Malta: A Brief History

by Joseph S. Abela

Genres: Nonfiction

255 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is exactly what it says on the tin: a brief history. But don't be fooled; it covers a very long timeline from megalithic humankind and their incredible temples to politics in 2014. It is the description of each era that is brief and rightly so. Malta has had an incredible number of occupations and so much detailed work is available for each of these periods. Joseph Abela covers all the significant and influential events including the temple builders of the megalithic age, Phoenicians/Carthaginians, Romans, Byzantines, Islam, Normans, Angevins, Argonese, Knights Hospitallers, French and British. If you ask any Maltese what the three most important episodes in their history were, they will probably tell you St Paul's shipwreck in about AD60 under Roman rule when Malta converted to Catholicism and has remained so ever since, the invasion and defeat of the Turks in 1565 under the rule of the Knights of St John of Jerusalem and the second World War during British occupation when the Axis almost brought the Island to its knees (more ordinance was dropped on Malta on one day than London had during the whole of the Blitz). These were such momentous occasions the they each need and have entire books written about them. For a very small archipelago of 4 main islands (122 square miles/316 square km), Malta has some stunning statistics. Situated almost dead centre in the Mediterranean Sea with a population of approximately 450,000, it is one of the most densely populated countries in the world but has always been regarded as incredibly important strategically. Thus the reason for its many occupations and consequently its incredibly varied history. This book should be standard reading for anyone visiting this amazing country whose Capital city, Valletta, will be the European Capital of Culture in 2018.

[Manuel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Worst history book I have ever read. The first chapter used the biblical flood as a way of dating events, then proceeds to make bonkers assumptions about prehistoric humans, such as a male/female segregation. The last chapter is blatantly racist. In every chapter the author shows his personal views, and it’s atrociously written.

[Angelina Kulakova · Rating 1 out of 5]

Informative and interesting however the racist comments at the very last page surprised me a lot.

[John Hills · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gives a good overview of the history of these much maligned islands. I particularly enjoyed the first section about the temples and the ancients, it also felt the best researched. I do think the narrative was quite sensationalist at times and the final section about the modern day was actually narrow minded and I didn't like how casually the author mentioned the agreement with the EU about keeping Malta laws on abortion (strictly illegal to have one in Malta) and even seemed to suggest it was a show of strength to keep them in spite of the EU laws. Then went on to be incredibly prejudiced about immigration. That last section aside I did enjoy the way it went through the various overlords of Malta and it made me realise the subjugation the Maltese people have suffered for thousands of years and how good it must feel to be independent now, maybe going someway to explain the authors patriotism and aversion to EU laws (although abortions being illegal is a horrible reflection on this country I love so much)

[Rupert Grech · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book seems to be targeted at the tourist market rather than anyone seriously interested in history and as such, employs an anecdotal and hearsay type of writing style. There is a lot of important detail missing and I thought the section on the Great Siege of 1565 was particularly poor. Some of the writing I found glib and opinionated. Some of the assertions in the chapter concerning Maltese emigration were inaccurate and contained false sweeping statements. I found the last section on the period after independence up to European Membership somewhat informative and the best part of the book but it is now outdated.

[Ricardo Varela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read during a visit to Malta to get background and ideas to plan historical visits. For this it worked well for me.
However, agree with the other commenter here that the start of the book was very good but the end, on the modern era, felt to me like it added to the text more opinion than history.
Still, good overview book and enjoyable.

[Charlene Carabott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Concise and informative. A summary of Maltese history that is easy to read and follow

[Mateu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing special.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the book, learning about another country, its culture and history. I visited Malta in Summer 2015 and I really enjoyed it so I really was looking forward to reading this book.
However, there are so many grammatical mistakes. Sometimes the sentences make no sense at all which spoilt my reading a bit.