The Disinherited - Exile and the Making of Spanish Culture, 1492-1975

A provocative, brilliant, and groundbreaking historical reconsideration of the roots of Spanish culture. We all carry in our heads a seductive picture of what Spain stands for: its music, painting, buildings, and history. But much of what we think of as Spanish culture is, in fact, the invention of a very specific group: the Spanish in exile. Historian Henry Kamen creates a vivid portrait of a dysfunctional, violent country that, since the destruction of the last Muslim territories in Granada in 1492, has expelled wave after wave of its citizens in a brutal attempt to create religious and social conformity. Muslims, Jews, Protestants, liberals, Socialists, and Communists were all driven abroad at different times, and Spain''s enormous contribution to European culture is largely a result of these rejected peoples--their creative response both to having no home and to the shock of encountering new worlds. A landmark work, The Disinherited describes with illuminating sympathy the travails of these unwanted societies and the enduring "virtual" culture they imagined often thousands of miles from their lost home.

Product details

• Authors: Henry Kamen, Henry Arthur Francis Kamen
• Publisher: Harper Perennial USA
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 02.12.2008
• EAN: 9780060730871
• ISBN: 978-0-06-073087-1
• No. of pages: 544
• Dimensions: 152 mm x 229 mm x 26 mm
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Regional and national histories; Eastern Europe, European History, Spain, military history, United Kingdom, Great Britain, Social and cultural history, Western Europe, c 500 to c 1000 CE, European history: medieval period, middle ages, European history: Renaissance, Ordnance, weapons technology, Historical Geography, Weapons and equipment, HISTORY: General, HISTORY: Social History, HISTORY: Medieval, HISTORY: Modern / General, HISTORY: Europe / Western, HISTORY: Europe / General, HISTORY: Renaissance, HISTORY: Historical Geography, HISTORY: Europe / Eastern, HISTORY: Europe / Spain & Portugal