Library

This is a history of Spanish culture spanning more than two thousand years. Since the dawn of civilization on the Iberian Peninsula, Spain has experienced the conquest of the Roman Empire, the invasion of the Visigoths, the rule of the Moors, the Christian reconquest movement, the unification of the Catholic monarchs, the rise and fall of the Habsburg and Bourbon dynasties, the civil war and the Franco dictatorship, until it was reborn in the post-Franco era. This book examines the above-mentioned major historical stages and focuses on the ideological trends and national characteristics beneath the surface of political events. The book cuts into the history of Spain from many aspects such as architecture, literature, art, society, politics, etc., Showing the mixed and diverse spiritual background of Spain, and clarifies how Spain, located on the edge of Europe, integrated the secular and religious culture of Rome, North Africa, and Arabia, such as How did it burst out with bright literary and artistic sparks, how did it reach the pinnacle of religious fervor and national unification during the eight-century movement to recover lost territories, how did it usher in the Age of Discovery but missed various development opportunities, and how did it experience the tragedy of the civil war amid the division between the left and the right. It is also an affectionate look into the soul of Spain. The author John Crowe studied in Spain in the 1930s, had close contacts with famous literati such as Lorca and Jimenez, witnessed the unrest on the eve of the civil war, and had a strong ideological resonance with the "1898 generation". Crowe relies on his rich education, on-the-spot experience and deep feelings of love and hatred for this land to outline for us a charming and contradictory character profile of Spain.