Williamsburg Regional Library

Ghosts of Spain, travels through Spain and its silent past, Giles Tremlett

eng

index present

non fiction

Ghosts of Spain

173240093

Giles Tremlett

travels through Spain and its silent past

The appearance, more than sixty years after the Spanish Civil War, of mass graves containing victims of Franco's death squads finally broke the unwritten understanding among Spaniards that their recent, painful past was best left unexplored. Madrid-based journalist and 20-year resident Tremlett embarked on a journey around the country and through its history to discover why its people have kept silent so long, and here unveils the tinderbox of disagreements that mark the country today. Delving into such questions as who caused the Civil War, why Basque terrorists kill, why Catalans hate Madrid, and whether the Islamist bombers who killed 190 people in 2004 dreamed of a return to Spain's Moorish past, Tremlett finds the ghosts of the past everywhere. He also offers trenchant observations on Spanish life today, such as why Spaniards dislike authority figures, but are cowed by a doctor's white coat, and how women have embraced feminism without men noticing.--, From publisher description

Introduction: the edge of a barber's razor -- Secretos a voces -- Looking for the Generalísimo -- Amnistía and amnesia : the pact of forgetting -- How the bikini saved Spain -- Anarchy, order and a real pair of balls -- The mean streets of Flamenco -- Clubs and curas -- Men and children first -- II-M : Moros y Cristianos -- In the shadow of the serpent and the axe -- The madness of Verdaguer -- Coffins, Celts and clothes -- Moderns and ruins

adult