Guerra
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £0.25
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in Guerra for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Sunday Times
Reads like a political thriller...Webster writes staggeringly
well.
well.
Sunday Telegraph
'Moving and succinct...generous and humane...Webster definitively joins the long line of Anglophone writers who have interpreted Spain to the world.’
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
54 of 55 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
It is extraordinary how many books are written by foreigners about Spain, especially the Civil War, but here is a new title to add to an illustrious list headed by names such as Hugh Thomas, Paul Preston and Ian Gibson. This is less a history book, as a personal interpretation of the war, and how its effects can still be felt in Spain today. Colourful episodes from the war itself are interspersed with the author's journeys around the country, visiting such sites as Franco's tomb in el Valle de los Caidos near Madrid, or the ruins of the town of Belchite near Zaragoza. Along the way he meditates on issues such as death and conflict, as well as the eternal division between the 'Two Spains' - a topic that he resolves amusingly and insightfully in the character of 'Kiki' - a transvestite friend in Madrid. For readers who know little about the Spanish Civil War this is the perfect place to start. For those who do know about it, they wil find something fresh and different in Jason Webster's vision of this most tragic event in history.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Jason Webster picks topics/aspects that are typical of Spain but has a superb talent for being able to offer a completely fresh and interesting perspective of them. In "Guerra" [the Spanish word for "war"] he sets off around Spain in search of traces and effects of the Spanish Civil War on and in the country today, giving a simple and interesting account of what is actually a very complex event and issue in Spanish history. This account is accompanied by descriptions of some of his darker experiences during the journey, of some of the interesting and helpful characters, and of some of the nastier, unhelpful ones he meets along the way. But for all the darkness, Webster leaves the reader feeling hopeful and optimistic in the final chapter, "Perpignan", - I won't spoil it for you! - a chapter which I found particularly pleasant and beautiful.
This is a great book about Spain, whether you know a lot about the country or otherwise. It's easy to read and, more importantly, is highly enjoyable.
This is a great book about Spain, whether you know a lot about the country or otherwise. It's easy to read and, more importantly, is highly enjoyable.
40 of 44 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I have read all three of Webster's books, my passion for Spain traceable to having spend ten years in the country as a child. It is hard to say why, but Webster nails so many essential aspects of the feel of the culture that I am transported and drawn into my own memories. Unlike Duende, a spirited memoir of naivite and first love and Andalus, a scholarly and impressionistic tour de horizon of the impact of the 800 years of Moorish influence on Spain and Europe as a whole seen through the doubting eyes of a modern moor, a Morrocan illegal imigrant Webster befriends and protects, Guerra is far darker. Death, the stench of the decay of the unjustly killed, permeates this book. The writing is, however, so fine as to compell you to keep turning the pages. I found I had to know and trusted Webster's retelling to inform me of what I had so far hidden from myself. Like something horific you cannot bear to look at, the Spanish civil war is an object lesson we must all take to heart. Not least today's Spaniards. If we forget what happened there is always the danger of history repeating itself in some perverse variation or echo. Webster's revisting of this key period in 20th century political history is therefore a warning. The cameos, like Kiki the wise transformista (transexual), are all superb and I for one would buy that particular feisty and wise lady dinner at the drop of a hat. What a character. I wonder what Webster will do next. Three classic works in a row is a hard act to follow. If you have not read him, this is a good place to begin - then read the others.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Hmm. I wonder about the veracity...
There are a lot of parts to this book that just aren't believable to anyone who has spent any amount of time in Spain. A fair amount of hogwash to be honest. Read more
Published 10 days ago by Max Mckay
an insight into a country I realise I dont really know at all
I dont remember this war being mentioned much at school. This well written succinct book gives an excellent insight into the war and the scars that remain. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Jethro
One of the best books on the Spanish Civil war
I am biased because I live in Spain, but I never understood why I never heard in detail of the Spanish civil war, neither here, neither at school in my home country. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Pieter-Jan Taelman
Telling it like it is........
Jason Webster is a great storyteller. But not only that, he researches his subject in meticulous detail and present the facts to his readers wrapped in his own highly imaginitive... Read more
Published on 28 May 2009 by Vivien McKnight
A great introduction to the Civil War
This book is squarely aimed at people like me, who knew next to nothing about the Spanish Civil War before reading it. Read more
Published on 11 April 2009 by Squidseye
Guerra
Excellent. A look at the modern history of Spain through the eyes of a non-historian and made totally readable by the interspersion, throughout the narrative,of snippets of life in... Read more
Published on 25 Feb 2009 by Barbara J. Leach
I'd hoped for more
I have to be honest and say I was disappointed by this book. At least some of that is my own fault. When I bought the book I only scanned the description and I presumed the book... Read more
Published on 8 Feb 2009 by Christopher Thompson
A Civil War Introduction
As someone who has taken an interest in Spain and Latin America over the last view years my knowledge of this recent historical event was non-existent. Read more
Published on 29 Jun 2008 by T. J. Hurrell
A fantastic combination of narrative and insight
This is the third Jason Webster book - his first, Duende was magnificent. This one has the same quality - someone who obviously loves the wild passionate side of Spain but has the... Read more
Published on 16 Aug 2007 by Sevillana
A brilliant and easy read
This was the first book I read from the author, my family is Spanish on my mother's side and I as interested in finding out more about the Spanish civil war that my grand-parents... Read more
Published on 3 Mar 2007 by Willem
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
