Search

Find us on Facebook

Contact

Send me quarterly Newsletter topics:
African Studies

Anthropology

Archaeology

Architecture

Art

Art Modern

Aviation

Business

Catalan

Chess

Children's Books

Classics

Collectables

Comics

Cookery

Development

Economics

Education

Egyptology

Environment

Fashion & Design

Fiction

Film

Film Academic

Gender Studies

Geography

Geology

Gibraltar

Hispanic Latin A.

Hispanic Spain

History

History of Science

India

Labour Studies

Languages

Law

LGBT

Library Science

Linguistics

Literature

Mathematics

Media

Medicine

Middle East

Military

Military History

Military Studies

Music

Natural History

Nautical

Pets

Philosophy

Photography

Poetry

Politics

Popular Culture

Popular Music

Popular Science

Portugal

Psychology

Religious Studies

Sociology

Spain

Teaching

Television

Theatre

Theatre Studies

Travel

Vehicles

Elizabeth and the Prince of Spain

 

Author: Margaret Irwin
ISBN: 9780749012625
Format: PB
Extent: 320 pp.
Price: £7.99
Publication: Available
Publisher: Allison & Busby

 

Philip, Prince of Spain, the unwilling bridegroom of Queen Mary, has been warned about the Queen’s half-sister, the  young Elizabeth, daughter of Anne Boleyn. According to all reports, she is a heretic, a rebel and a potential enemy, and  has ‘a spirit full of enchantment’. An alluring description and one that immediately intrigues, rather than deters, the foreign prince.

Accused of treachery by Mary and under threat of death, Elizabeth’s life hangs in the balance. But, idolised by his aging wife and able to sway her decisions his way, Philip holds the power to save the courageous young princess. And so  Elizabeth must advance warily towards her destiny, running the gauntlet between Bloody Mary’s jealousy and morbid outbursts of hate, and Philip’s uneasy ardour.

 

Oldest Allies – Alcantara 1809

 

Author: René Chartrand
ISBN: 9781849085885
Format: PB
Extent: 80 pp.
Price: £11.99
Publication: Available
Publisher: Osprey Publishing

 

Although somewhat overshadowed by Wellington’s main campaign in the north, the Alcantara raid was an outstanding success. The primary objective of alarming and distracting the French forces in Spain was achieved. Furthermore, the raiders also succeeded in preventing a French incursion into Portugal and tied down one of Napoleon’s best marshals. There were further raids to come, but the 1809 Alcantara raid delivered a strong, permanent message: that the Anglo–Portuguese were willing and able to strike back against the French, and that they would support their Spanish allies as much as they were able.

The Spanish Tercios 1536-1704

 

Author: Ignacio J.N. López
ISBN:  9781849087933
Format: PB
Extent: 48 pp.
Price: £9.99
Publication: July 2012
Publisher: Osprey Publishing

 

The forerunner of modern tactical units such as the battalion, the flexible and innovative infantry formation known as the tercio or ‘Spanish square’ reigned supreme on the bloody battlefields of Europe in the 16th century.

A mixed infantry formation made up of about 3,000 men armed with pikes, swords and handguns, the innovative and influential tercio or ‘Spanish square’ was the basic combat unit of the armies of Spain throughout much of the 16th and 17th centuries. Arguably the first permanent tactical formation seen in Europe since the Roman cohort, the tercio was the forerunner of modern formations such as the battalion and regiment. The variety of different weapons fielded in the tercio meant the Spanish infantry could resist opposing cavalry forces while overcoming every kind of enemy infantry deployed against them. Featuring full-colour artwork and photographs of rare items held at the Spanish Army Museum, this study covers the whole period during which the tercios were active, opening with the third Italian war between the forces of France and the Holy Roman Emperor and concluding with the final transformation of the Spanish tercios into regiments in 1704.

Walking in Andalucía

 

Author: Guy Hunter-Watts
ISBN:  9788489954922
Format: PB
Extent: 352 pp.
Price: 19,99€
Publication: March 2012
Publisher: Santana Books

 

There are few places in Europe with such spectacular and diverse mountain terrain as Andalucía and this new edition of “Walking in Andalucía”, first published in 2000 and heartily acclaimed in the international press, introduces the reader to the best of its Natural parks, their most interesting villages and their most beautiful walks. Features of the book include 36 walking routes in six parks; detailed route notes with times, distances, water points and gradings; and Spanish Geographical Institute maps and GPS references for all walks. Now in extra durable format “Walking in Andalucía”, with this seventh edition, is set to maintain its pre-eminence as the trusted companion for growing numbers of walkers visiting or living in Spain.

Flamenco Music and National Identity in Spain

 

Author: William Washabaugh
ISBN: 978–4094-3484-9
Format: HB
Extent: 168 pp.
Price: £50
Publication: April 2012
Publisher: Ashgate

 

This book explores the efforts of the current government in southern Spain to establish flamenco music as a significant patrimonial symbol and marker of cultural identity. Further, it aims to demonstrate that these Andalusian efforts form part of the ambitious project of rethinking the nation state of Spain, and reconsidering the nature of national identity.

The author documents the development of flamenco’s musical style from 1880 t0 1980, demonstrating how the now conventional characterization of the flamenco style was mediated by krausist, modernist and journalist institutions.At the same time he shows how two recent institutional forces, audio recording and cinema, promote a concept of musical style that sharply contrasts with the conventional notion. Flamenco Nation makes a strong case for advancing the Spanish experiment in nation-building, but also for rethinking nationalism and cultural identity on a global scale.

Al-Andalus Rediscovered: Iberia’s New Muslims

Author: Marvine Howe
ISBN: 978-1-84904-161-4
Format: PB
Extent: 240 pp.
Price: £18,99
Publication: December 2011
Publisher: Hurst & Company

 

Iberia is a special place of colliding myths over its Islamic past and the Christian reconquista, the Inquisition and massive expulsion of Muslims and Jews some five centuries ago. Long a land of emigrants and explorers, it has now become home to Europe’s latest, rapidly growing Muslim communities. Al-Andalus Rediscovered focuses on Iberia’s new Muslims, and their lives in a largely Roman Catholic region. Also featured are the Spanish and Portuguese officials, academics, NGOs and ordinary citizens who are trying to find better ways to integrate Muslims and other immigrants, despite domestic and European pressures for tougher counter-measures.

This book seeks to answer the basic questions: whether an Iberian model of a humane immigration policy is possible in ‘fortress’ Europe and whether the partisans of the Andalusian spirit of tolerance and diversity can prevail at this time of economic hardship and heightened radicalism in both the Islamic World and the West.

Civilians and War in Europe 1618-1815

 

Editors: Erica Charters, Eve Rosenhaft,& Hannah Smith
ISBN: 978-1-84631-711-8
Format: HB
Extent: 304 pp.
Price: £65
Publication: March 2012
Publisher: Liverpool Unoversity Press

 

Civilians and War in Europe 1618–1815 examines the relationship between civilians and warfare from the start of the Thirty Years War to the end of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. The volume interrogates received narratives of warfare that identify the development of modern ‘total’ war with the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and instead considers the continuities and transformations in warfare over the course of two hundred years. The contributors examine prisoners of war, the cultures of plunder, the tensions of billeting, and war-time atrocities throughout England, France, Spain, and the German territories. They also explore the legal practices surrounding the conduct and aftermath of war; representations of civilians, soldiers, and militias; and the philosophical underpinnings of warfare. They probe what it meant to be a civilian in territories beset by invasion and civil war or in times when ‘peace’ at home was accompanied by almost continuous military engagement abroad. Their accounts show us civilians not only as anguished sufferers, but also directly involved with war: fighting back with shocking violence, profiting from war-time needs, and negotiating for material and social redress. And they show us individuals and societies coming to terms with the moral and political challenges posed by the business of drawing lines between ‘civilians’ and ‘soldiers’.

Medicine, Government & Public Health in Philip II’s Spain

 

Author: Michele L. Clouse
ISBN: 9781409437949
Format: HB
Extent: 208 pp.
Price: £60
Publication: December 2011
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing

 

Bridging the gap between histories of medicine and political/institutional histories of the early modern crown, this book explores the relationship between one of the most highly bureaucratic regimes in early modern Europe, Spain, and crown interest in and regulation of medical practices. Complementing recent histories that have emphasized the interdependent nature of governance between the crown and municipalities in sixteenth-century Spain, this study argues that medical policies were the result of negotiation and cooperation among the crown, the towns, and medical practitioners. It further challenges the dominance of studies of medical regulation from France and England and illuminates a diverse and innovative world of Spanish medical practice that has been neglected in standard histories of early modern medicine.

City Indians in Spain’s American Empire

 

Editors:  Dana Velasco, Mark Lentz & Margarita Ochoa
ISBN: 9781845194413
Format: HB
Extent: 272 pp.
Price: £55
Publication: December 2011
Publisher: Sussex Academic Press

 

City Indians presents pioneering histories of urban Indians in early Latin America. An important but understudied segment of colonial society, urban Indians composed a majority of the population of Spanish America’s most important cities. This volume spans a good part of the Americas, from Northern Mexico to Peru, over the course of three centuries. The chapters address a wide variety of topics, from indigenous governance and interethnic interactions to migration and identity. Native nobles, chroniclers, textile workers, migrants, widows, orphans, and muleteers are among the protagonists of the study. This anthology, the first of its kind in English, demonstrates the importance of urban Indian contributions to Spanish American society in the colonial period and beyond