España
A Brief History of Spain
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España
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Narrated by:
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Luis Soto
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By:
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Giles Tremlett
About this listen
Best-selling author Giles Tremlett traverses the rich and varied history of Spain, from prehistoric times to today, in a brief, accessible primer for visitors, curious listeners and hispanophiles.
Spain's position on Europe's southwestern corner has exposed it to cultural, political and actual winds blowing from all quadrants. Africa lies a mere nine miles to the south. The Mediterranean connects it to the civilisational currents of Phoenicians, Romans, Carthaginians and Byzantines as well as the Arabic lands of the Near East. Hordes from the Russian steppes were amongst the first to arrive. They would be followed by Visigoths, Arabs, Napoleonic armies and many more invaders and immigrants. Circular winds and currents linked it to the American continent, allowing Spain to conquer and colonise much of it.
As a result, Spain has developed a sort of hybrid vigour. Whenever it has tried to deny this inevitable heterogeneity, it has required superhuman effort to fashion a 'pure' national identity—which has proved impossible to maintain. In España, Giles Tremlett argues that, in fact, that lack of a homogenous identity is Spain's defining trait.
©2022 Giles Tremlett (P)2022 W F HowesListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"Lively and well-informed.... At once a history, a journalistic inquiry and a travel book." (Sunday Telegraph)
"Tremlett writes with humour, modesty and a great affection for his subject." (Daily Telegraph)
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-
The Foundations of Western Civilization
- By: Thomas F. X. Noble, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Thomas F. X. Noble
- Length: 24 hrs and 51 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,688
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,448
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,433
What is Western Civilization? According to Professor Noble, it is "much more than human and political geography," encompassing myriad forms of political and institutional structures - from monarchies to participatory republics - and its own traditions of political discourse. It involves choices about who gets to participate in any given society and the ways in which societies have resolved the tension between individual self-interest and the common good.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Not Engaging or Very Interesting
- By Tommy D'Angelo on 03-05-17
By: Thomas F. X. Noble, and others
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Spain
- The Trials and Triumphs of a Modern European Country
- By: Michael Reid
- Narrated by: Asa Siegel
- Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 11
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 10
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 10
Spain's transition to democracy after Franco's long dictatorship was widely hailed as a success, ushering in three decades of unprecedented progress and prosperity. Yet over the past decade, its political consensus has been under severe strain. A stable two-party system has splintered, with disruptive new parties on the far left and far right. No government has had a majority since 2015. Michael Reid overturns the stereotypical view of Spain as a country haunted by its Francoist past.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Ok book
- By "btomaz" on 06-27-23
By: Michael Reid
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Iberia
- By: James A. Michener
- Narrated by: Larry McKeever
- Length: 37 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 273
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 234
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Story4 out of 5 stars 236
Spain is an immemorial land like no other, one that James A. Michener, the Pulitzer Prize–winning author and celebrated citizen of the world, came to love as his own. Iberia is Michener’s enduring nonfiction tribute to his cherished second home. In the fresh and vivid prose that is his trademark, he not only reveals the celebrated history of bullfighters and warrior kings, painters and processions, cathedrals and olive orchards, he also shares the intimate, often hidden country he came to know, where the congeniality of living souls is thrust against the dark weight of history.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Michener's Masterpiece
- By ahusmc on 09-14-17
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Spain
- A Unique History
- By: Stanley G. Payne
- Narrated by: Kevin Pierce
- Length: 13 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall3 out of 5 stars 102
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Performance3 out of 5 stars 87
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Story3.5 out of 5 stars 88
From bloodthirsty conquest to exotic romance, stereotypes of Spain abound. This new volume by distinguished historian Stanley G. Payne draws on his half-century of experience to offer a balanced, broadly chronological survey of Spanish history from the Visigoths to the present. Who were the first “Spaniards”? Is Spain a fully Western country? Was Spanish liberalism a failure? Examining Spain's unique role in the larger history of Western Europe, Payne reinterprets key aspects of the country's history.
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5 out of 5 stars
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An Academic Wonder
- By Richard on 02-07-13
By: Stanley G. Payne
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Isabella of Castile
- Europe's First Great Queen
- By: Giles Tremlett
- Narrated by: Karen Cass
- Length: 19 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 79
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 75
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 75
In 1474, a 23-year-old woman ascended the throne of Castile, the largest and strongest kingdom in Spain. Ahead of her lay the considerable challenge not only of being a young female ruler in an overwhelmingly male-dominated world but also of reforming a major European kingdom that was riddled with crime, corruption, and violent political factionism. Her pivotal reign was long and transformative, uniting Spain and setting the stage for its golden era of global dominance.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Enlightening
- By Jean on 03-07-17
By: Giles Tremlett
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The Ornament of the World
- How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain
- By: Maria Rosa Menocal, Harold Bloom - foreword
- Narrated by: Tanya Eby
- Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 107
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 94
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Story4 out of 5 stars 92
Widely hailed as a revelation of a "lost" golden age, this history brings to vivid life the rich and thriving culture of medieval Spain, where, for more than seven centuries, Muslims, Jews, and Christians lived together in an atmosphere of tolerance, and literature, science, and the arts flourished.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent Book
- By Zahid Ahmad on 08-14-18
By: Maria Rosa Menocal, and others
![Una historia de España [A History of Spain] Audiobook By Arturo Pérez-Reverte cover art](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41nZRJ8oSDL._SL320_.jpg)
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Una historia de España [A History of Spain]
- By: Arturo Pérez-Reverte
- Narrated by: Arturo López
- Length: 8 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 355
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 306
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 303
Por primera vez un volumen reúne la historia de España escrita por Arturo Pérez-Reverte durante más de cuatro años en su columna «Patente de corso» del XL Semanal. Un relato ameno, personal, a ratos irónico, pero siempre único, de nuestra accidentada historia a través de los siglos. Una obra concebida por el autor para, en palabras suyas, «divertirme, releer y disfrutar; un pretexto para mirar atrás desde los tiempos remotos hasta el presente, reflexionar un poco sobre ello y contarlo por escrito de una manera poco ortodoxa.»
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1 out of 5 stars
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Historia sesgada e hiriente
- By Alberto on 11-10-19
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The International Brigades
- Fascism, Freedom and the Spanish Civil War
- By: Giles Tremlett
- Narrated by: Laurence Bouvard
- Length: 23 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 24
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 22
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 22
The first major history of the International Brigades: a tale of blood, ideals and tragedy in the fight against fascism. The Spanish Civil War was the first armed battle in the fight against fascism, and a rallying cry for a generation. Over 35,000 volunteers from 61 countries around the world came to defend democracy against the troops of Franco, Hitler and Mussolini. Ill-equipped and disorderly, yet fuelled by a shared sense of purpose and potential glory, disparate groups of idealistic young men and women banded together to form a volunteer army.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Perplexing analysis
- By Joselo on 07-20-22
By: Giles Tremlett
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Spain
- The Centre of the World 1519-1682
- By: Robert Goodwin
- Narrated by: Jeremy Clyde
- Length: 21 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 14
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 12
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 12
In the sixteenth century, the Spaniards became the first nation in history to have worldwide reach--across most of Europe to the Americas, the Philippines, and India. The Golden Age of the Spanish Empire would establish five centuries of Western supremacy across the globe and usher in an era of transatlantic exploration that eventually gave rise to the modern world. It was a time of discovery and adventure, of great political and social change. Robert Goodwin delves into previously unrecorded sources to bring this tumultuous and exciting period to life
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4 out of 5 stars
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Deep look at an accidental empire
- By Clavain on 03-17-25
By: Robert Goodwin
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The Ottomans
- Khans, Caesars, and Caliphs
- By: Marc David Baer
- Narrated by: Jamie Parker
- Length: 17 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 199
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 167
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 166
The Ottoman Empire has long been depicted as the Islamic Asian antithesis of the Christian European West. But the reality was starkly different: the Ottomans’ multiethnic, multilingual, and multireligious domain reached deep into Europe’s heart. Indeed, the Ottoman rulers saw themselves as the new Romans. Recounting the Ottomans’ remarkable rise from a frontier principality to a world empire, historian Marc David Baer traces their debts to their Turkish, Mongolian, Islamic, and Byzantine heritage.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Great except for pronunt of Turkish names
- By Anonymous User on 11-04-22
By: Marc David Baer
Complete and so enjoyable I’ve decided to relisten to it
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Good & brief summary
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Junk
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