ESPANA A Brief History of Spain

This well-researched and very listenable history of Spain is a solid choice for students, travelers, and anyone else with an interest in that most colorful and ravishing of lands. Luis Soto's elegant narration is history as it should be heard--roiling and melodic. The Spanish names are rendered with grace and precision, the shabbier elements of Spain's history--the Inquisition, the Conquistadors, Franco--are briskly assessed and dispensed with. Soto matches the pace and tone of an adventure tale, which in many ways this is: a history defined by struggle and extremism, both political and religious. In fewer than nine hours, Soto takes us from the Carthaginians to a contemporary amalgam of races, religions, and ethnicities that seems all the more unchanged the more it's changed. D.A.W. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine [Published: AUGUST 2022]