false 1 0 false false Sun Aug 10 15:01:38 -0700 2008 Sun Aug 10 17:07:27 -0700 2008 If You Were There in 1492 is supposed to be a book describing life in Spain during those time; instead it is one of many contemporary books setting out to rewrite history altogether. Europeans, it seems, are filthy, wicked, close-minded people while we must feel sorry for all the wonderful other people they attacked and oppressed. Sounds like hyperbole? This book is just that exaggerated.

In A Traveler in Spain we learn about poor houses and roads, garbage and sewerage, and how dirty the inns are. As you travel south into the farm county of the Moors, all is beautiful and serene. "Even though you are a stranger, the Arab is bound by his Islamic religion to offer you hospitality." So of course they all did, right?

The next chapter, titled The Moors furthers the distortion. The first paragraph tells of 700 years before when the Moors first came. Only after a few sentences about how advanced and renowned they were while Europe was in the Dark Ages does the author mention that "they were also, like many other people of that time, warriors and conquerors."

But that was long before 1492, so their brutality is nothing we should dwell on, not when we can dwell on the intolerance of the Spanish Catholics for the rest of the chapter. "They tried to convert them. If that didn't work they tried to kill them." Just because the Moors did just that to most of the world--wait, sorry, apparently not in Spain in 1492 (really?) so that must not be relevant.

The melodramatic ending to this early chapter leaves little reason to read the rest of this "history" book. Boabdil (Abdallah) surrenders, but those wicked, cold-hearted monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella would accept no plea bargains.

"Imagine being there on that dramatic day in 1492. You could have seen bearded Abdallah, mounted on a black horse, ride out of the fortress-city." After ordering the servants seal Granada and handing the keys to the monarchs, he rides off into the mountains in exile. "You might even have seen him pause to take one last look backward, at the place known today as the "Last Sigh of the Moor." I kid you not.

Well, he rode off in exile. Maybe those Spanish Christians weren't as ruthless as Brenner makes them out to be?]]>