Ghosts of Spain

by Giles Tremlett

The Spanish are reputed to be amongst Europe's most voluble people. So why have they kept silent about the terrors of the Spanish Civil War and the rule of dictator Generalísimo Francisco Franco?The appearance - sixty years after that war ended - of mass graves containing victims of General Franco's death squads has finally broken what Spaniards call 'the pact of forgetting'. At this charged moment, Giles Tremlett embarked on a journey around Spain - and through Spanish history.As well as a moving exploration of Spanish politics, Tremlett's journey was also an attempt to make sense of his personal experience of the Spanish. Why do they dislike authority figures, but are cowed by a doctor's white coat? How had women embraced feminism without men noticing? What binds gypsies, jails and flamenco? Why do the Spanish go to plastic surgeons, donate their organs, visit brothels or take cocaine more than other Europeans? 'Lively and well-informed . . . at once a history, a journalistic inquiry and a travel book.' Sunday Telegraph

Genres: History, Spain, Nonfiction, Travel, Politics, Spanish Civil War, European History

402 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Giles Tremlett is the Guardian’s Madrid correspondent. He has lived in, and written about, Spain for the past twenty years.

Reviews

[Roy Lotz · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is still a mystery to me how so many Spaniards can function on so little sleep.

Late one night in Madrid, as my friend and I finished eating our dinner on Spanish time—which means we get home around midnight—we were walking back to our apartment when it suddenly began to rain. First, it sprinkled; then, it drizzled; and soon it was pouring. Without an umbrella (here amusingly named paraguas, "for water") we were forced to take cover in a bar.

As we stood there, looking out at the rain washing down the tiled streets, I heard somebody behind me say, in accented English, “It’s finally raining in Madrid.” I turned around and saw that it was the Spanish waitress, looking pensively out at the rain. Beside her was a bald patron, with the same thoughtful look on his face. “Oh, Madri’,” he said, in a thick Scottish accent. “It’s a beau’i’ful ci’y. Jus' beau’i’ful.”

To me, this moment summarized my reaction to this city so far. It’s lovely here in Madrid. I had never planned on moving to Spain; I wasn’t even particularly interested in visiting Spain on vacation. It was a mixture of chance and opportunity that prompted me to pick up and fly over here; and consequently, I had no idea what to expect. The most pleasant surprise, for me, is how easy it has been for a New Yorker to feel at home here. Madrid has many of the positive qualities one finds in New York City: bustle, inclusiveness, diversity, variety, nightlife. Added to this, Madrid is safer, cleaner, cheaper, and, most conspicuously, much more relaxed.

The besuited man (or woman) walking quickly down the street holding a disposable cup of coffee is an omnipresent figure on the streets of NYC. Meals are quick there; people swallow their food and keep moving, often simply eating on the go. The $1 pizza, which you can get by throwing a dollar at the cashier, who then throws you the slice in return so you can eat it without breaking your stride, is perhaps the quintessential New York meal. You can do anything in NYC—anything except slow down.

In this respect, Madrid is quite the opposite. Rarely do you see people running for the trains, for the busses, elbowing their way through crowds. Virtually nobody eats while walking; and disposable coffee cups are a rarity, as coffee is normally drunk sitting down. When Madrileños eat, they like to take their time. They sit and chat, for perhaps hours, sipping their drinks and occasionally snacking on tapas and raciones. Here, the waiters don’t bother you; they serve you your food and disappear. Often, I have to chase them inside in order to get the check; but this is probably because I am an impatient American.

As a consequence of this generally relaxed attitude, I’ve found adapting to life here to be extremely pleasant (despite my ignorance of the language, which is a constant impediment). And I’m glad that, to help me through my own transición, I have Giles Tremlett as a guide, a British journalist who has been living in Madrid for decades.

This book is about the historical imagination in modern Spain. Through thirteen chapters, Tremlett examines some of the political fault-lines that run through the country. He begins with an examination of Franco’s regime and its aftermath. There is, apparently, no safe way to talk about the past in Spain—not even something which, to me, should be as uncontroversial as Franco’s fascism. But different political parties propose competing interpretations of the past, which of course reflect their different interpretations of the present. Hard as it is to believe, but the horrible bombings of commuter trains on March 11, 2004, were also the occasion of political squabbling, as the right-wingers insisted that ETA (the Basque terrorist group) had something to do with it.

To tell the story of modern Spain, Tremlett takes the reader across the country: from Madrid, to Bilbao, to Barcelona, to Galicia, and even to Spanish jails and slums. He examines flamenco, Basque and Catalan separatism, Spanish art and cinema, political corruption, gender relations, prostitution, tourism, and much more, as he attempts to pin down the quickly changing country. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given his background, his method is journalistic. He focuses on the sorts of things that would make the news; and his writing-style bears the hallmarks of his profession—impersonal rather than personal, intended to convey information rather than emotion or analysis.

Like every book, this one isn't perfect. Although Tremlett packs an impressive amount of information into the book, his analyses are often superficial, or just nonexistent. He has the journalistic habit of letting others do his thinking for him, merely reporting their opinions. Thus, while informative, I didn’t find Tremlett to be a penetrating guide. What’s more, though I generally found his writing quite strong, I sometimes felt that his style, which he obviously honed while writing shorter pieces for newspapers and magazines, did not have enough forward impetus to carry me through a whole chapter. In a longer format such as a book, more organization, more interconnection, more integration is needed than Tremlett is accustomed to; and thus his chapters sometimes seem scatterbrained, disconnected—too much like a list of facts and quotes.

(I’d also like to note, in passing, that Tremlett’s comma-use is the exact opposite of mine, which I found continually irksome. He typically omits commas where I would include them, and includes commas where I would omit them. For example, he writes “He or, normally, she is joined…” whereas I would write “He, or normally she, is joined…” Admittedly, this is surpassingly trivial.)

These are fairly minor complaints, however. Really, all things considered, it is hard for this anglosajón to imagine a better book to read as an introduction to this fantastic country. I still have a great deal to learn—not least Castellano—but at least now I have had a grand tour of the place. And perhaps one of these days, as I wander back from another late dinner, I’ll bump into Tremlett himself, and gratefully shake his hand.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Books about Spain -- #2 : Ghosts of Spain : Travels through Spain and its Silent Past by Giles Tremlett (2006).


[This is the second of several inter-related reviews for the books listed below:

1. The New Spaniards by John Hooper, 2nd edition, 2006.
2. Ghosts of Spain : Travels through Spain and its Silent Past by Giles Tremlett, 2006.
3. The Ornament of the World : How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain by Maria Rosa Menocal, 2002.
4. Spain in Mind (an Anthology) edited and with an introduction by Alice Leccese Powers, 2007.
5. Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell, 1938.
6. South from Granada by Gerald Brenan, 1957.
7. Driving Over Lemons by Chris Stewart, 1999.

The introduction to my review of the first book on this list (http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...) has some remarks which explain my interest in Spain; I won’t repeat them here.]

Giles Tremlett is the Spanish correspondent for The Guardian of London. When Ghosts of Spain was published, late in 2006, he had been living in Spain for over 10 years, first in Barcelona, then in Madrid, where he is still stationed. The tone of his book is entirely different from John Hooper’s The New Spaniards, though both are excellent in different ways and complement each other nicely. Hooper’s tone is detached throughout; though his commentary is always smart and to the point, he maintains a certain distance. It is clear that his book was written by someone who is very familiar with Spain, but who no longer lives there (this may have been less evident in the first edition, which was written after he had just completed an 8-year assignment there). The reader learns very little about Hooper, other than his obvious expertise about Spain. Tremlett, in contrast, takes a much more personal approach – repeatedly drawing on his own particular experience to illustrate a general point, grounding his analysis in the quotidian details of ordinary life. As a result, there is an immediacy to Tremlett’s writing that is missing from Hooper’s book. Some readers might find Tremlett’s willingness to place himself in the foreground a little offputting – it didn’t bother me, as I found him generally engaging, smart, with the knack of a good journalist for asking interesting questions.

Hooper takes a very systematic approach to a book that is obviously intended as a comprehensive treatment, with separate, clearly delineated sections (transition to democracy, private life, the monarchy, regional autonomy, social issues, culture and the media). I doubt that Tremlett was interested in writing a comprehensive account of contemporary Spain; his book is structured more like a collection of essays on different aspects of Spanish life. Though both books appear to have come out in 2006, Tremlett’s appears far more up to date, reflecting a journalist’s focus on topics of immediate public interest. Of course, as his book’s title indicates, understanding current events often requires an examination of past history, and this is nowhere more true than in Spain, where the ghosts of the Civil War have yet to be laid to rest.

The specific trigger for a reexamination of past events was the exhumation of bodies for reburial from first a handful, later scores, of mass graves dating from the Spanish Civil War. The vast majority were bodies of Republicans killed or executed by Franco’s forces; many had disappeared with little or no information about the circumstances of their death, and had been buried in unmarked, communal graves. It took almost 30 years after Franco’s death, but suddenly, in the middle of the last decade, old wounds were reopened and old hostilities resurfaced as relatives of the dead began to demand exhumation, proper burial, and some measure of accountability. The question of the graves, and coming to term with the past, received a major increase in traction when the right-wing government of Jose Maria Aznar lost to Zapatero’s socialist party in the general election of 2004 (it was still a hot topic in 2009). It provided the impetus for the opening three essays in Tremlett’s book: Secretos a Voces (Open Secrets), Looking for the Generalisimo, and Amnesty & Amnesia (The Pact of Forgetting).

The number of books about the Spanish Civil War now exceeds 2000, a number that gives me a major headache. Tremlett’s material is nonetheless interesting, because he is specifically focused on how it still affects life in Spain seventy years later. 100 pages examining the legacy of civil war, in Spain or anywhere else, isn’t exactly a walk in the park, though Tremlett is clear and engaging. Fortunately, each of the remaining chapters is largely self-contained, so they can be read in any order. Later chapters are (generally) given over to more cheerful topics, specifically:


• How the Bikini Saved Spain (Benidorm and the rise of tourism)
• Anarchy, Order and a Real Pair of Balls (the importance of enchufe, corruption and scandal)
• The Mean Streets of Flamenco
• Clubs and Curas (Sex. Prostitution neither legal nor illegal. Decline of the influence of the church)
• Men and Children First (Role of the family)
• 11-M: Moros y Cristianos (terrorist attacks of March 11th, 2004 and the aftermath)
• In the Shadow of the Serpent and the Axe (ETA and the Basques)
• The Madness of Verdaguer (those crazy Catalans)
• Coffins, Celts and Clothes (Galicia)
• Moderns and Ruins (the frenetic pace of change)

Tremlett and Hooper are obviously covering some of the same ground. Both are worth reading. What I particularly liked about Tremlett’s book is the way all of his writing is grounded in the vivid details of everyday life. He is much better at capturing how it feels to live in Spain. The cacophony of noise in Madrid, the necessity for having and using connections (enchufe) to get anything done that pervades all aspects of Spanish life, first-hand encounters with the health and educational systems through the birth and education of his child, a visit to the municipal jail in Seville (conjugal visits), a brothel in Almeria – the mosaic of Spanish life that Tremlett constructs is detailed, colorful and vibrant. Cumulatively his delightful collection of essays do manage to capture both the charm and frustration of Spanish life.

I highly recommend Ghosts of Spain.

[Karen·]

A timely reminder of just how good journalistic writing can be.

Giles Tremlett is a contributing editor to the Guardian and Madrid correspondent for the Economist.

Like a taste of what he does?

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2...

I have nothing to add to this fine review.

[Anna Hiller · Rating 3 out of 5]

I admittedly haven't finished this book. When I first started it, I was very impressed with the author's understanding of Spanish history (in particular, the continuing trauma of the Spanish Civil War). I enthusiastically read the book up until about Chapter 6, when I became aware of the fact that the author's observations were dissolving into gross generalizations and blatant hyperbole -- which isn't to say that there isn't truth there. But the blanket characterizations of "the Spanish people" began to chafe me as a reader and student/professor of Spanish literature and culture, because if there is only one thing you learn when studying Spain, it is that the country is incredibly diverse and that generalizations never get you very far when attempting to understand "La(s) España(s)"

Unfortunate, it was, that the author failed to convince me, because a lot of the time, he does have very insightful things to say about Spain and its people. I guess journalism (i.e. sensationalism) got the best of him.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

On a trip to Spain a few years ago, I needed to make a change to my train ticket from Madrid to Malaga. The ticket agent, a man in his 50s or 60s, barely listened to my request, looked at his watch, and without ever looking up growled, "No". Just the one word, without explanation and never looked at me. Sort of expecting that, I looked to see if another agent could help me. This time, the agent was a vibrant 20-ish girl, who took my question and made the change in about 45 seconds, smiling and chatting with me the whole time.

This is the two sides of Spain, and the age difference between my two ticket agents illustrates what Ghosts of Spain is about in one experience. But this book is more than that. It's also a fascinating look at the various regions of Spain, offering a glimpse into what constitutes the modern Spaniard. A Basque is not a Catalan is not a Sevillano is not a Madridista. Ghosts of Spain tries to explain why in an entertaining and educational way.

[Brian Griffith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like Tremlett’s non-stop curiosity. He explores all corners of Spain, investigating the worlds of beach resorts, gypsies, parents, ethno-nationalists, corrupt politicians, terrorists, migrants, villagers, or drug cartels. He looks at Spain’s slow coming to terms with the “pact of forgetting” over fascist-era war crimes, where as Mariano Jose de Lorra put it, “Here lies half of Spain. The other half killed it.” Tremlett is an engaging guide, but he’s very journalistic. He writes like he was on TV, covering the action live, usually being part of the picture. He’s personally involved, making friends and raising a family. He can relate, and makes you feel it.

[Dan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book couldn't decide if it wanted to be a history book, sociology report, memoir or political recap. I understand that all of these need to be taken into account when writing a book on how Spain has ended up where it is, but I felt like the author rarely managed to find the right balance.

[✨ Kayla Lynne ✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you’re looking for an accessible intro to modern Spanish culture, you’ve found your book.

As someone who was born in Spain but raised in the US far from my biological Spanish family, I have always longed to know more about my home country and heritage. This book, part journalism, part memoir, part history, part anthropological text, fit the bill more perfectly than I had even anticipated.

To be completely transparent, I went into this book believing it to be focused specifically on the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War and the subsequent Pacto del Olvido, which was what I was originally interested in. Hence, you can imagine my surprise when the discussion of Francoist Spain was largely over by the end of the first three chapters. This actually ended up being a huge positive, because I was able to get a much more robust look at modern Spanish culture, exploring topics as diverse as sex work and decriminalization, Spanish attitudes toward the medical system and childbirth, post-Franco feminism, and separatist movements in Basque, Catalan, and Galicia.

Things I Loved:
- Good journalistic writing that kept me (mostly) engaged throughout even the denser sections

- Highly accessible to readers who aren’t accustomed to academic writing

- Really interesting selection of topics that, together, gave a real glimpse at modern Spanish life

Things I Didn’t Love:
- My main gripe with this book is that I fundamentally believe it was not meant to be written by a journalist. The often shallow analysis, anglosajón assumptions, and serious shortsightedness seen in some of the chapters, particularly those centered around nationalism and separatist movements, convinced me that this is a project for someone with primarily anthropological training. Over and over again, I felt that Tremlett failed to truly grapple with his insider-outsider status and leverage it to make this work a true study of Spanish culture as it claims to be.

- The author is clearly not in the practice of writing long-form pieces, and it showed in the pacing of this book. Some of the chapters dragged to the point that I think many people would choose to DNF- not because the information was too dense, but because the author did not pace the information appropriately.

- Mentioned this earlier, but some of the worst chapters were those centered on nationalist movements in modern Spain. Tremlett unfortunately lost much of the nuance these conversations require and betrayed some pretty deeply entrenched beliefs about empire and power. I did not feel that he made even a journalistic (let alone anthropological) attempt to capture the cultural underpinnings of these movements, which was disappointing to me.

In summary, despite all this, I definitely enjoyed this book and found it both fascinating and practically useful for beginning to understand modern Spanish culture. Though I wished it was more ethnographic in nature, I appreciated it for what it was and would definitely recommend for people who want a starter book on the people of Spain.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked parts of this book more than others, but overall it was an interesting look at a society that has gone from semi-fascist dictatorship to liberal democracy in just a few years. Partly, this is down to the leadership of Franco's chosen heir, King Juan Carlos, who threw his authority behind Spain's new democracy and undercut rightwing attempts to overthrow the government. Also, the transition was made easier (perhaps possible) by a widespread practice of letting the past remain in the past. (Many of the political class who ushered in Spain's democratic system also had been loyal servants of Generalissimo Franco.)

Giles Tremlett does a decent job of detailing the complications and contradictions of modern Spain. He is especially good at illustrating how, 70 years later, the civil war remains the elephant in the room; no one comfortably talks about it, but it profoundly affects political attitudes. He also examines the ethnic nationalisms that have bedeviled the state, from the violence of Basque separatism to the assertive cultural boosterism of the Catalans and the quasi-Celtic Galicians who celebrate their links to wider Iberian culture. He looks at the Spanish rejection of puritanical moralism, despite the influence of the Church; the way Spain became obsessed with anything modern; the way that Spanish children tend to be incredibly spoiled but how the same children grow into improbably polite teenagers.

I found most of this to be interesting, although Tremlett's style can be a bit dry and understated, perhaps a little too anglosajon. Sometimes, I was tempted to skip to the next section. I did skip most of the chapter on flamenco. That was followed by a chapter on the open Spanish attitude toward sex, which perked everything up.

[Lisa Heminsley · Rating 4 out of 5]

If, like me, the conundrums of modern spain by turn frustrate and delight you, then you must read this book. Why are the spanish so noisy? Why do they chose to live on top of each other in high rise blocks depsite boundless empty spaces surrounding their overcrowded cities? Why are spainsh kids so spoilt? How can a country wth so much history be rushing headlong into the future?
I read it in 2 sittings, I've lived in Spain for 2 years and laughed out loud at the familiar situations described, and winced at the descriptions of what happened during the civil war and it's aftermath. Read some Hemmingway and then have a go at this, both written with incredible affection for their subject matter.

[Veronica · Rating 3 out of 5]

An impulse buy in the FNAC in Barcelona, galloped through in a couple of days, this was a good book for me to read at this point. Every time I go to Spain I am more intrigued and curious about its recent past. This book, by the Madrid correspondent of the Guardian, gives a journalistic overview of a vast range of topics. If you already knew a lot about Spain, you'd probably find it irritatingly superficial. But when you don't, it's interesting and diverting, opening up all sorts of avenues for further exploration or reflection, and providing some background to help you when reading Spanish newspapers.

Some of the digressions are pretty odd and sound like recycled newspaper articles -- what on earth is the piece about Spanish funeral parlours doing in a chapter ostensibly about women's rights? Why is his piece about brothels so trivial and superficial? -- and the copy-editing, as so often nowadays, leaves a lot to be desired. But all in all, it's a good introduction to lots of topics, and I really enjoyed reading it.

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tremlett is a journalist who lives in Spain. That is a good thing. He is in touch with real people and this gives his writing an immediacy and directness that goes beyond the common judgemental Briton abroad. He also has some great chapter titles, such as "How the bikini saved Spain".

The premise of the book is that there is a story to be told around the secret histories of people who have simply refused to talk about their experiences under Franco. I know someone whose uncle was denounced then taken out and shot because a neighbour wanted his bicycle. My partner, Carmen, has what the Spanish call 'sensación' walking past the police station. It is understandable: men wearing sunglasses and Doc Martens and carrying pistols give me the creeps as well.

On the down side, I found myself getting bored with the book about half way through. Journalism doesn't sustain itself for a long read and I found myself drifting off in pursuit of proper history books. Good for a bus ride though.

[Radiantflux · Rating 4 out of 5]

10th book for 2016.

Read this in preparation for an upcoming trip to Spain.

Each chapter in the book covers a different aspect of Spanish culture, starting with the recent re-examination by Spaniards of the 1000s killed after Franco came to power, to later chapters dealing with the royal family, sex and feminism, parenthood, the Basques, ETA, the Madrid bombing etc. The book covers similar territory to The New Spaniards , but I found the writing much more engaging. It is written by a British journalist, who has lived for many years in Spain and gives a half-insider/half-outsider perspective on the country.

The book, written in 2005, is now getting a little dated, but still worth a read for those who want an insight into contemporary Spanish society.

[Prina Patel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't even finish it...it was like a slow, painful death

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

I decided to bail partway through, as I was honestly forcing myself to go on, finding the book dry.

[Adrian Fingleton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I very much enjoyed this book. Written by an English journalist and a longtime dweller in Spain, it does offer a very good insight into the Spanish way of thinking and how many events in the 20th and 21st century have shaped that. Obviously the bitter, brutal Civil war of the 1930s hangs over much of the way Spanish people react and the divisions are still deep.

The book is dense - it's not one you can skim through. But each chapter deals with another aspect of Spain or, in many cases, how a particular region views the idea of a Spanish nation. Catalonia, Galicia and the Basque country all get this treatment. But it's not all heavy going. The author also touches on Spain's attitudes to Flamenco, Sex, Football and more. I cant vouch for it's accuracy but it certainly appears that the author has 'gotten under the skin of Spain' and is offering the reader some very interesting insights into one of Europe's largest countries. Definitely worth a read.

[Anna R · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bought this book as a previous hispanic studies student with an urge to further expand my knowledge in the subject. This is a very thorough and broad overview of Spain’s old and new history, covering all imaginable topics from la transición, its gypsy community and Spain’s booming real estate and modern architecture. Found the perspective of an Englishman particularly interesting and helpful for the narrative in order to show an outsider’s perspective. It is perfect for anybody who is wanting to learn more about Spain.

[Dеnnis · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars actually. I can’t give it 5 because couple of chapters were quite difficult to wade through. I finished the book in several takes, first two being botched by these unfortunate chapters. I mean I’m not interested in flamenco or construction boom and ensuing machinations. However even in these cases I learned something curious, for example about larger than life cult singer I’ve never heard of - Camarón de la Isla. I persevered and was ultimately rewarded with excellent insights which only keen eye of a totally submersed observer could detect and relay to reader. Chapter on Basque country provides enough information and narrative to save you from reading a whole book on this matter (in my case it was Mark Kurlansky’s one). Galicia and Catalonia chapters are really good too.

It is a good example of being rewarded for the effort of reading: you trudge through 1-2-3 chapters, wavering to give up and then “BANG”: half a page of valuable and absolutely fascinating information few of your friends ever heard of.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s sobering to read Ghosts of Spain and read about the Spanish Civil War. After decades of silence about it, witnesses and descendants alike are now asserting the right to examine its history. Mass graves have been exhumed; archives are being explored; witness statements are being made. Most significantly, memorials to the Republican dead are emerging while those of Franco’s supporters are shunned. All this takes place in a country where the emphasis has been resolute about looking forwards not backwards and where there are ongoing separatist movements.
To read the rest of my review, please visit
http://anzlitlovers.wordpress.com/201...

[Nathan Albright · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ghosts Of Spain: Travels Through Spain And Its Silent Past, by Giles Tremlett

This book is a good example of the sort of reportage that explains why journalists are so widely hated, and so deservedly so, in the contemporary world. The author's casual embrace of corrupt influence peddling, inability to grasp Basque, Catalan, or Galician nationalism, as different as they all happen to be, leftist political biases, and his lack of social graces in viewing his interactions with others as the source of copy to be written about when it suits the author are all aspects of contemporary journalism that tend to make the profession viewed as a professional leper class by many others. The author himself is an English journalist who writes as a foreign correspondent in Spain, and seems to appreciate the moral laxity of Spain in his own life as he visits seedy gitano areas, talks about fear with Basques, engages in politically biased discussions of everything from Franco's Spain to the complications of identity with the various Spanish nationalities. In reading this book it is obvious that the author is pro-socialist and equally obvious that he is a massive security risk to anyone willing to talk to him and find their words used as a way to color the author's struggle to understand the massive divisions within the Spanish soul, which comes up in many ways that connect to tangles in politics, religion, and identity that the author is ill-equipped to understand.

This book is between 350 and 400 pages, divided into thirteen chapters that seek to discuss one or another element of Spanish history and culture that strikes the author's unsystematic fancy. The author begins, troublingly, with a discussion about the important matter of the Spanish Civil War, which the author is unable to deal with in a reasonable or even-handed manner, setting the tone for the rest of the book. The first chapter has the author discussing open secrets that no one can talk about (1) and the next one shows the author looking for Franco and completely unable to understand or appreciate him because of his own biases (2). After that the author stumbles badly in his cavalier treatment of the pact of forgetting (3), before turning abruptly from high politics to the politics of permissive Spanish sexuality (4). This is followed by a discussion of the Spanish tension between anarchy and order that he finds particularly present in the chaotic and often corrupt Spanish local politics (5) as well as the chaotic relationship of religion, flamenco, gypsy identity, and drugs (6). The author spends an essay trying to understand the complexities and paradoxes of the Spanish theory and practice when it comes to prostitution (7), before moving awkwardly to a discussion of the Spanish view of doctors and family life, which seems to involve few kids, imported help, and a strong gender divide to housework (8). At this point the author veers strongly into awkward matters of identity politics in the next four chapters, with chapters on the fraught relationship between Muslims and Christians and terrorism (9), the identity of the Basques (10), Catalans (11), and Galicians (12). The book then closes with a discussion of cinema and the struggle of small towns to endure in the face of persistent depopulation (13), after which the book ends with acknowledgements and an index.

While the author himself is a malign presence in this book, it just so happens that a lot of what the author writes about, apart from his own self-insertion as being the real subject of interest in much of what is written, is genuinely interesting. No serious traveler who visits Spain can fail to be struck by the austere natural beauty the Spain has in its isolated areas, the complicated politics of the place and the tensions that Spaniards have within their regions and with the supposed wholeness and integrity of their territory. Interestingly, for all that the author writes about Spanish politics, he barely mentions Gibraltar and Ceuta, or the Balearic Islands, and the Canary Islands do not figure in his writings at all, which is demonstrative of the author's focus on popular cities. Only a little bit is said about Asturias, Navarre, or the massive empty space outside of Madrid except as a way to demonize Franco or celebrate Almodóvar. A reader with a better understanding of what drives people apart and makes federalism so elusive in a place like Spain, or what makes Galicians seem so inscrutable and full of ironic subtlety in their silence will find more insight in what the author uncovers in his travels than the author shows himself. It is no mean feat to spend nearly 400 pages talking about the silence of Spain, much of that spent talking about and openly showing partisanship in various disputes where the author demonstrates himself to be a leftist who is committed to globalism and deeply ambivalent about his own identity and legacy as an Englishman. A less self-serious person would have written this account as a tragicomic attempt by a clueless Englishman to understand Spain and fit in, but the author lacks the self-awareness and self-deprecation for that task.

[Andy Weston · Rating 4 out of 5]

Told in thirteen chapters, Tremlett, a regular contributors to the Guardian for the last 20 years, examines some of the political cracks that run through the country. He begins with an examination of the Franco regime and its aftermath. There is, he writes, no safe way to talk about the past in Spain; not even something as seemingly uncontroversial as Franco’s fascism.
Different political parties present competing interpretations of the past, which naturally, reflect their different interpretations of the present. Hard as it is to believe, but the appalling bombings of commuter trains on March 2004, were also the result of political bickering, as the right-wing insisted that the Basque terrorists (the ETA) had something to do with it.
There is a large amount of information here, well-presented with a mix of anecdotes.
Though I am sure far from perfect, it provided me with an interesting and enlightening introduction to the modern history of the country I am currently spending three months travelling in.

Some notes I made..

More than 138,000 bars in Spain, as many as the rest of Europe put together.

And, despite its many imposing churches..

The proportion of Spaniards who define themselves as religious is, according to a poll, no different to the proportion of German or Dutch who do so. It is significantly smaller than their southern Catholic neighbours in Portugal or Italy. Only the British and French consider themselves less religious. The Franco period now looks like a last-gasp attempt at hanging on to already waning church powers.

[Ali Haider · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book for someone who hasn’t grown up in Spain but is interested in their culture and history. A lot of the small mannerisms and traditions I noticed while traveling there started to make a lot more sense as I read this. Tremlett does a good job of providing an objective “outsider’s” perspective on the pains of Spain’s 20th century history and why it’s seldom talked about in the country.

But, as he’s a journalist, he often goes too into detail about some things that I don’t feel were necessary. The best parts of the book were the raw storytelling of his travels. I especially loved the chapter on flamenco and his experience in the Tres Mil barrio in Seville where many Roma were exiled, and the prison flamenco contests that gave an outlet for prisoners to express their pain.

Overall an informative, entertaining, and easy read.

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting look at modern Spain and how the events of the 20th and early 21st century have it and its people. Having lived in the country for several decades, Giles Tremlett has the firsthand experience needed to delve into the country's history and society, including the unspoken parts and the still lingering trauma from the Civil War and Franco's dictatorship.

[Isabel Nicano · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel is quite passable.

[Jon Tickle · Rating 5 out of 5]

The transition from the Franco era to now is endlessly fascinating, as is this book.

[Tim Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Political and cultural overview of Spain published in 2008, author Giles Tremlett in an introduction, thirteen chapters, and afterward covered a number of topics based on his reporting as the Gurdian’s Madrid correspondent and for having lived in and written about Spain for twenty years. The book primarily starts out examining the continuing legacy of the Spanish Civil War and the decades long regime of dictator Franscisco Franco, but later goes on to discuss a number of other topics.

The introduction, after a general portrait of daily life for the author in Spain, introduced the concept of el pacto del olvido, “the pact of forgetting,” an unwritten rule that governed Spanish political and cultural life following the end of the Franco regime and was only at the time of writing starting to fray, where everyone as part of the la Transcicion to democracy agrees more or less to a “cloak of silence” to cover up awful things during the Spanish Civil War or under Franco, to avoid reopening old wounds, threats to democracy, to acknowledge the complicated legacy of people who have pushed the hardest for democracy following Franco’s death were also quite often complicit in rather bad things, all while there are still two Spains.

Chapter one dealt with the continuing legacy of the Spanish Civil War, of victims only now being exhumed from roadside burials, of some rural communities dealing with the atrocities that occurred there, of whether a modern democratic country can “allow thousands of citizens murdered like animals by a dictatorial regime to remained buried in its roadside ditches,” of the controversy of providing funds to exhume bodies, and the political debate over what to do with the victims alive and dead and who to blame for the war.

Chapter two included a fascinating visit to the Valle De Los Caidos, the Valley of the Fallen, part of an exploration of the continuing legacy and appraisal of Franco, his influence and of those who supported him. There is some discussion of Franco’s support for Hitler and Division Azul, “Spanish Hitler veterans” that fought alongside the Nazis against the Russians.

Chapter three, “Amnistia and Amnesia,” continues the author’s examination of the pact of forgetting, looks at politics after el Caudillo died, how Francoists “reinvented themselves,” how many of those guilty under Franco rarely faced justice, how people like Serrano Suner, who “helped strike a secret deal with Hitler” for Spain to join World War II at a time of “common agreement” and who unleashed repression on a scale that amazed even the Gestapo, instead of facing some sort of Nuremberg-style trial, “died peacefully of natural causes.” Also, discussions of how far the Trascicion went, is it really over, an attempted coup on February 23, 1981 by Lieutenant Colonel Antonio Tejero, and the complicated legacy of King Juan Carlos and his personal trajectory “from declared supporter of Francoism and its principles to diehard democrat” who “oversaw the Transicion, stopped a coup and gave up the supremacy handed to him as Europe’s last old-fashioned, power-wielding monarch.”

Chapter four, “How the Bikini Saved Spain,” looks at the history, culture, politics, and economics of tourism, beginning in the days of Franco and continuing to the present, discussing how Spain is a “tourism superpower” and how it forms more than 11 per cent of the Spanish economy. Also lots of discussions of British emigrees and expats in Spain (and the problems they have caused, often by not really integrating into local culture and politics).

Chapter five, “Anarchy, Order and a Real Pair of Balls” looked at enchufe (“the art of being ‘plugged in’ – of having, cultivating and using contacts”), whether or not enchufe is a form of corruption or just “a bit of sporting rule-bending,” the Spanish cultural traits of being “natural anarchists” and also having a “deep vein of austerity.”

Chapter six, one of my favorite chapters, look at flamenco, its roots, its influence, what has influenced it, types of flamenco, some of its famous artists past and present, and its roots in both the gypsy community and in Spain’s prisons.

Chapter seven looked at first at Spanish views towards sex, the brothel industry in Spain, the “open secret” that is prostitution in Spain, met with “either silence or indifference,” Spanish views on homosexuality, and closed with quite a bit on Spanish views on religion and the role of the church and whether or not Spain is actually a secular state.

Chapter eight looked at the Spanish health system, cultural views on families and children, views on public affection towards children and how children are viewed and treated in public (strongly contrasting this with British views), adolescence in Spain, young people moving out of their parents’ home, and the interesting cultural phenomenon of the tanatorio, the city’s morgue, of places people are so comfortable with that sometimes they even visit the restaurant/bars found there (at least in Madrid) without even having a deceased person to visit or grieving friends and relatives to console.

Chapter nine looked the legacy of Muslim Spain, Muslims in Spain today, the 2004 Madrid train bombings, how the bombings affected Spanish society and politics, and the national debate over whether or not Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA), the Basque Homeland and Freedom separatist group, was to blame (it wasn’t).

Chapter ten was the first of three chapters looked at different cultural and linguistic regions of Spain, this chapter looking at the Basques, with a fascinating look at the Basque people, culture, history, religion, language, and views on Basque nationhood and independence including its violent aspects.

Chapter eleven, “The Madness of Verdaguer,” looked at another region, Catalonia, of how people say Catalans “are more different than others (except, most would agree, the Basques)” in a country that has other regions, with the author exploring hecho diferencial “the differentiating fact” that Catalans say about themselves, how they are different from the rest of Spain. Interesting discussion of Catalan history, culture, and it is contrasted with the Basques and their views and approach. Some discussion of famous Catalan artists, notably Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí (famed for Barcelona’s church of the Sagrada Família) and Jacint Verdaguer (greatest of Catalan poets). Also included was discussion of the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona and rivalries between Madrid and Barcelona.

Chapter twelve was a beautifully written chapter on Galicia, a region that felt not just culturally but climatically and geographically different from the “dry austere monotony of Castille,” separated by mountainous barriers, land of fog, dangerous sea coasts (home to many shipwrecks, including oil tankers, which were discussed), fishermen, cows, proudly proclaimed by historically dubious claims to have a Celtic heritage, a language (galego) spoken by a higher percentage of the populace than Catalonia or by the Basques (their language known as Euskara) with 83 per cent speaking it fluently versus the 16 per cent who speaking Euskara, yet is a region where only “one in thirty wanted a separate state” and fewer than “a quarter of Galicians defined themselves as nationalists.” I loved the wild beauty of Galicia the author described, of fog, mountains, wolves, rocky seacoasts, and wild Galician ponies. It was also interesting to read about the role of cocaine imports to the region, pilgrimages in Galicia, how “la Espana profunda” or “deep Spain” can still be found in Galicia, the story of Galician emigration, and the surprisingly deep ties in Galicia to Cuba. A wonderful chapter.

Chapter thirteen, “Moderns and Ruins,” looked at the reality and roots of Spanish obsession with new architecture (“huida hacia delante or ‘running away forwards’), the struggle in a land to preserve so many prehistoric, ancient, and medieval structures, the decline of rural communities, how for centuries Spain was viewed by the rest of Europe as the “continent’s Wild West” or it was “if not Africa, at least part of the East,” these views illustrated by the author’s discussion of various travel writers, that even into the 1960s author “Jan Morris found Spain still not just markedly, but deliberately, set apart from Europe.” Also, a discussion of Spanish discussions about Spain itself and how it viewed foreign historian and travel writers and their views on Spain.

The afterward looked at Spanish politics in 2008, the continuing fall out from the Madrid train bombings, cultural, political, and economic issues relating to immigration, the continuing existence of two Spains, but with a hopeful note, the author writing that “Spanish democracy is solidly established and provides a stage upon which the old battles can be fought without blood being spilt.”

Some of the chapter felt a little long to me. Several felt like they took a strange trajectory, like how chapter seven started with an extensive discussion of brothels and prostitution and ended with an extension discussion of the Catholic Church, or how chapter thirteen began with interesting discussions of very modern and new Spanish architecture and ended with a discussion of Spanish cinema. Two chapters in particular, the ones on flamenco and Galicia, could have been expanded and made good books themselves.

No bibliography, though fiction and nonfiction books are discussed throughout the text. There is an index. No photos. I would have liked a map but there wasn’t one.

[Oliver · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has taught me a lot and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, Giles writes extremely well and I wish I was living back in Spain where I spent a year after university.

I am a Spanish teacher and was given an assignment to complete in which I had to identify a point of weakness in my subject knowledge and exploit it. I chose the The Civil War and figured this book, which has been on my wish-list for a while, would be a nice introduction to it.

My bisabuelo fled to England sometime during The Civil War to seek political exile, he was Catalan and was housed in London where he met mi bisabuela, several generations later and here I am. I was amazed towards the end of the book where Giles mentioned the opportunity to seek Spanish citizenship by virtue of being a descendent of a Spaniard who sought political exile. I put the book down and went straight to Google. Muy a mi pesar, I discovered that I was not entitled to the citizenship as a) it was only if they were your grandfather, not your great-grandfather and b) they stopped applications in 2011. It was a long shot to begin with, I can at least now retrace some family history with some degree of accuracy thanks to this book. Unfortunately I don't know of any relatives still remaining in Spain...

The little stories and people from los pueblos made the reading even more enjoyable, the history of flamenco y los gitanos was great. I learnt some very specific vocabulary I wouldn't dare teach my secondary school students, I can barely grasp it myself, namely duende and retranca.

This book will stay in my shelf and I will probably read it again, moving forward I have just bought Orwell's Homage to Catalonia which I hope will help me envisage more the political landscape during the war.

Nice one Giles!

[Kunle]

If you have ever wondered why the Spanish civil war rarely get's scrutinized to the same extent as others, then this book explains it by examining Spanish society from the recent past to the present; the Franco years to the explosion of repressed social and cultural development after his death that affected everything in the country, from its central government to the emergence of terrorist group ETA.

Tremlett talks about the establishment of a left - right compromise not look to closely at the back-story. While enemies, families, friends and neighbours literally, set aside their differences and murderous political rivalries in order not to bring up the past.....Until now that is! The answer as to why lies in science and DNA tests.

Tremlett does just look at Spanish modern history he also takes us through his own journey in understanding the language, culture and politics. The book is filled with fascinating golden nuggets of info such as Spain's disturbing record of having more portraits of Hitler in private homes than anywhere else in the world and the fact that it's peculiar brand of Fascism still remains influential in Europe, including within major organizations such as the International Olympic Committee. Samaranch (former IOC President) senior was unusually a Catalan Franco supporting Black Shirt. No wonder they're always keen to keep politics out of sport!

If you love modern Spain and want to get under the skin of this country, then this is a good place to start.

[Cormac Healy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting and detailed look at the recent history of Spain, and how a country that was under a dictatorship as recently as 1975 attempts to come to terms with that past, and its place in modern Europe. I did have some issues with it though.

It is written in relatively long chapters with no breaks or different sections, which means it is hard to keep track of what his overall point is, as the narrative seems to jump aimlessly around in long chapters with no real direction. Also, there were quite a few typos which is just annoying, and hard to understand how they made it through the editing process.

I also think it could have done with a map of Spain at the front (because let's be honest, everyone prefers a book with a map) as well as references at the back, or at least additional sources for further reading. It was also rather unusual in being a book about the history and geography of a country that didn't particularly make me want to visit it, which I think was due at least in part to a lack of focus on food and drink.

Anyway, if you want to learn more about Spain this is a good place to start, but it definitely could have been better.

2.5/5

[Bjorn Sorensen · Rating 3 out of 5]

As someone who recently got to Spain to teach English, I greatly benefitted from going through Tremlett's book. I found it to be a wide-ranging, objective view of some very sensitive topics for the locals.

It is written with an important slant against corruption. There are beautiful descriptions throughout about how Spain managed to go from the brutal dictatorship of Franco to a democracy that does such a good job of taking care of its citizens. In fact, in 2019, Spain was in the Top 5 for highest life expectancy.

The book is, however, a bit disorganized, jumping back and forth over the decades, without an over-arching thematic cohesiveness. At least some sort of bookend effect could have turned this into a classic instead of an important book to read if you're spending significant time in the country. That's how good the political, economic and societal commentary is.

But, it is obvious that it took some bravery to write because Spaniards can be sensitive about outsiders opining about them. So I will also pardon the lack of voice (either in personal background or unique tone) from the author. Sometimes, to be honest, it's best to speak in a diplomatic way.