French and Spanish history books

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French and Spanish history books

Postby sfuqua » Fri Jul 23, 2021 4:51 pm

Does anybody have any advice on good, one volume history of France and of Spain, in French and Spanish respectively?

I can see some examples online, but I don't know if there is a "standard" version for each. :D
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Re: French and Spanish history books

Postby luke » Fri Jul 23, 2021 6:20 pm

sfuqua wrote:Does anybody have any advice on good, one volume history of France and of Spain, in French and Spanish respectively?

I can see some examples online, but I don't know if there is a "standard" version for each. :D

I didn't realize this until quite recently, but apparently the French and the Spanish see history differently ;)

At least, with respect to Spain's part of history.

I'm referring to what some Spaniard's refer to as "la legenda negra".

I have no dog in that hunt. Just a comment that even simple things can be complicated. :lol:

Hope someone with a more helpful answer responds. :)
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Re: French and Spanish history books

Postby tungemål » Fri Jul 23, 2021 7:12 pm

I have read a couple of books on history.

I've found that I enjoy books that focus on a spesific period or era, or maybe on an important historical figure. A book on the whole history of Spain is bound to be a broad outline. In that case you could read the wikipedia article.

In Spanish I've read "Al-Andalus". See the post here: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 32#p178032

It was interesting, but the time period is still so vast (almost 800 years) so much of it is an endless list of rulers. The interesting bits are how the society functioned and changed, and the blossoming culture during the golden years of the moors.
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Re: French and Spanish history books

Postby kanewai » Sat Jul 24, 2021 6:49 pm

Arturo Pérez-Reverte's Una historia de España is popular and highly rated.

Though, disclaimer, I've personally never been able to get into his books, including this one. Everyone else seems to like them, so I'm in the minority here.
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Re: French and Spanish history books

Postby iguanamon » Sat Jul 24, 2021 7:38 pm

kanewai wrote:Arturo Pérez-Reverte's Una historia de España is popular and highly rated.

Though, disclaimer, I've personally never been able to get into his books, including this one. Everyone else seems to like them, so I'm in the minority here.

I usually agree with my fellow islander, kanewai, except this time. I really like Arturo Pérez-Reverte. I am reading his Falcó series right now, the last book is Sabotaje . It's a trilogy set in the time of the Spanish Civil War. His history is written in a more entertaining style than a tome like Gibbon's History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. His Spanish is masterful and so well written. He is a keen observer. His background as a war correspondent journalist gives him an insight that most writers of history and historical fiction lack. When I read his historical novels, I feel as if I am there in that time. His Falcó trilogy are the best books of their kind that I have read in years. His history book will be a good overview and might lead you to focus on periods you may find interesting.

Let's face it, the history of Spain goes back a long time, to before the Phoenecians. It takes in eons. So where does one start? After the fall of Rome, is probably where I would start. While most of Europe was shivering in the dark ages, Spain had Arab, Christian and Jewish scholars, artists and philosophers who were researching, producing art and architecture, discussing science, mathematics and philosophy. Many volumes have been written about the middle ages in Spain before the "reconquista". In other words, it wasn't just El Cid and various knights errant running around in their chain mail armor, swinging swords, riding on great steeds, saving damsels in distress and upholding chivalric tradition. Many describe the period of Arabic and Jewish "convivencia" as the "Golden Age" of Spain- three cultures, three religions, three peoples and three literary traditions.

Then there was the age of exploration, discovery and political intrigue lasting from the late 15th Century into the 19th Century- this will take a few volumes. After this Spain focusing on itself, more wars, civil war, fascism, dictaorship, democracy... til today- more volumes. Benito Pérez Galdós wrote several books typical of this time, all available for free download on project gutenberg. Some of these are available as audiobooks on librivox.org. My favorite is Trafalgar.

Any book taking in all that went on since the fall of the Roman Empire would be one flipping monster of a huge book indeed!

Edits- spelling, links
Last edited by iguanamon on Sun Jul 25, 2021 6:41 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: French and Spanish history books

Postby einzelne » Sat Jul 24, 2021 7:50 pm

It might not be exactly what you're looking for but I would recommend it anyways: read Fernand Braudel. A legendary figure who wrote a dozen of exquisite books and basically redefined history as an academic discipline. Try L'identité de la France and see how it goes.
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Re: French and Spanish history books

Postby sfuqua » Sun Jul 25, 2021 4:24 pm

As I've become more and more familiar with Europe, it seems more and more obvious to me that I don't know anything about European history.
There is a lot to learn. I wonder how much Poles and Czechs and other people from the European Union know about Spanish history... :D
This American only knows it at the Wikipedia level. :o
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Re: French and Spanish history books

Postby MorkTheFiddle » Sun Jul 25, 2021 6:35 pm

iguanamon wrote: Benito Pérez Galdós wrote several books typical of this time, all available for free download on project gutenberg. Some of these are available as audiobooks on librivox.org. My favorite is Trafalgar.
Thanks for reminding me of Galdós' series of historical novels. Trafalgar is indeed fun, and Librivox has another voice for a second recording of it, which I have downloaded and will load onto my iPod for gym and other downtime.
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Re: French and Spanish history books

Postby jeffers » Sun Jul 25, 2021 7:30 pm

sfuqua wrote:Does anybody have any advice on good, one volume history of France and of Spain, in French and Spanish respectively?

I can see some examples online, but I don't know if there is a "standard" version for each. :D


For a one volume history of France, you might try Hexagone - Sur les routes de l'Histoire de France by Laurent Deutsch, which takes the approach of organising the history around roads as a starting place for each period. I'm reading his book which does the same for Paris, but using metro stations, and although I'm finding a lot of his narration to be too descriptive, his books certainly have very high reviews on amazon.fr so what do I know? :lol: The approach is certainly unique, in any case.
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Re: French and Spanish history books

Postby MorkTheFiddle » Mon Jul 26, 2021 4:56 pm

For France, wikipedia.fr gives George Duby, Histoire de France des origines à nos jours. Duby was a well-known and prolific French historian.
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