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Title: Iberia by James A. Michener ISBN: 0-449-20733-1 Publisher: Fawcett Books Pub. Date: 01 February, 1989 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (19 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Dated, though detailed......
Comment: More than twenty years ago, James Michener's historically based novels Chesapeake, The Convenant, and Centennial provided the catalyst for a lifelong obsession with history as recorded in books; an obsession that quickly made ample room for non-fiction. As the spark for this terminal appetite, Michener continues to possess sentimental value though I've long ago completed his impressive list of novels. Iberia, a non-fictional piece of travel writing, had long sat upon my shelf awaiting the day that some stimulus would prompt me towards an in-depth view of Spain. When the moment arrived, I wasn't quite sure what to expect.
Iberia was written in the mid-60's and is, in truth, an amalgamation of Michener's myriad trips to the region beginning in 1936. It is evident throughout that Michener was deeply in love with Spain. It is also evident that the scope of his intellect was profound. There isn't a facet of Spanish life - it's government, history, architecture, customs, cuisine, and geography - of which James Michener wasn't intimately aware. His ability to converse effectively on such a wide range of topics is beyond commendable, even if his opinions, on occasion, may grate.
If there's a downside to Iberia it's Michener's fixation with architecture. I, for one, do not enjoy detailed architectural description without accompanying photography or drawings. One can only absorb so many arches, statues, transepts, apses, bastions, crenelations, cloisters, etc. without a picture to look at. Another minor, though memorable, disappointment is Michener's defense of bullfighting. Yes, yes, bullfighting IS Spain, an art form, a tradition, but tormenting an animal to death played better 40 years ago than it does today.
At nearly 800 pages, Iberia is an abundance of finely crafted detail. It is beyond question worth the investment in time, though beyond question a dated look at a fascinating peninsula perched between the Old World and the New.
Rating: 5
Summary: A massive, thousand-page love affair with Spain
Comment: Although "Iberia" was originally published in 1968 (and spent the next seven months on the "New York Times" best seller list), we used it eleven years later to plan our first trip to Spain. It had not gone out-of-date. If it had aged at all, it was in Michener's less-than-balanced account of the Spanish Civil War (of course the same could be said of Hemingway).
"Iberia" is a massive, thousand-page love affair with Spain, part history, part travelogue, and part parador-and-tapa-bar guide. It is not 'merely' a tour guide to Spain, any more than Rebecca West's "Black Lamb and Grey Falcon" is 'merely' a tour guide to Yugoslavia. With the possible exception of his Pulitzer Prize winning "Tales of the South Pacific", I believe this to be Michener's finest work.
My opinion (or prejudice) is based on our unforgettable journey through Spain. Michener took us places we never would have found in the standard tourist guides. We pigged out in his tapa bars-"first comes the seafood--- the anchovies, eel, squid, octopus, herring, shrimp, salmon, five kinds of sardines, five kinds of fish; next come the boiled eggs, deviled eggs, egg salad, potato omelets cut in strips, vegetables, onions, salads; third are the cold meats in great variety, including meat balls, York ham, Serran ham, tripe, brains, liver in a variety of styles, beef, pork and veal; and finally the hot dishes..."
I booked us into many of the paradors that he recommended. Paradors are combination hotel-museums, which serve some of the best food in Spain---"Where practical, the paradors are housed in ancient buildings, such as old convents, monasteries, castles no longer in use, hospitals dating back to the age of the Catholic Kings, or inns in which Columbus may have slept."
In Merida, we stayed in a parador that is housed in the 500-year-old Convento de los Frailes de Jesus (Michener's personal favorite). Then there was the castle-parador, the parador that is built within the Alhambra, and the modern, ski-resort parador on the slopes of Monte Perdido. We stumbled across the last-mentioned resort while lost in the Pyrenees, and had it literally to ourselves (and one other couple), since the season was late spring.
My one regret is that we did not get to attend the ancient horse fair that follows Holy Week in Seville, and is so lovingly described in "Iberia." This fair dates back "two thousand years to the days when Romans came here to buy horses for their generals...If a man likes horses, this rough-and-ready market with no rules and little order would delight him. It is conducted under a blazing sun and has about it a strange and ancient quality. I have attended at three different times and found it difficult to believe that I was in the twentieth century..."
If you are planning a trip to Spain, book yourself into the paradors well in advance of your trip (at least a year in advance if you plan to visit during or immediately after Holy Week), try to attend Seville's ancient horse fair, and above all, buy and read Michener's "Iberia."
Rating: 3
Summary: Profound insight and profound silliness
Comment: I rather like the un-Michener form of this personal travelogue. It's a fun break from his usual format. Moreover, you can tell throughout the book that he was profoundly moved by Spain. His observations at times have profound clarity and hs writing in parts soars to pinnacles of great beauty. However a certain arrogance and petulance also shine through. The most trying times are when he is expressing the very partisan views of the French historian Louis Bertrand. These tend towards the extreme pro-conquistador and anti-moorish who dismisses mesoamerican civilization out of hand and explains the origin of Spanish personality quirks (at least in stereotypes) as having come from the moors. I prefer a little more balance, and a bit more support if one does make sweeping statements. But I still found it to be an enjoyable glimpse into Franco-era Spain.
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Title: The Story of Spain by Mark Williams ISBN: 8489954135 Pub. Date: 01 July, 2000 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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Title: Mexico by James A. Michener ISBN: 0449221873 Publisher: Fawcett Books Pub. Date: 01 April, 1994 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: The New Spaniards (Penguin Politics and Current Affairs) by John Hooper, John Hooper, John Spaniards Hooper ISBN: 0140131914 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 June, 1995 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: Caravans by James A. Michener ISBN: 0449213803 Publisher: Fawcett Books Pub. Date: 01 February, 1989 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Poland by James A. Michener ISBN: 0449205878 Publisher: Fawcett Books Pub. Date: 01 March, 1990 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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