behind in England to fight against fascism alongside her husband in the International Brigades. On the right side are Mercedes Sanz Bachiller, the most powerful woman in the Francoist zone; and Priscilla Scott-Ellis, the wealthy English socialite who, lured to Spain by love, stayed on to help the fascist war effort as a nurse on the front lines. https://www.amazon.com/Doves-Five-Women-Spanish-Civil/dp/0006386946/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1571305988&sr=8-1