Best of
Spain

1995

Rick Steves' Spanish Phrase Book & Dictionary


Rick Steves - 1995
    Rick Steves, bestselling author of travel guides to Europe, offers well-tested phrases and key words to cover every situation a traveler is likely to encounter. This handy guide provides key phrases for use in everyday circumstances, complete with phonetic spelling, an English-Spanish and Spanish-English dictionary, the latest information on European currency and rail transportation, and even a tear-out cheat sheet for continued language practice as you wait in line at the Guggenheim Bilbao. Informative, concise, and practical, Rick Steves' Spanish Phrase Book and Dictionary is an essential item for any traveler's mochila.

The Origins of the Inquisition in Fifteenth Century Spain


Benzion Netanyahu - 1995
    Its principal target was the conversos, descendants of Spanish Jews who had been forced to convert to Christianity some three generations earlier. Since thousands of them confessed to charges of practicing Judaism in secret, historians have long understood the Inquisition as an attempt to suppress the Jews of Spain. In this magisterial reexamination of the origins of the Inquisition, Netanyahu argues for a different view: that the conversos were in fact almost all genuine Christians who were persecuted for political ends. The Inquisition's attacks not only on the conversos' religious beliefs but also on their "impure blood" gave birth to an anti-Semitism based on race that would have terrible consequences for centuries to come.This book has become essential reading and an indispensable reference book for both the interested layman and the scholar of history and religion.

Wild Olives: Life in Majorca with Robert Graves


William Graves - 1995
    In 1944, at the age of five, William Graves was taken from England to the delightful mountain village of Deya in Majorca, where his father - the poet Robert Graves - had returned with his new family to the place he had lived with Laura Riding before the war.Young William grew up in the shadow of this great writer in the Englishness of the Graves household, while experiencing the ways of life of the Majorcans, which had hardly changed for hundreds of years.Wonderfully observant, and full of feeling for the locality, this book is also a fascinating portrait of Robert Graves himself, his 'Muses', and his entourage, and a revealing study of how the son of a famous father finds his own identity.

Time Out Madrid


Time Out Guides - 1995
    The local writers of Time Out Madrid assist travelers in seeing the city as a native, suggesting where to stay, eat, shop and experience its cultural offerings. Famed for its wild nights and lazy days, Madrid provides a whole lot more, from spectacular opera productions, chirpy folkloric zarzuela, and cutting-edge cuisine to ancient, tiled tabernas, designer-shoe shopping, and numerous flea markets. Written by resident journalists, Time Out Madrid also covers the artistic jewels housed in the Prado, Thyssen, and Reina Sofia, as well as the etiquette of watching a bullfight or joining in with a flamenco performance, as well as where to stay and how to escape the city heat. Also included are the intriguing stories behind some of the city’s best-known paintings, where to find gourmet tapas, the yoga centers, spas, and Turkish baths. Climbing, skiing, and hang-gliding are all within reach of the city, and suggested trips out of town are also recommended.

Goya: The Complete Etchings and Lithographs


Alfonso E. Pérez Sánchez - 1995
    His consummate mastery of the techniques of etching and aquatint, and of lithography - the latter a recent invention when he turned to it - was placed at the service of imagery that provides an intimate record of the artist's response to the times in which he lived, as full of conflict and upheaval as our own. Alongside single prints of sacred and profane subjects, it is above all on four major series of etchings that Goya's reputation as a print-maker rests. The biting social criticism of Los caprichos, the savage indictment of war and violence in Los desastres de la guerra, the intense drama of the bullfight in La tauromaquia and the elusive symbolism of Los disparates speak to us with undiminished power across two centuries. For the most part, Goya's prints, which provided unequivocal evidence of his Enlightenment sympathies, were denied the wide circulation he intended for them. The artist's privileged position as Court Painter did not place him outside the orbit of the repressive regime in Spain before, during and after the Peninsular war with Napoleonic France; indeed, the Desastres series was not published until almost forty years after his death. This volume, previously published in Spanish by the Fundacion Juan March in Madrid, reproduces all known etchings and lithographs by Goya, including some rare impressions rejected by the artist. Following a general appraisal, the authors provide introductory texts to each chapter and commentaries on all the prints. A note on print-making techniques used by Goya, an extensive bibliography and a detailed chronology of Goya's life and works and ofcontemporary political and cultural events complete a book that will delight both the general art lover and the connoisseur.

End of Days


Erna Paris - 1995
    Covers the 200 year period in Spanish history, when the Inquisition flourished and Jews were given the choice of conversion to Christianity or death.

Travelers' Tales Spain: True Stories


Lucy McCauley - 1995
    Readers travel the ancient road to Santiago, get a glimpse of Pamplona during the running of the bulls, walk in Don Quixote’s footsteps on a midlife quest, and follow a woman’s dream to study the “male” art of flamenco guitar. These soulful stories of travel in a land poised between the old world and new. Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Barbara Kingsolver, Calvin Trillin, and Penelope Casas are among the authors featured.