Where's Madrid? Capital of the World during centuries.
919532
More than 50 cities and no sight of Madrid. I think that being, among other things, the centre of the first modern empire in the world gives Madrid enough credit to be in any book about important cities in history.
1960423
I loved this book. It paints a vivid picture of London throughout the centuries, using a series of loosely connected families. Lots of historical information, while remaining an entertaining read.
3693924
I was looking for further reading on the time period of Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain, and I came across this book in my local library.  It is very easy reading, and could be read by a 5th through Jr. HIgh student.  It explains the time period of exploration from Spain and Portugal in terms of trade, commerce, and the desire to control the trade routes for the spice trade.  It tells about all the major explorers of the time and their roles in this important part of history: da Gama, Magellan, Columbus, and more.  I recommend reading it along with the book:  "The Other 1492" the book about the Jewish people during the age of exploration.  I read these books with my 12 year old.  This book is about 200 pages long, but it is quick reading because of the large print and smaller pages.
970547
La novela prometia al principio como un paseo interesante por la historia de Madrid a traves de varias familias para convertirse en un discurso impregnado de las preferencias politicas del autor y una vision simplista de la realidad de Madrid. Decepcionante y aburrida.
114770
This book is a classic and a great overview to the birth of the "new world", the European conquest of two giant continents.  Columbus was backed by Ferdinand and Isabella, the King and Queen of Spain, who presided over one of the most murderous regimes in Renaissance Europe.  They gave us both the Spanish Inquisition and the most brutal campaign against the Jews prior to Hitler's holocaust.  Here are two books that help place Columbus in perspective:&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Dogs-of-God-Columbus-the-Inquisition-and-the-Defeat-of-the-Moors/dp/1400031915/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Dogs of God: Columbus, the Inquisition, and the Defeat of the Moors</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/The-Spanish-Inquisition-A-History/dp/0300119828/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">The Spanish Inquisition: A History</a>.

This book shows the grim fate that awaited native Americans as a result of the "discovery" of a new target for Spanish imperialism.  A contemporary account, written shortly after Columbus arrived is&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/A-Brief-Account-of-the-Destruction-of-the-Indies/dp/956291609X/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies</a>.  One wonders how anybody could even consider having a "Columbus Day" parade after reading this book.  I have some other interesting books about crimes against native Americans on the Listmania list on my profile page.
3106253
From elementary school we are taught that 1492 is the year that Columbus discovered America. Certainly this was an important year in American history. But in our America centric education, we neglectic to understand or even learn what was happening in the rest of the world. This book might be called '1492' instead of the Dogs of God. It was the year that these tidal waves of history came together.

After several years of pleading, Columbus finally got permission and funding for his ships to go to the East by sailing westward. He would have made it, but the Americas got in the way and all of a sudden the known world was twice as big. This was pretty good proof that the world was round and in turn went around the sun, the Copernican system. Yet it was a century later that Galileo had to appear before the Cardinals of the Inquisition and was given a life sentence. Pope John Paul II, in 1992 admitted that errors had been made in Galileo's case, but did not admit the church was wrong.

In 1492 the Spanish finally eliminated the Moors from Southern Spain when the great fortress at Granada, the Al Hambra, fell. The Muslim Moors had brought many things to Spain in science, mathematics, medicine. But the Catholic leaders of Spain were determined to expell them. They suceeded. After the bombing of the Madrid trains, the spokesman for AlQueda blamed the attacks on the explusion of 1492.

The Spanish Inquisition was running amuck in 1492. Perhaps 10,000 people were burned at the stake, and some 100,000 were 'cleansed' from the population. From 800,000 to 2,000,000 Jews were thrown out of the country. Indeed as Columbus traveled to board his ships, the roads must have been crowded with Jews leaving their homeland.

After 1492 both Spain and Islam turned inward to spend much of their time concentrating on religion. Neither has been noted for advances in science, mathematics, or medicine since.

This book is extensively researched, well written, very readable and covers one of the pivotal years in world history.
2220454
I'm very glad I listened to this history. It covered the Roman beginnings of Londinium, which later became London, and included fascinating facts about the city. I learned all about the important families who lived there, after whom famous buildings were named, and from whom the royal families developed. I learned also about famous areas in the city. Now when I visit there I will have a much better understanding for what I am seeing and visiting.
3634891
It is truly history that is not acknowledged or openly discussed.  I've been to Cordoba and Toledo and toured their mosques and heard mostly about Queen Isabella and Ferdinand and very little about the Moors, except that they ruled Spain for 700 years.
4852028
Fascinating glimpse of life a thousand years ago in the middle east. Delightful surprises for me included lions roaming the region, hunting with raptors, the state of medicine, and the range of travel. The writer went back and forth from present day Syria to North Africa in an era long before motorized transport. Added bonus, places in the news today crop up including Homs, Damascus, Jerusalem, Cairo, and Baghdad. These were already well established cities even then. Certainly sheds light on how western intervention was regarded back then, and by extension, now.
700965
An abridged version of a multi-volume history of England from 1680 written in the 1840's.  This is a narrative history of men, ideas and politics.  The focus is on the 1680's when modern England was formed, keeping some of the feudal, medieval, cultural past, but becoming a thoroughly new and more complex world.  Kings and queens matter, but have lost their absolute authority, balanced by the power of religious and political bodies.  England bullies Ireland and Scotland, with self-interested justification.  England, Spain, France, the Netherlands and other nations jockey for position.  The Roman Catholic, Anglican, Presbyterian and other churches establish their positions.  This history is focused on military, political and religious conflicts rather than the progress of trade, arts and sciences.  For Americans, the notion that England was wrestling with many of the issues of the American Revolution a century earlier may come as a surprise.  The author tells interesting stories that support his world view and justification for the commanding English world view of the nineteenth century.  As for America in the twentieth century there is a sense of providential guidance and exceptionalism.  With another 150 years of perspective many of the self-serving national beliefs are obviously wishfull thinking.  This book is a great reminder of man's need to make sense of his universe, using the best available tools and have faith that there is progress, not merely recurring cycles of growth and decline.
4427780
A Spain most of us did not know.  Having just visited many of the places where this video was  filmed, we appreciated  this recounting of an important  part of Spanish history.  It presented a cogent and visually interesting trip through  that crucial time in history.
813024
What a book! It is long and very detailed and presents a picture I never before considered; the British side of the Revolution that somehow resulted in these amazing United States.  It was touch and go for each side for decades and due to overwhelming issues facing England from its colonies and wars with France and Spain they finally let go. War fought at those distances, where messages took months to travel back and forth seem impossible today. I certainly know who Lord North is and that King George III was not the ogre he was put up to be.  Well researched and very detailed, in fact a little more than was necessary for me but an epic account nonetheless. One has to wonder how it would be if England had persevered.  They likely would have pushed on into South America as well and like Rome, toppled from overreach.  Then what would have happened is anybody's guess.
2902774
Much has been written about the Jews of Spain and much of it idealizes the experience and pretends that Al-Andalus, or Islamic Spain was a utopia for Jews.  Among these fantasy books are&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/God-s-Crucible-Islam-and-the-Making-of-Europe-570-1215/dp/0393064727/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">God's Crucible: Islam and the Making of Europe, 570-1215</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/The-Ornament-of-the-World-How-Muslims-Jews-and-Christians-Created-a-Culture-of-Tolerance-in-Medieval-Spain/dp/B00008RWBP/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain</a>.  However this book, which is scholarly and informative gives a much deeper understanding.  It is more than a history of the Sephardim of Spain, it is a history of the Sephardim and their 'experience'.

This amazing experience began in Spain under the Visigoths and early Islamic rulers between the 8th and 11th centuries.  But then a great decline set in after the Almohad(Almohades) invasion.  Around 1060 and after Jews began being persecuted by fanatical Islamic despots.  Pogroms were unleashed and Jewish geniouses such as Maimonidies had to flee.  Some Jews even fled to Christian Spain.

After 1492 and the expulsion of the Jews by the Catholic kings Ferdinand and Isabella the Sephardim wandered throughout the Islamic world and Christina Europe.  The found homes in Amsterdam, the new world and the Ottoman empire where their Ladino language lives on to this day.  The Sephardim that converted to Christianity were brutally persecuted in the inquistion, but their descendants to this day live throughout the Latin world.

A fascinating book.

Seth J. Frantzman
4877853
This is a very well written and thorough history of the city, with just enough human interest to keep you reading. At some points you want more information, but then again there is a lot to cover. It definitely makes me want to go for a tour and check out some neighborhoods and buildings over again. He humanizes the city, and reminds us that it is not the place mentioned in political debates.
4174381
Almost excellent.  Not just major tourist sights, but lots of places off the main tourist track and well worth visiting.  Much better than --more thorough and detailed--than the chapter on Madrid in the thick Lonely Planet guide to all of Spain.  Smaller and easier to carry, good recommendations with detail maps of vicinity showing where they are.  Although occasionally took a bit of finagling to go from your current location to another even though where you want to go is nearby.  But even that was usually OK, since it gave us a few minutes break to stop & relax while we figured it out.
1772534
An interesting biography of a great King of Spain with a lot of details about his life. Needed this book for my dissertation, unfortunately it doesn't contain much information about his foreign affairs.

But in general a great piece of work
3850139
Interesting insight to a changing era in world history