Product Description

They are a mythical people, almost an imagined people, writes Kurlansky. Signs of their civilization exist well before the arrival of the Romans in 218BC. Their forbidden tongue is equally mysterious, it is related to no other, but today the Basques are enjoying what may be the most important cultural renaissance in their long existence.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #37689 in Books
• Published on: 2000-11-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
After basking in the shallows of success that surrounded Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World, Mark Kurlansky turns his attentions to the people who first hunted it and in doing so may have discovered America before John Cabot could say Isparsortalderatu. In a sense The Basque History of the World is the natural successor to Cod, for it grows organically from that book's early chapters. It unfolds the dramatic tale of the Basques as they fight off the challenges of the Vikings, the Romans, the Muslims and, for centuries now, the Spanish; proudly defensive of the remote and rugged hills on the edge of the Pyrenees, where Shakespeare set Love's Labour's Lost and that echoes with their peculiar agglutinating tongue. They are possibly Europe's aborigines and their language, unlike any other, was reputed to originate from, variously, the Tower of Babel, Atlantis and even the Garden of Eden. What's for certain is that it has defined their being when all else has been taken from them and that today, emerging from the shadow of the Franco regime's persecution, Europe's oldest nation wants to be its newest state. Kurlansky's recipe is reassuringly and familiarly unorthodox: intermingled with a stirring narrative are maps, photographs, pieces of reportage, quirky facts and, of course, recipes--the Basques are justly proud of their fish--and bean-based cuisine, something Kurlansky is not slow to savour. Where Cod was not simply about a big fish in The Big Pond but embraced the thorny problem of global over-fishing, The Basque History of the World does not confine its scope to the two and a half million people living in the seven Basque provinces. It speaks of violently modern and pervasive issues such as the notion of nationhood, borders and identity, and does so in a slyly humorous yet always passionate way. Be warned: This is not insipid, literary chloroform. What the imperious Kurlansky has written is a magnificently personal and driven tribute to a people and culture that have spellbound him for years and will warm the cockles of your heart (before adding them to a Ttoro stew). --David Vincent

Customer Reviews

Four plus three equals one (Basque graffiti)
There are a total of seven provinces in Basque land. Three are in France and four are in Spain. Consequently, the birth of local Basque wall graffiti, "four plus three equals one." "The Basque History of the World," is a comprehensive historical portrait of a proud people. Moreover, author Mark Kurlansky details the very unique and "tenacious" characteristics of the Basque population. Interestingly enough, Kurlansky argues that the Basque tongue, "Euskera" is likely the oldest living European language.

Kurlansky's narrative starts in the Bronze age, examines the bloody difficulties of the Spanish Civil War, it documents the stunning bravery of the Basque people during World War II, and reports the terrible human rights violations inflicted on the Basque people by the Franco Dictatorship. Kurlansky also does not fail to report the impressive economic development of the region from fishing to shipbuilding to steel manufacturing. On a diplomatic note, the author makes a point of reporting the shameful American State Department betrayal of the Basque people due to Cold War politics. Finally, this book is an important source of information for all Latin Americans...you may very well discover your own links to the Basque culture. Recommended.

Bert Ruiz

A book for historical survival
Mark Kurlansky, author of 'The Basque History of the World' (Jonathan Cape; 1999) presents one of the most accomplished books on Basque history ever written in English. Kurlansky blends human stories with cultural, political and culinary history. He, like many other authors is attracted by the challenge of the survival of this small country throughout thousands of years. Kurlansky reveals a different point of view on the Basque people, far from the stereotypes imposed by many modern journalists. The author, as a journalist himself, highlights the Basque's outstanding impact on Europe's historical evolution. "No word less describes Basques than the term separatist...Considering how small a group the Basques are, they have made remarkable contributions to world history", Kurlansky adds. The modern Basque Country represents a human group constituted by hardly three million people lost in the swarms of the great human crowds. A significant fact of the Basque Country is the tenacity for the historical survival, its touch of distinction for the cultural creation, and its collective memory for the development of a social identity. While the world has entered into the Third Millennium, over 650,000 people are speaking a language, Euskera, whose roots can be found in the Stone Age (6,000BC). The Basque sociologist Ruiz de Olabuenaga argues that "something that had defined and is still defining men and women of the Basque society is the conviction that we ourselves must create our own future and that the excellence of the history of this country can be lost. We are a small country but solid, intense,passionate between the unconditional fidelity to our tradition and the maximum compromise to the ambiguity of the future". Kurlansky summarizes the aspiration of the Basque people for such historical survival in the final sentence of his book: 'Garean gareana legez' - 'Let us be what we are' - (from Esteban de Garibay, Basque Historian, XVIthC).

The Basque History of the World.
So much I have always wanted to know.

Amazing information on Basque history, politics and best of all cooking.... Baccaloa recipes.

The section on the linguistics of the Basque language is so easy to follow and I very much enjoyed the guide on how to pronounce the inpenetrable "tx."

The coverage of the American influence on Basque feelings and the effect of Franco on the immediate lives of the Basque people was electrifying.

The bibliograhy is stunning.

An extremely well-written and wonderfully researched book.

I would reccommend it anyone who is interested in exploring the totality of "Spanish Culture and History."