The 3 best books by Henry Kamen

There are strange days to work as a prestigious Hispanicist. And despite this, guys like Paul preston, Ian Gibson o Henry kamen they insist on continuing to focus on a story that, if it were for other wills bent on lies, black legend or ethnocentric interest, would end up being completely disrupted.

But the truth always transcends. Because beyond interested stories, easy wills of opportunistic bedroom, and lukewarm spirits in the face of the feverish fiction of the most tragicomic fakers, there is nothing more than what happened despite all of them.

In the case of Ian Gibson, his passion for Spanish culture and stories focuses more on the literary, on the artistic, on that sum of intrahistories that make up a brilliant mosaic of what Spain is. Paul preston it moves more through more recent history, with a precise and always illuminating focus on the Civil War. What of Henry kamen he is becoming the anti-hoax historian. Overwhelming with his rigor and his documentation, Kamen destroys fantasies and delusions of longing haters of nothingness.

Top 3 Recommended Books By Henry Kamen

Spain and Catalonia

So much ride, ride so much. Beyond flat-earthers, ideologues from new homelands and others, capable of transmitting the idea that Catalonia was a Barataria island promised to Sancho (like new quixotes (to make matters worse for his Hispanicity), the only certainty is that the parallel future of Catalonia with the rest of the peoples of the peninsula finally united under the idea of ​​Spain, it is the only evidence.

In this book, the great Hispanist Henry Kamen carries out an acute reflection on the historical relations between Spain and one of its constituent units, Catalonia, focusing on the events that occurred in 1714 and the mythology that has been generated about them. Because, throughout its history, Catalonia has been the victim of certain disinformation processes promoted by those who prefer not to make an effort to understand its past, which has been systematically distorted by ideologues, politicians and journalists who tend to base their speeches on information Not very reliable.

For Kamen, Catalonia was not crushed or reduced to nothing after September 11, 1714 - whose third centenary is now commemorated - but rather continued to be an important, prosperous and flourishing region, the richest territory in Spain. This is how he explains it in these pages and thus reminds those who lost three centuries ago, men who shared the same values ​​as the majority of Catalans today: the belief in the unity of Spain, but also in the essence and particular character of the Catalan people.

Spain and Catalonia

The invention of Spain:

If we get more exquisite, everything is an invention, a convention since the mass of Pangea was spreading among the waters of the earth. The rest is a matter of will, history, imagination, interests... even more so the idea of ​​nation. Even more so is the vision of Spain, created as a group of peoples.

Nations are not born: they evolve and are created, they arise from struggles and hopes and they persist thanks to the courage of their people. In a very real sense, they are "manufactured", and not because they are inspired by falsehood, but because they aspire to the truth, since there have always been alternative and conflicting views that have contributed to creating a country.

This book is an analysis of some of those alternative views that over time have helped shape our perception of Spain. Visions often inspired by ideologies and the distortions that may accompany them, which need to be understood and explained, rather than rejected.

The invention of Spain

The Mad King and other mysteries of imperial Spain

Each popularizer of history always finds his special character, the one in which to establish that almost obsessive fixation, eager to unravel all the nooks and crannies until rescuing the most reliable truth. In the case of Henry Kamen, Charles II seems like that.

Many events of the past are surrounded by mystery and magic. There is no documented explanation for them and they have come down to us wrapped in the halo of legend. In this book, the great Hispanist Henry Kamen reveals to us in a very pleasant way the reality that could be behind numerous myths and inexplicable facts that occurred in Spain during the golden age of the Empire:

Why did the Spanish Inquisition acquire such a reputation as a terrifying institution when its activities were in no way as terrible as in other countries? Why did a country that had access to the almost limitless riches of America end up in misery? Why did Charles II, the last king of the Habsburg dynasty, end up having a reputation as "bewitched"? Who was the mad king?

The mad king
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