Nick Barlow reviewed Spain: The Root and the Flower by John A. Crow
Sometimes interesting, sometimes frustrating
3 stars
I found the middle sections of this the most interesting where Crow talks about the rise and fall of Imperial Spain and the art and literature that came from that era. The rest of it has some interesting moments but all filtered through a very dated perspective of assuming "the Spanish people" are homogenous s a group of peasants without agency who just wander around in the background of history. Particularly annoying when he reaches the twentieth century, where the section on the Civil War is just anti-communist axe-grinding, then the section on post-Franco Spain has a "how dare these people want to live modern lives" attitude to it.