Michael Jacobs
A Pact of Forgetting
Ghosts of Spain: Travels through a Country’s Hidden Past
By Giles Tremlett
Faber & Faber 433pp £16.99
Dogs of God: Columbus, the Inquisition, and the Defeat of the Moors
By James Reston, Jr
Faber & Faber 363pp £20
Spain, for all the dramatic changes it has undergone since Franco’s death in 1975, is still widely perceived by foreigners in terms of its traditional stereotypes. Fortunately, and in welcome contrast to many other recent books on the country, the initial motivation behind Giles Tremlett’s Ghosts of Spain is neither flamenco, nor bullfighting, nor Don Quixote, nor even Spain’s Islamic past. Instead, Tremlett’s ‘travels’ around his adopted land are triggered off by an interest in the excavation, over the last few years, of the mass graves of Civil War victims.
Anyone who has spent any time in a close-knit Spanish community will have experienced the general reluctance to discuss openly local participation in the Civil War. Many Spaniards still believe that there are aspects of this past which are best left buried; and heated debates often ensue as to whether
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
It is a triumph @arthistorynews and my review @Lit_Review is here!
In just thirteen years, George Villiers rose from plain squire to become the only duke in England and the most powerful politician in the land. Does a new biography finally unravel the secrets of his success?
John Adamson investigates.
John Adamson - Love Island with Ruffs
John Adamson: Love Island with Ruffs - The Scapegoat: The Brilliant Brief Life of the Duke of Buckingham by Lucy Hughes-Hallett
literaryreview.co.uk
During the 1930s, Winston Churchill retired to Chartwell, his Tudor-style country house in Kent, where he plotted a return to power.
Richard Vinen asks whether it’s time to rename the decade long regarded as Churchill’s ‘wilderness years’.
Richard Vinen - Croquet & Conspiracy
Richard Vinen: Croquet & Conspiracy - Churchill’s Citadel: Chartwell and the Gatherings Before the Storm by Katherine Carter
literaryreview.co.uk