Iberia: Spanish Travels and Reflections

by James A. Michener, Robert Vavra (Photographer)

Many photographs illustrate this informal study of Spanish life, history and culture

Genres: Historical Fiction, Travel, Spain, Fiction, European History, Historical, Audiobook

818 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

James Albert Michener is best known for his sweeping multi-generation historical fiction sagas, usually focusing on and titled after a particular geographical region. His first novel, Tales of the South Pacific , which inspired the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific, won the 1948 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Toward the end of his life, he created the Journey Prize, awarded annually for the year's best short story published by an emerging Canadian writer; founded an MFA program now, named the Michener Center for Writers, at the University of Texas at Austin; and made substantial contributions to the James A. Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, best known for its permanent collection of Pennsylvania Impressionist paintings and a room containing Michener's own typewriter, books, and various memorabilia.

Michener's entry in Who's Who in America says he was born on Feb. 3, 1907. But he said in his 1992 memoirs that the circumstances of his birth remained cloudy and he did not know just when he was born or who his parents were.

Reviews

[Ted · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did a second (different) review of this book a while ago - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... - with lots of pictures. It wasn't as well liked as this one I did originally. So I thought I'd resubmit this one in case some readers might find it useful. The book is still in print, and though it must be dated to some extent, I have a GR friend who moved to Spain in the last year, and has said he has found it useful to have as a suggestion for travels and things to see.

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I'm pretty certain I read most of this 40-50 years ago. I had sort of a romance with Spain for awhile, probably because of Death in the Afternoon.

What's here ---> I find myself drawn to the book again. Not that I think I will undertake reading such a door-stopper all the way through, especially since it must be dated to some extent. BUT I HAVE STARTED READING IT AGAIN, SLOWLY. is not quite accurate any more, but I've left it.

Michener says in his introduction (30+ pages, which really must be read to understand Michener's fascination with Spain), "I have always regarded Spain as my second home" I don't now know why he says this, if I ever did. When he wrote Iberia in the late 60s, he says that he had spent four decades traveling in Spain.

He first set foot in Spain while he was a student in Scotland, in 1932. On this visit the last place he visited was Valencia, and he reflects

The well-dressed businessmen. The luxurious clubs, they're as good as any in Europe. The gaiety of a first-class fiesta. Good hotels, good restaurants, good entertainment. A substantial city that seems to be well run ...

But as I rode out to the port to rejoin my ship for the long haul back to Scotland, I could not help recalling the peasants of Teruel and the abysmal and almost terrifying poverty that was their lot. Between these two Spains, and remember that I had not yet seen the superarrogant nobility of Sevilla, there existed such a gap that I simply could not bring it into focus ...

To fuse the rural peasant of Teruel and the rich clubman of Valencia lolling in his leather chair after a gorging meal was for me impossible, and I began at that moment to formulate that series of speculations regarding Spain which were to exercise me for the next decades. Whenever I read about Spain it was to find answers to these questions, and remember that they were posed some years before the Civil War disfigured the country.

The speculations, very briefly and inadequately summarized by me, are:

1. In the long run of her history Spain was emotionally confined to her peninsula, in a way that the peninsular Italy has not been. Why?

2. During the reigns of Carlos V and Felipe II Spain has interests in all directions: Italy to the east; the Low Countries to the north; her vast empire in the Americas to the west; and involvements to the south in Africa; yet it could not make up its mind where its real interests lay, and thus "frittered them all away." Why?

3. What accounts for the dramatic reversal of Spain’s age of tolerance (the four centuries prior to 1492), to suddenly becoming instead one of the most homogeneous and frightened people in Europe?

4. WHY?
Uniformity and centrism, yet a strong regional pattern of life;
royalist theory of government, yet persistently producing strong democratic movements;
love of personal freedom, yet repeated solution to problems in dictatorial forms of government - which even more inexplicably, have worked well with the Spanish people.

5. Why did Spain, one of the richest countries in Europe, invest so much in gaining control in the New World, then allow the influx of treasure to generate an inflation "which converted her into the poorest country in Europe and one of the poorest in the world"?

6. Before the industrial revolution Spain was a leader in manufacturing quality goods, a leader in world trade and agriculture; yet within a few generations leadership in all this had passed to other countries in Europe. "Who can explain the extraordinary series of wrong decisions" which brought this about.

7. "For several centuries Spain was one of the exciting leaders in art, music, drama, poetry, the novel, philosophy - both as producer and consumer. Then abruptly the leadership was abandoned." What can explain this?

8. The passionate devotion of Spain to the Catholic Church, "while never being reluctant to oppose the Pope when she considered him in moral or political error". Where gives rise to this continuing anomaly?

9. The central mystery of Spanish psychology. "How can the Spaniard, who is so outgoing, so earthy, so in love with the trivia of daily existence, be at the same time so withdrawn and inwardly mystical?"
Of course it seems rather likely to me that one or many of these "speculations" can be resolved by others with knowledge of Spain as simple (or gross) misconceptions on Michener's part.

These are the issues which Michener apparently wishes to explore in Iberia. However, I should emphasize that the book is written more as a travelogue, and my recollection of it is as a book of very general interest, not a pseudo-academic tome by any means.

After the Introduction (which is actually chapter I in my edition, but with that name) the remaining chapters (except for XI) are each named for a region or city in Spain, as follows (pages):

II. Badajoz (78)
III. Toledo (70)
IV. Cordoba (62)
V. Las Marismas (62)
VI. Sevilla (70)
VII. Madrid (96)
VIII. Salamanca (88)
IX. Pamplona (72)
X. Barcelona (100)
XI. The Bulls (62)
XII. Teruel (40)
XIII. Santiago de Compostela (102)

The book also has a decent index (19 pages). Ten random contiguous entries:
Toledo; Tolstoy; Tome, Narcisco; Tordesillas; torno; Toro; Toro, Battle of; Torquemada, Tomas de; Torre Bremeja; Torremolinos.

The book spent 7 months on the New York Times bestseller list.



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[Ted · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spain was a theocracy, and I had lived in Israel and Pakistan, which were also theocracies, and the problems of such governments tend to be the same, whether the theocracy is Jewish, Muslim, or Catholic.




Father Jesus Precedo Lafuente. [chapter: Santiago de Compostela]

I've written a prior review in which I give more of an overview of the book, here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

My second reading of this book, begun last year, is being terminated today (at least for the foreseeable future). I've decided that I'm not interested enough in what Michener has to say about Madrid (where I've bogged down) to force myself to keep reading.

I will be keeping the book handy. If I ever plan a trip to Spain I certainly want to check out Michener's thoughts on the cities we would visit, for two prime reasons.

First, much of his narrative focuses on the history of the cities he writes about. And second, he writes of the sites (churches, museums, other buildings and locations) in the city or its vicinity which he found particularly interesting. Both of these could be helpful to a traveller in Spain, maybe even to a Spanish person who is visiting parts of the country new to them?

I will admit one problem I had with the book. Michener seems at times to really not know where/when to stop. He can't refrain from noting just everything about his experiences in a given city that stuck in his memory, a complete data dump. This can present the reader with an experience (in the same chapter, from one page to the next) of being very interested in the narrative, then suddenly realizing that a different topic is being discussed which has no connection to the other, and which is causing the reader's attention to wilt. TMI, James!

Another potential problem is that the book could now be quite dated in many ways. Published in 1968, many of the vignettes in the book are no doubt much older than that. Michener first visited Spain sometime in the late 20’s, maybe 1930, and I think it likely that pieces of the narrative date back to any of the many trips he took to Spain over the next 35 years.

In fact, Michener writes about this explicitly in his Madrid chapter. He writes of the differences that have occurred in Madrid between his most recent (1966) trip, and his previous Madrid visit in 1950. Over eight or nine pages he mentions eighteen differences, ranging from the shortest (Then wine was drunk; now beer is popular.) to the last and longest:

The biggest social differences between then and now is the radical change effected by what a Spanish man called ‘the revolution of the Sueca.’ … [The author told by a businessman that the term was used to refer to “the Swedish girls” (also Finns, Norwegians, Danes, Germans), who discovered Spain “and flocked down here by the planeload”] Their first impact was on the beaches, and once they stripped down to their bikinis and we saw what the human body could be, the old laws [a society rigidly obeying “puritanism”, “but much stronger than yours in the States, because here the whole society supported it”] simply could not be enforced.
Well, the first result of the Sueca invasion was cataclysmic.

And Michener goes on for two pages about how a revolution in morals began to occur. (395ff)



Along all the beaches of the Mediterranean it is the foreign girl who attracts and perplexes the men of Spain. [Barcelona]

Well, TMI, Ted.


But I must mention one more thing about the book. In the Sevilla chapter the author describes meeting a California photographer in that city, Robert Vavra. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_...) After looking at his photos, he came back to Vavra. “I proposed that we do this book together.”

I remember the commission we agreed upon: ‘Vavra will go over Spain guided only by his own eye, completely indifferent as to what Michener may write or think or prefer. Shoot a hundred of the very finest pictures he can find and make them his interpretation of Spain. If he can succeed in this, the pictures will fit properly into any text.

I have not counted pictures in the book, most but not all full-page, black and white, all Vavra’s. But they are a wonderful fulfillment of this commission. Here are a few, with captions from the book.




Afoot, on bicycle or on horseback, officers of the Guardia Civil in pairs move back and forth across Spain. [Badajoz]




Film makers from all parts of the world shoot motion pictures with Muslim backgrounds in Spain because the inhabitants recall the Moorish occupation. [Cordoba]



Seventeen-year-old gypsy mother. [Cordoba]



Gravedigger. [Teruel]



La zarzuela. [Madrid]




From this carefully designed window of Gaudi’s Templo de la Sagrada Familia a stork is seen on its way to Africa. [Barcelona]



The ancestors of this fighting bull, standing along the banks of the Guadalquivir, were brought up the river by Romans more than two thousand years ago. [Las Marismas]



During feria the young women of Sevilla appear at their most seductive. And always in the background, iron bars of tradition. [Sevilla]



The demureness of the Spanish woman and the arrogance of the Spanish man begin early [Salamanca]




Some handsome things of great age should be left as they are. [Pamplona]



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[Roy Lotz · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a sense no visitor can ever be adequately prepared to judge a foreign city, let alone an entire nation; the best he can do is to observe with sympathy.

Travel writing is like love poetry. All travelers and lovers are convinced that their experiences are unique, and therefore worth writing about; while in reality most travel stories and love poems express nearly the same basic sentiment, over and over, with only minor variations. Both genres are easy to write and hard to read, which is why far more travel blogs and love poems are written then read. Even brilliant writers sometimes make fools of themselves.

James Michener is not a brilliant writer, but he has done a fine job in this book. And for once in my life, I think I am actually qualified to judge, since I have been to about 80% of the major places he visited. Not only that, but I myself have written about my travels in Spain.

As I said before, Michener is not a brilliant writer; but he is a highly competent one. There are very few parts of this book that are memorably good, but very few that are memorably bad. The best thing that can be said for his prose is that you can read him for hours without getting tired or bored. The only parts that stuck out as tiresome were a few descriptions of churches. For example, I got completely lost in his description of the Toledo Cathedral, even though I’ve been to it—which is a bad sign.

His approach to travel writing is not very different from that of Bill Bryson: go someplace, find an interesting tidbit from the history, and then describe a few nice buildings or whatever. Apart from this, however, the two men are quite different. Michener is very much preoccupied with what in earlier times was called ‘culture’: painting, literature, architecture, music, and so on. Thus much of this book consists of descriptions and appraisals of Spain's artistic and intellectual life. He covers flamenco, zarzuela, the music of Tomás Luis de Victoria, the paintings of Velazquez and El Greco, romanesque, gothic, and modernist architecture, the philosophy of Seneca, Maimonides, and Averroes, and much else.

But most of all, Michener is concerned with history. For him, Spain is a window into the past, and he spends many pages on his so-called ‘speculations’. Mainly, these speculations deal with the following question: Why was Spain once so great and is now not so great? Why did Spain rise and fall as a major power? Personally, I found him to be unilluminating in this vein; but he knows how to find a good story and how to tell one. And it is true that you learn quite a bit about Spain’s history in the course of this book.

Michener spent about thirty years traveling in Spain, on and off. As a result, he is able to cast a wide net, covering almost every major city in the country. Most of the chapters are centered around one city—Barcelona, Madrid, Salamanca, Seville, Santiago, Córdoba, Toledo—but Michener inevitably ends up leaving the city and touring the surrounding areas. Michener is also very digression-prone, so he will often pause to tell you some bit of history that interests him. Thus in the course of these 900 pages he travels through nearly all of the country, both geographically and temporally, the only noticeable exception being the Basque Country. It is an encyclopedic travel book.

Some people have said this book is outdated. To a certain extent this is true. Michener first came to Spain as a young man, which must have been in the late 1920s or early 1930s, and then continued his visits until the book's publication in 1968. Thus you obviously can’t find anything here about the great transformations and dramas of post-Franco Spain. Apart from this, however, the book has kept its relevance. Every time he visited somewhere that I had been, I found little to no discrepancy between his description and my experience. All the beautiful cathedrals and churches and plazas are still standing today, just as lovely as when Michener saw them.

The only section where the book’s age really made itself felt was in the chapter on Madrid. In one section, Michener adds excerpts from several conversations he had about what would happen when Franco died. What is most fascinating is that nobody saw what was coming. In fact, many people insisted that democracy could never work in Spain and that Juan Carlos was just a weak little boy. A mere seven years after this book’s publication, Franco would die, Juan Carlos would take over, and then the new king would effect a masterful transition from fascism to liberal democracy. Of course, Michener can’t be faulted for missing this.

I am not sure whether this book can be enjoyed by somebody who is not at least planning on visiting Spain. It’s simply too long and too detailed. For those who are planning a trip, the book can be profitably skimmed, and indeed that might be the best way to read it. But frankly this may not a great travel guide, if only because it can make you feel inadequate and envious. You see, Michener was a successful novelist with plenty of time and disposable income on his hands. As a result he went everywhere he pleased, stayed in whatever hotel he wanted, spent months driving around eating, drinking, seeing bullfights. Every time he goes to a new town the local professor comes to talk to him about the history. He gets private tours of every monument. In short, he has many experiences that aren’t available for the rest of us.

On the whole this book is a very well-done piece of work. It is not poetic, not profound, but it covers a lot of ground in a highly readable way. But the book suffers from several faults. First, it is simply too big and sprawling. Michener needed a better organizing principle than “Hey, this is all the stuff I liked in Spain!” This lack of an overarching organization really wore on me by the end of the book. There are only so many buildings I can hear described in agonizing detail, there are only so many times I can hear him say “This is one of Spain’s finest plazas,” or “This was one of the best meals I had in Spain.”

This is related to another flaw—or perhaps I should say a limitation. For travel not to be frivolous, I think it must change you in some way, if only subtly. Well, Michener is certainly not a superficial person, and I think he was deeply affected by Spain. Nevertheless, at times I wondered whether all this travel—all this eating and music and art loving—was just another, more sophisticated version of consumer culture.

Of course this is a bigger question than this book; and in fact it can be asked about all travel. At what point does the itch to go to a new city and to see all the sights become just as frivolous as the itch to buy the newest iPhone? At what point does travel stop being a rewarding experience and start becoming a consumption of experience? And by the way, this question can be asked of books too, especially on Goodreads: at what point does reading stop being a form of self-improvement and start being a form of conspicuous consumption? Probably there is no clear line, but in any case there were several times during the course of this book that Michener’s urge to see and know everything about Spain struck me as the urge to consume the country.

The third flaw was Michener’s preoccupation with authenticity. He often talks about finding the ‘real’ Spain, which I find grating. He goes from place to place, thinking each one more ‘authentic’ and more ‘Spanish’ than the last. I admit that I have had experiences in which I couldn’t help saying to myself “This is so incredibly Spanish." Just the same, I am deeply suspicious about this idea of authenticity in travel. Every tourist looks for something that is unique to the area they are visiting. This unique thing—whether it’s a dish or a genre of music—becomes profitable and then becomes commodified very quickly by locals hoping to earn some money. Thus a kind of arms-race ensues, with tourists trying to find out where the locals go and locals trying to find out where the tourists go. The whole thing is silly. And the silliest part is that often the locals are not fond of the 'authentic' local attraction. I know Spaniards who dislike flamenco, and I've met Germans who insisted that the best food in Germany is Döner Kebab.

These flaws are all certainly applicable to myself. I offer them in the spirit of comradeship and not of spite. All things considered, this book is really a marvelous tour of Spain. Michener did a fine job of a difficult task. If you read it, you will learn a lot, and you’ll get many good ideas for trips too. Michener is a clear writer, a knowledgeable guide, and a genial companion. More than that, this book has a special significance for me, since we are two writers with similar experiences, similar flaws, and roughly the same interests. This book spoke to directly to me in a way that few other books have, so I am sad to be putting it down.

[Bill on GR Sabbatical · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm glad I selected this, my first Michener book, to read before, during, and after a recent trip to Spain. The lightest touch of structure is provided by chapters organized mostly around major cities and regions, but really it's an almost stream-of-conciousness narrative of his travels throughout the country from the 1930s through the late 1960s, including meetings with writers, scholars, priests, bullfighting aficionados, museum directors, nobility and many more, informed by a lifetime of reading. I came away feeling like I had a sense of the sweep of Spanish history from the Romans, through the Goths and Muslims, the reconquista, the centuries of monarchy, the Civil War, and the Franco dictatorship still ruling at the time the book was published. If you really need to understand Spanish history or want to know about the country today, I'd look elsewhere, but I can recommend Iberia as a fascinating and personal introduction to the past by a writer who clearly loves the people and the place.

[Bob Newman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Trained Brain Explains Spain without Strain

I'd never been to Spain, but after reading Michener's mammoth work on the country, I wished I had gone long ago. I have this sneaking feeling that the place has changed out of all recognition since he published this 795 page tome in 1968. Perhaps it has become more like the rest of Europe or even more like the rest of the world than it was during the latter part of Franco's long rule. Is it still "Spanish", whatever that may mean ? Maybe, but not the same way. I'm sure I've missed that old Spain of Franco's time and maybe (also) that's not such a bad thing. What role bullfighting and flamenco play in contemporary Spain is probably open to question. The Catholic church doesn't have the same power that it did. Does it still have power over the schools ? Certainly censorship has disappeared and we see any number of modern films, full of sex, from the once "protected" society. Prices have increased, poverty diminished, the cities have grown and the countryside been drained of people. Spain is now indubitably a land to which immigrants come, not one from which they go. All big changes in the last 40 years. So, you might ask, why should I bother to read an out-of-date book like this ?

You should read this book if you're going to Spain. Sure, it's not about the society you're going to see, but it's about the recent past there. It tells you a thousand things you could still see, you could find, taste, experience. You might be interested to know what things used to be like if you've already been to Spain in the last 20 years. You should read it as an intense portrait---warts and all---of a particular country, a country that has played a major role in world and European history. What you will get from this superb book is a flavor, whether your taste runs to social analysis, history, architecture, bullfighting, people, nature, or just simple travel. It's one of the great travel books of the English language, not, by the way, one of Michener's eventually rather formulaic, boring novels. Even if his political predictions and those of the Spaniards he interviewed were often off base seen in hindsight, he deals with all the issues--the landowners, the church, the Guardia Civil, the economy, Catalan and Basque separatism, the arts, and the general ability to rule and be ruled. The style is extremely readable, the photographs by Robert Vavra, outstanding, the maps satisfying. Read the other reviews of IBERIA. You'll see I'm not just whistling Dixie here. Viva España !

[Rex Fuller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Michener is, of course, a giant. Bridges at Toko-Ri was one of the first books I ever read. Somehow, I only read a few of his after that, Tales of the South Pacific, Chesapeake, and Texas. So, I’m no expert. But I can say this book taught me more about Spain than I learned visiting it or from a bunch of years of Spanish. Here is some of what Michener shows us:

The Spanish system of surnames. Extremadura, poor, hard-scrabble region bordering Portugal, where Balboa, de Soto, Cortez, and Pizarro all came from. “Pundonor,” extreme, uniquely Spanish sense of honor, “duende,” highest form of praise, and “ambiente,” ambiance in the best sense. Famous–but not as Spaniards–the emperors Trajan and Hadrian, and the Borgias. The Transparente, the carved screen of near mystic beauty in the Toledo cathedral. Almond soup. The explosion during the Republican siege in 1936, heard forty miles away in Madrid that failed to flatten the Alcazar. Las Marismas and the Donana bird sanctuary. The magic of Seville. Bullfighters. El Escorial. The composers, Albeniz, Granados, Falla, and chief among them, Victoria. Architecture. Hemingway. The great painters, most especially Velasquez, and their works. Food. Legends. Kings and queens. Books and Barcelona. A brilliant chapter on Spain’s fighting Bulls. And yet, perhaps the best part of the book is the last chapter, on Santiago de Compostela and the history of the pilgrimage to it. All of this is here in exquisite detail. And what a picture! Region by region and city by city.

That Michener had such knowledge of Spain, and that this was only one of many places he had such knowledge, is hard to comprehend. A magnificent, very satisfying work.

[Chad Fairey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I decided to dive into this over the holidays, as part of an ensuing and voracious quest to soak up as many dimensions of Spanish culture as possible. I've long been a very appreciative fan of Michener's historical epics - this tome is no Chesepeake, Hawaii or The Source, however, all of which offer exhaustive and near encyclopedic treatments of their respective subjects. This autobiographical work, drawing on Michener's personal experiences in the Iberian peninsula between the 1930s and 1960s, stands in stark contrast to the almost clinical nature with which he treats his other subjects. I admit to being wonderfully surprised by the humanity with which Michener approaches Spain, as well as by the poetic literary style that he employs to capture the essence of the nation's culture, psychology and persona. Even though most of it is set in the Franco era and obviously quite dated, it is some of the best travel literature I've had the pleasure of reading. After taking this one in, I honestly and seriously wonder if Michener didn't miss his true calling as a travel writer.

[Daria · Rating 3 out of 5]

James Michener seems to have hated editing. Any hint of it. Whatever comes to his mind, goes, which is why this book can boast the length of "War and Peace". A picnic Michener had with a random Spaniard, one afternoon in Madrid, a description of a dish and a sudden recipe (one in the entire book), fully played-out fantasy conversation with a long-dead Spaniard, the plot of a matador film retold in the most minuscule detail. It's all good and it all makes it to the book.

While sometimes tedious (I skipped the chapter on the bulls entirely, no one on Earth has time for that), it is still very enjoyable and you grow to like this man as you read his book.

[David Canford · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an account of Spain and what it meant to be Spanish as seen through the eye of James Michener from visits he made during the 1930s to 1960s. Like Jan Morris in her account of a similar time period in 'Spain’, his views seem outdated now but it is interesting to read of a Spain that no longer exists. He had a great love for the country which comes across in his writing. In addition to observations on cities visited, there is much about Spanish history, particularly its kings and queens, and excerpts from various Spanish plays - which I mainly skipped as I didn’t find them of much interest. I would recommend this book over Jan Morris’ ’Spain’ if you only wanted to read one of them.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fascinating book. Most definitely a product of the times (late 1960's) and not at all impartial (though occasionally pretending to be), Iberia is a deep reflection on Spain from an outsider who loves the country. Sometimes funny, sometimes poignant, sometimes borderline offensive - it's still enjoyable and a great jumping off point for your own research into different aspects of Spain and Spanish life. It's also really really really long, but I thought it was a relatively quick read - Michener is an excellent writer and brings his experiences to life.

[E Camou · Rating 4 out of 5]

Este libro es una lectura obligada para quien desee conocer España desde el punto de vista de un turista ilustrado... es una excelente introducción a la cultura, geografía y temperamento ibéricos.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I waded thru half the book and learned enough to understand the Spanish in his books Mexico and Texas. I could handle only so much art, music and poetry...the pics are fabulous. This book finished off the books of James Michener.

[Mary's Bookshelf · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Iberia' is an anomaly in Michener's body of work. It is not a fictional retelling of the history of Spain, like his books Hawaii, Texas, and Centennial. Instead, it is an informal non-fiction presentation of Michener's travels from the early 1930's to 1966. He loved Spain and explored all corners of the country. This book covers history, culture, religion, and lots and lots of bullfighting.

My father loved Spain too, and he read Iberia when it first came out in the late 1960's. When he finally was able to travel to Spain, I imagine that he remembered much of what he had read. Since I am now preparing to make my first trip to Spain in a few weeks, I chose this book to help me learn about the Spanish people and their history. There are some things that are dated in the book, especially since the death of Franco happened after this book was completed. Spain has entered the EU and has become a modern country. But if you want to understand Spain's history and culture, this is a good guide.

James Michener reveals much about himself too. He was insatiably curious. He had an amazingly wide interest in music, poetry, art, people, and history. He spoke and read Spanish very well. From his first visit in the 30's when he arrived on a tramp steamer, through his many extended visits over the decades, he sought to learn about and appreciate Spanish culture.

I powered through this in six weeks, doing a combination of Audible and reading the text.
Highly recommended for anyone interested in Spain.

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book very much, even though I'm not normally a fan of this author. Typically long-winded, and very anecdotal compared to his other works. I think that this was a more personal book, with stories of what he saw and learned from his encounters, made me like it more.

It reads like a travelogue, and, since I want to go to Spain, I enjoyed hearing about it. In fact, that's how I "read" this: I listened to the unabridged audio in my car. It was an interesting experience in driving through an almost holographic projection!

I especially enjoyed when he talked about revisiting the original place where he'd arrived at Spain, and then explained how it had changed (not all for the better, if you ask me).

It's definitely not a real "history of Iberia," or of Spain. But I did get a feel for the country reading it, I think.

Someday, I will probably read this again.

[Dr Ariel Rainey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a die-hard Michener fan. I've read so many of his incredible sagas, and I re-read Hawaii about once a year, because it's one of my top ten books EVER. So being as I live in Spain, I thought this book would be more of the same Michener I love.

But it's not. It's a non-fiction memoir of his Spanish travels. From the 60's, so nothing is relevant at all anymore. It really doesn't stand the test of time.

So I slogged my way through this, reading a chapter every now and then.

I like that he really loved and appreciated the Spain he experienced. I'm glad we have that in common.

[Kevin Xu · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this book all would be was Michener's travel through Spain, but no its more than half about the history, which is really boring to me, especially the way it was written into his travel by selection, so I could not get into the book. But I should have expected the history mixed in with his travel, since in all his fictional books about different locations it is basically a history of the location from the beginning of time on how the land was created to the present time.

[Shawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Introduction

I embarked upon this lengthy read in anticipation of a forthcoming trip to Spain, for which I must say this book has prepared me in much grander fashion than I ever expected. Like Michener, I hope to similarly immerse myself deeply into the religious history of Catholic Spain; and will bear a much deeper appreciation of its art, architecture, religion, people and culture as a result of this reading.

Although this is a dated work, written during the time of Franco, it nevertheless provides a great introduction to Spain and, for me at least, was well worth the labor of 939 pages of condensed font. The tremendous size of the book is mitigated somewhat by the presence of many illustrations, many of which are helpful maps. Nevertheless, Michener could and should have compressed this writing a great deal, for it contains a great deal of rambling. Michener embarks down just about every rabbit hole he encounters; however, from such ramblings we gain a valuable lesson about what it means to truly travel.

I suppose many have foregone reading this wonderful book because of its nearly thousand-page length in condensed font. In fact, I myself have avoided it for decades, as it patiently awaited me year after year on my unread bookshelf. I was finally prompted to read it only because of my forthcoming trip to Spain.

To produce this book, Michener obviously merged collections of text pertinent to the various areas of Spain he visited at different times. As a result, the finished work seems to lack the final synthesizing we are prone to see in Michener’s fine historical novels. Instead, this work reads more like a travel guide, but the brilliance of Michener’s descriptive prose remains evident throughout.

Michener helps us to see that travelling should be much more than merely sightseeing: truly, travel also needs to involve interactions with the local populace and a willingness to explore beckoning side roads. Michener’s genius as a writer is displayed over and over again by the skillful way he vividly relates such Spanish experiences. One thing about Michener is that, if you read him a lot, he seems to become a friend, even if not a personal acquaintance; for Michener is a writer with whom a reader may quickly come to share an affinity for travel, history and the mystery of human existence.

Quick Historical Outline

By around 1500 BC, indigenous Iberians were well established along the Spanish coasts. By 1300 BC, Celtic invaders from the north had begun to displace them. By 1120 BC, Phoenicians were building lighthouses on prominent peninsulas. By 630 BC, the Greeks had arrived; and two centuries later the Carthaginians.

The Second Punic War (218-201 AD) determined that Spain would pass under the control of Rome and Spain became as much a part of the Roman Empire as Italy. Roman settlements in Spain conferred Roman citizenship and many Spaniards were significant to Rome, including three emperors: Trajan, Hadrian and Theodosius. Seneca (4 BC – 65 AD) was a famous Roman from Spain (or Hispania as the Romans referred to it). Seneca is known for his philosophical works, tragic plays, prose and essays; which are stoic in nature. Stoicism is Hellenistic philosophy begun in Athens by Zeno in the 3rd century BC. Stoicism is a philosophy of personal ethics that involves accepting the moment as it presents itself, by not allowing oneself to be controlled by desire, pleasure, fear or pain. Stoicism advocates using one’s mind to understand and do one’s part justly.

Around 453 AD, the Visigothic peoples came from the north of Europe and drove out the Romans. In 711, the Muslim Moors begin incursions into Spain and by 835 had thrown out the Visigoths and established Islam as Spain’s religion. Under the Romans, Visigoths and Muslims, Portugal was an undifferentiated part of Spain. Spain remained an Islamic stronghold until 1492 when the Catholic monarchs Ferdinand & Isabella instituted the Spanish Inquisition and expelled Muslims, Jews and Protestants. Interestingly, the dictator Franco would later use Moorish troops to assist him in seizing power during the Spanish civil war of 1936. Franco (1892-1975) then ruled Spain as an absolute dictator for 36 years.

The Great Error of the Expulsion

During the four centuries prior to 1492, Spain had shown herself hospitable to diversified cultural, religious and ethnic groups, yet with startling speed she reversed herself and extirpated from Spanish soil all Jews, Muslims, Protestants, Illuminati and Jesuits. Michener opines that Spain suffered severe cultural losses as a result of these expulsions, particularly in fields like poetry, dancing, philosophy, architecture and agriculture. Michener cites the collection and burning of Muslim, Jewish, and Protestant manuscripts as a major crime against history and scholarship. After the expulsions, lands once employed productively were left unworked or employed merely for grazing, because the Spaniards held contempt for anyone who worked with their hands, especially farmers.

Spain was, at this time, essentially a theocracy. The domination of generic Catholicism served to inflict a sterilizing effect that perpetuated in Spain the sort of retardation it inflicted all across Europe during the Middle Ages. Before the expulsions, Spain stood at the head of nations, but coincident with the expulsions, there started a long decline. Michener writes: “…the Inquisition so terrorized Spanish society that anyone with an inquiring mind was silenced … science and invention were impeded … the speculation which is necessary for progress and great works was impossible…philosophers were imprisoned and theologians burned”.

Not only were Jews rooted out and burned but so were Protestants. Michener writes: “Particularly sad were the cases of shipwrecked English sailors in the middle years of the sixteenth century, for if they swam to Spanish soil they were in real danger of being burned. The Inquisition maintained that any Englishmen who was then a Protestant must have been born and baptized a Catholic and was ipso facto a heretic deserving death.”

Michener informs that the Inquisition continued well into the 19th century, with the last public execution being in 1826, of a school teacher whose crime was praying publicly the phrase “Praise be to God” rather than “Ave Maria”. Michener reports that more recently a man he knew was arrested when he refused to rise and doff his cap as the Virgin came by in a religious procession and that he escaped persecution only by claiming that his knee was damaged. Michener also tells of an incident in his contemporary time where a Protestant chaplain at an American military base was arrested simply for speaking at a picnic.

Of course, the Inquisition was active in other parts of Europe as well. The number of witches executed in the 17th century in Germany has been put as high as a hundred thousand, a figure which is probably four times as great as the number of people burned by the Spanish Inquisition in all its history. The Bishop of Bamberg, during the period 1622-1633, caused six hundred witches to be burned and during the same period the Bishop of Wurzburg nine hundred.

The Inquisition quickly became an instrument for enforcing a pernicious theory regarding “purity of blood”, which meat that any family whose ancestors had been either Moorish or Jewish was contaminated. A family could have been practicing Christianity for three hundred years without blemish but merely because they had a touch of Moorish or Jewish blood they could not send their sons to university, work in certain jobs, hold office in a cathedral or become officers in the army. Before a man could apply for any important job he had to present a genealogy going back generations. The laws policing purity of blood continued well into the 19th century.

The University of Salamanca forbade the study of Descartes, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and other philosophers as too dangerous to Catholic principles. University professors were imprisoned for referring to prohibited books and at one point it was forbidden to teach from any book published within the last forty years! By expelling the Moors, Jews, Illuminati, Jesuits and Protestants, Spain fenced out new ideas. Incidentally, Cervantes wrote the comic novel Don Quixote when the Inquisition was strongest, potentially alluding to the concept that society can be quite wrong, and as an impetus toward social change.

Pathologically Catholic

Michener suggests that Spain exhibits an intensity of Catholicism that can be perplexing to a foreign visitor. Michener puzzles over how Spaniards can simultaneously be skeptics and staunch defenders of Catholicism. Michener cites the Catholic prohibition of divorce as the reason why young married women become fat, writing that its: “because her man can’t be taken away from her”. Michener also cites this as the reason why 75% of Spanish gentlemen maintain mistresses.

Such hypocrisy is not limited to Spain, for many people around the world somehow consider themselves Catholic while engaging in a contradictory lifestyle. Perhaps the most glaring example I’ve ever encountered was during my visits to Haiti, where I discovered practitioners of Voodoo who did not hesitate to simultaneously identify themselves as Catholic. Michener writes that many Spaniards reported to him that: “Eighty percent of the men of Spain, as contrasted to the women, inwardly ridicule the involved ritual of the Church, but of those who scoff, eighty percent would take arms to fight anyone who tried to change the religion to something else.”

Michener suggests that one must understand there are really two churches in Catholicism that are very much separated. First, there is the hierarchy, meaning the cardinals and bishops, who are creatures of the regime, put in office by the landed families, and who will be loyal to it until death. This first component of the church opposes all liberalism. Contrasted to this is the other church which consists of young clergy, Jesuits, worker families and seminarians, who take religion seriously and want the church to sponsor social justice.

Lingering Paganism

Bull Sacrifice - During his visit to Spain, Michener remarks: “All around there is festivity in which Catholic Spain remembers the pagan rituals and combines the old religion and the new in fascinating juxtapositions.” One example Michener cites for this is a bullring in Merida which stands upon the very spot where in Roman times a great Mithraeum had stood, which is a mysterious and dark temple to the Persian god Mithras, who the mythology says killed the divine bull from which sprang all plants and animals upon which man exists. In the subterranean caverns of the Mithraeum, Roman soldiers huddled beneath a grating on which a bull was ceremoniously slaughtered, so that the hot blood of the animal could run down over them, supposedly conferring invincibility in battle. Today, on the very spot where these sacrifices occurred, other bulls of the same breed are sacrificed in the Spanish bullfights.

Bull Oppression – Michener explains that, after the expulsion of the Muslims, the landed classes felt it below them to work the land and so they allowed the land to fall into vast interconnected grazing areas. They formed an association by which membership conferred profits from the animals grazing upon these vast, interconnected land holdings. The law permitted such open grazing even when it damaged the cultivated plots of smallholding peasants. Thus, it was of interest to this dominating minority to preserve the demand for bulls and meat products, even though the use of the land for grazing was much less productive than it would have been if cultivated. This practice served to perpetuate poverty among the lower classes in Spain and corrupt the general productivity of the entire country.

Confraternities & Mariology - In describing the Spanish confraternities (in Spanish cofradia) Michener reveals that the American Ku Klux Klan borrowed its costume from that which the members wear in religious processions during Holy Week. The different confraternities are connected with separate churches that meet throughout the year.


Spain during Holy Week

Michener vividly describes the religious parades conducted by the confraternities and how their floats are dominated by the images of the Virgin Mary and how the people along the streets praise and marvel over the images as they pass by, writing as follows:

“Of the forty-five floats presenting Virgins alone, two are preeminent and the subject of such veneration that even the most casual observer must reflect on the fact that Holy Week, which commemorates Christ’s passions and death, has become in Spain a celebration in which He plays a secondary role, with his mother becoming the central figure. The first is La Esperanza, the Virgin of Hope. She became famous as the patron Virgin of the bullfighter. The second is La Macarena, named after an Arabian princess.” -James Michener


The Virgin of Macarena

Michener goes on to describe the penitents that follow the floats, marching barefoot over the stones with burdens of chain and cross. And each float was escorted by a company of soldiers with loaded rifles, because in Spain the principal job of the army was to defend the Church, which has been its preoccupation since the time of its war against the Moors. Politicians could not hold office who did not conform to the observances of the Church. Michener writes: “…Spanish religion may well (come to) focus exclusively on the Virgin, with Christ having receded to a background position…”

Economic Decline as a Spanish Characteristic

Hoarding & Disinvestment: Spain became one of the richest countries in Europe by gaining the riches of the New World but allowed this influx of gold and silver to generate rampant inflation which converted her into one of Europe’s poorest countries. This sudden importation of raw wealth, which was not created by productive work, perverted the Spanish work ethic and eventually bankrupted Spain.

Poor Reputation for Governance: It's a historical fact that Spanish cultures have difficulty governing in comparison to more successful French-English-American systems. Michener suggests that Spanish difficulty arises because it inherited a system of fragmented holdings, disbursed among too many principalities, thus fostering economic separatism and anarchy. Such languishing governments infect not only the Spanish homeland but also Spanish republics in the Americas. For example, Michener refers to Mexico as a land that has been discovered, occupied, developed and ruined by Spaniards.

Repression of Middle Class: Spanish history allowed the noble to persist too long before suffering the limitations that overcame their fellows in England, France, Italy and Germany. One by one, the other European powers underwent revolutions which transferred power to a new and educated middle class that promoted industry and growth. In Spain, this did not happen and the arrogant upper class dominated everything. They told the priests what they must preach, they terrorized schoolteachers, they put newspapermen out of business, they exercised control over the cabinet, the army, the Church hierarchy and agriculture. They ran things so poorly, failing to industrialize and failing to seek the common good, seeking only their own preferment.

The Infections Spread to the New World: The poison of this indolent mentality infected Spanish countries in the New World, like Peru, Chile, Paraguay, Venezuela, etc. Leaders of these third world countries would gain political office and hold it for about five years during which time they would steal every peso or bolivar they could and stash in a numbered account in Switzerland. Ultimately, they would abandon the country to live a life of flair in Europe, never catching a glimpse of what public service means. This is the same sort of virus that infected the upper classes in the mother country, from which the spirituality of the Spanish New World sprang. In Spain, the kings stole the country blind and the upper classes never learned what it means to truly govern, persisting instead upon arrogance and incompetence. The great families remained aloof, arrogant, powerful, indifferent, and huddled together in the cities where the police and army could protect them.

The Spanish Gentlemen: After the expulsions, a contempt developed for anyone who worked with his hands, especially farmers. For a person to work in agriculture was an actual disgrace, from which a family could not cleanse itself, so, inevitably, the land suffered. Spain became filled with paupers who maintained their classification as gentlemen by refusing to work; even though they starved they remained gentlemen. A man with one room and one suit, if he carried himself properly, could be just as much a gentlemen as a man with a palace. As seen in the impoverished Don Quixote, there is no sense of embarrassment in addressing as an equal the duque, conde or marques, while feeling imminently superior to a recently enriched millionaire. Stated more directly, the Spanish nation felt more obliged to chase after Mexican and Peruvian gold than it did of developing manufacturing, agriculture or other industry; and once they fretted away these undeserved riches they wallowed in decline.

The Myth of St. James

Two of the earliest disciples of Jesus were the brothers James and John, sons of the Galilee fisherman Zebedee and his wife Salome. Salome was the sister of the Virgin Mary, which means that her sons were cousins of Jesus. James reportedly visited Spain and converted some of the Iberians and was supposedly visited by the Virgin Mary in Zaragoza while she was still alive. In AD 29, the brothers were present at the Crucifixion and in AD 44 James, having persisted in his energetic propagation of the faith, was beheaded by order of Herod Agrippa, becoming the first of the followers of Jesus to gain martyrdom.

The legend is that after James was murdered in the Holy Land, his body was mysteriously disinterred and found to have its head once more intact. A mysterious stone ship, manned by knights, suddenly arrived at the port of Jaffa and took the body of James to the west coast of Spain, where it was interred in an ancient Roman burial ground. This transfer of the body supposedly occurred sometime around AD 44 and the grave of James was then largely forgotten until about eight hundred years later. In 812, a hermit spotted a bright star hovering over a place in an open field. When excavations were made at the spot, the body of James was revealed, totally uncorrupted by the passage of time. The legend goes that James then arose to assume personal leadership of the Christians who were then fighting against the Muslims that dominated Spain.

CONTINUED IN COMMENT SECTION BELOW

[Arnold Baruch · Rating 4 out of 5]

There, I've finally read my first Michener book, if at an advanced age. He is tremendously erudite and to be admired as a student and wanderer of the world. Who would not trade their life for his?

Iberia was a good choice for me, as it seems to give insights into the man. About 700 pages in and 200 to go, I thought, well, this man is Catholic, given his deeply sympathetic descriptions of Spanish religious sentiments. That's when he discloses he's a Quaker! But his Christian leanings are clear. They can be sometimes disturbing, as when, perhaps accidently, he unquestioningly fills a page with quotes from a 20th century Spaniard who refers to a famous case of Blood Libel during the Inquisition as "a hideous Jewish crime and one of many." The Jew in question was tortured to death for eating a Christian child. (The body was never found.) Michener fails to dispute and rather supports Dr. Silio's general defense of the Inquisition as "not that bad." Silio's book was published in 1945, probably written during the fascist 1930s in Spain. Iberia was written in 1968.

I suppose I should read Michener's The Source. He is not anti-Semitic, but he is certainly an admirer on aesthetic levels of Spanish Catholicism, the great art it has generated, the festivals, the architecture, the soulfulness of its culture. He comments, accurately I think, that the great mistake of the Republicans in the Civil War was their failure to realize the inseparability of Spain from its Catholicism.

Can I gripe some more about this honored traveller, writer and student of history? Another tone-deaf remark lies on a page where he praises St. James' role in Spanish history (the Disciple's undecayed corpse was supposedly discovered in Galicia 800 years after his journey and death there). Michener goes on to explain (and more or less celebrate) how James appeared in legend on a white horse to reclaim Spain from the Moors, then spiritually guide Spain to expel its Jews and move on across the Atlantic to "evangelize half the globe." This is a deep-seated notion in Spanish pride. I have a good Spanish friend who explains to me that the adventure in the New World was faith-not-gold-driven. How does he explain Columbus' reported policy of cutting off the hands of natives who did not, being sent out to find gold, return with it? How do we explain the enslavement of the Incas? How do we process the elimination through disease of 90% of the native population of the Americas? Ah! It was God's will, clearly. Again, in Michener's tone-deafness we can see how far Western consciousness has come in the last 50 years. Or maybe it's just me.

For instance - ah, the bullfights! - he writes quite casually about the craziness at Pamplona, where some guy puts his hand up a young girls skirt and the cops look on tolerantly. All part of the Pamplonamania I guess. But Michener is definitely an aficionado, and an expert one. It's an art, dude. You eat beef? Yeah? Then STFU. Seriously, you read his accounts, his description of the bravery and the drama, it's hard to raise an argument, especially in the context of Spanish machismo.

Iberia is too long! It's dated in certain ways. But you will definitely know Spain better and probably long to see the places this man has been and see what he has seen. (On page after page I went to the Internet to see images of the places he described.) He is honest and often critical of Spain's follies, cruelties and inflexibilities. He describes forthrightly its perverse historical oppression of the lower classes at the hands of the triumvirate of the church, the army and the landowners and explains that this is why the people have repeatedly risen up to suddenly kill scores of priests.

Michener is all right by me. I plan to read another of his 900 page exercises.

Later in the decade.

[yórgos]

χρόνια είχα να κάμω ντογκ-ήαρ. το πάνω της σελίδας για την διακοπή της ανάγνωσης. το κάτω, όπου σκόνταψα σε κάτι πολύτιμο. βιβλίο με μια αγέλη σκυλαφτάκια.

[Gail · Rating 1 out of 5]

really 0 stars. How did the same author who wrote "Hawaii" and "Alaska" write this and "Poland." Too bad I actually used old Audible credits to get this since it's so long (good value or so I thought). I pretty much skipped all of it. There's NO connecting story!!!!! Just him visiting all these towns in Spain and their history. Booooo

[William Guerrant · Rating 5 out of 5]

Estupendo! One of my favorite books. I first read it many years ago, before my trip to Spain. It deeply impressed and enriched me then. I'm glad I picked it up again. It is one of those rare books that is so good that I deliberately read it slowly because I didn't want it to end.

In the chapter on Madrid (p. 324) Michener writes:

"How utterly lovely the Puerta del Sol was in those days, how exciting for a foreign tourist! This word has come into ill repute in recent years, because so many tourists have gone abroad with no preparation which would enable them to appreciate what they are about to see and no humility to make them approach the country on its own terms. In Spain I have always been a tourist and have been rather proud of that fact. This is the book of a tourist and the experiences herein are those which are open to any intelligent traveler. If, as I once heard an Englishman say, 'to be a tourist is to stand gape-eyed with love,' I have been one, and never more so than in my first days in the Puerta del Sol."

I aspire to be a traveler in the way that Michener was: thoughtful, observant, respectful, inquisitive.

My admiration of Michener's admiration of Spain, does not, however, extend to his love of bullfighting. I have never attended a bullfight (and never will). I can understand how a Spaniard might appreciate it. And likewise I understand how it would appeal to a person like Hemingway. But Michener? That I do not understand.

[Frans · Rating 3 out of 5]

More a weighty travelogue than a historical novel (I was expecting the latter - my bad for not checking the reviews...)

I did note that Franco and his right-wing Nationalists actions seem to have been conveniently ignored while the sins of the Spanish Republican side get specifically mentioned - or is that just typical for a lot of conservative post-Macarthy American authors? Hmmmm...

The first roadhump in my reading of Michener's works (8 so far...), it hasn't put me off reading others. It did make me consider at least 3-4 major philosophical and societal questions...so I still consider it time well spent.

[Alex Faison · Rating 3 out of 5]

A marathon of a read - he tells of his travels to various parts of Spain, weaving in history and cultural commentary. Very interesting learning about Francoist Spain and his conversations with locals of all occupations, ages, and economic classes. Droned on at times but fantastic for anyone with an interest

I started this while walking the Camino de Santiago and ofc that was the topic of the very last section 🙃

[Howard Brazee]

Michener spent lots of time in Spain (and a bit in Portugal). This book has his experiences visiting it, and a lot of history. Franco was still in power when this book was written in the mid 1960s.

While he was in love with its history, I was appalled, as I am about much world history. Kings and Bishops did a lot of evil for their own reasons.

I keep wondering while reading this book how much Spain has changed since then. My impression is that he thought a lot was unchanging, I suspect he would be surprised.

[Heather Pace · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s bittersweet that my four years with this book have come to an end. I’m so glad I got to know Michener, and happy we have a mutual appreciation for Rioja.

“I have the certificate still, proving me to be the only Quaker in history obligated to watch over chickens used in the ceremonies of a Catholic church.”

[Edward Amato · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a big fan of Michener so I enjoyed this book. A snapshot of Spain while Franco was still at the helm. Very informative but as it was published in the '60s is dated as far as being a travel guide for future trips. Great historical information. Wish the prices for food and lodging were still in effect.
This book also goes into detail again on bull fighting, a passion of Michener's.

[Cathyt]

I didn't actually finish but I read enough to know that this isn't my kind of book.

[Ginny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn’t realize that this was non-fiction until I started reading. Fascinating tales and experiences of his travels in and love for Spain.
Quite a large book as are many of his. I read it in pieces over time.

[Jordan Bethea · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disclosure: I only read about 320 pages of this before stopping. This is about a third of the book.

The core of this book is a travelog of the author's multiple trips through spain. It uses this as springboards for a LOT of digressions on various other things, the history of different regions, people the author talked to, the wildlife and art he sees. In theory it can be an interesting way of taking surface level looks at the country and viewing them more deeply. And at its best, this book achieves this.

The problem is that usually, these digressions just feel like digressions. Long, unimportant, uninteresting. It feels like a random collections of facts and stories only marginally relevant to each other. A lot of the stories are not especially interesting on their own. It's very obvious that the author views spain with a kind of holy reverence, and finds every single aspect about it fascinating and important, to the extent of declaring its weird rituals more spiritually meaningful than other countries'. But he only kind of converts this into actual interesting text, for someone who has not actually experienced being there.

I think someone with more patience than me for this kind of thing would rate this book higher. I definitely enjoyed several parts of it, but I wish a good editor would have cut out the rest. When I find myself skimming over essentially whole pages, I know it is time to stop.

[Ms.pegasus · Rating 3 out of 5]

James Michener was captivated by a Spain that I found disconcerting. The Catholic Church permeates the fabric of Spanish society. The notion of separation of Church and State is incomprehensible. There the Church is a deeply conservative institution where the encyclicals of Pope John XXIII are perceived as ideologically destabilizing. Economically it has for centuries been dominated by landed families. The Guardia Civil is a welcome public presence insuring order. Michener’s friend Don Luis Morenés y Areces advises him: “You must view Spain as a nation on a three-legged stool. Church, army, landed families. If any of these topples they all fall down.” (p.463)

The Spanish view of history was another jolt to my “norteamericano” perspective. That view extols the conquistadors, bringers of civilization to the New World and glory to Spain. (Mexico has a different view. Statues of Cortes are banned in that country. Likewise, here in New Mexico, Columbus Day is referred to as Indigenous Peoples’ Day). The savagery of the Spanish Inquisition is viewed as part of the “Black Legend,” a concerted effort by Protestant scholars to defame Spain. Michener examines this claim in detail and offers several interesting conclusions regarding the abrupt end of Spain’s Golden Age and the apparent stagnation of its intellectual life.

Although this book was published in 1968, it is actually a compendium of James Michener’s impressions over nearly 25 years of visits to Spain beginning in 1932. He attempts to capture an eternal essence of Spanish culture, a portrait of its national character. It’s an approach that might seem quaint today but was popular at one time (e.g. Ruth Benedict’s Chrysanthemum and the Sword). Nevertheless, he never sinks into facile stereotyping. It is notable that he never uses the word “machismo” in the nearly thousand pages of this book. Instead, he offers a useful lexicon. “Duende” is something he describes as “unmistakable class,” a dark spiritual profundity, or “the essence that makes something Spanish.” (p.69) Another term is “pundonor,” “the world’s most austere definition of honor,” one that implies the essence of character. (p.71) These words suggest a unique and individualistic aesthetic.

As in his novels, Michener imbues this travelogue with a deep historical imagination that sustains a narrative of continuity. In Burriana on his first trip to Spain he views the barges loaded with Valencia oranges. The barges lie in shallow water and must be hauled to a waiting freighter. “In Roman times businessmen using this coast for the transfer of freight to Italy had solved the problem. They reared a breed of oxen that thrived in salt water, and now these huge beasts, working in the sea with often only their eyes and horns visible, backed close to a barge while workmen attached chains to their harness.” (p.15) At every stop in this tour of Spain, observation catalyzes historical connections.

Michener seeks out a spiritual vitality in his travls. Whereas he acknowledges artists like Zurbarán, El Greco and Velásquez, his heart dwells in medieval Spain. He describes in loving detail the sculptures and architecture of Spain’s monasteries and churches, prolific examples of Romanesque architecture. “Why do I like Romanesque buildings so much?....When I see a fine example of Romanesque, I feel that I am in the presence of the very best that an age could accomplish, and it was an age that accomplished much. I am at the wellsprings of art, those solid beginnings without which no later art could have achieved much. I am standing with stonemasons who saw things simply and who resisted the temptation of flying off at strange tangents. There is something perpetually clean and honorable about the best Romanesque, and when I see it my whole being responds, as if the artisans who perfected this style were working for me alone. I hear voices singing in plainsong, or the oboes of Pamplona playing without harmony. I am in a different age, with a different set of values, and I find its simplicity exactly to my taste.” (p.869)

Michener will, with this aesthetic of authenticity, delight in the harsh terrain of the Extremadura, anchored by Badajoz. The Extremadura was the birthplace of Cortés, Pizarro, and Balboa. He searches in vain for a pure version of flamenco where art is not eclipsed by showmanship. He welcomes the serendipitous. In Barcelona he views a seeming spontaneous street dance accompanied by rustic sardana music. In Madrid he extols the zarzuela, which he likens to operetta and laments its declining popularity. Even a collection of black and white photos by Robert Vara are liberated from the text and could stand on their own as a visual essay. He had instructed Vavra to be guided by his instincts, indifferent to any of Michener’s inclinations that he might perceive.

Michener concludes his expansive tour with two highly personal chapters. One is on the artistry of the bull fight. The other follows the route of the Santiago de Compostela pilgrims. On bullfighting I have my own opinions. However, I did learn that the bulls are specially bred for special characteristics on a handful of well-known historic family ranches. At Astorga near the end of the Santiago de Campostela route there is an intriguing construction designed by Antonin Gaudí. It is called the Palace of Astorga and even Michener finds it awe-inspiring.

Of all the locales Michener described, my favorite was almost a side-trip – Las Marismas (the Tidelands). It is southwest of Sevilla where the Atlantic Ocean and the Río Guadalquivir create a unique seasonal marshland fecund with wildlife. In 1969 in an effort to halt the devastation of this unique area due to agricultural development, the Parque Nacional y Natural de Doñana was created. It is now a World Heritage Site.

This was a sprawling probe into Spain’s culture and history. It was informative but exhausting. I do not know how much of Spain has changed since Michener’s visits. My 3-star rating should not deter anyone from reading this unique perspective on a country we tend to think of in terms of romantic fantasies and derogatory generalizations.

NOTES:
Dialnet-ASearchForTheMeaningOfLife-6843420.pdf A SEARCH FOR THE MEANING OF LIFE: JAMES A. MICHENER, YOUTH, AND ETERNAL SPAIN Mark DeStephano. I recommend this essay which offers a much more comprehensive summary and commentary on this book.