Spain

May 11, 2015
Goodwin (Crossing the Continent 1527-1540), a research and teaching fellow at University College London, effectively illustrates how Spain achieved a golden age with the attainment of unprecedented power over the Holy Roman Empire—and how its very unwieldiness cost Spain considerable wealth and stability, worsened by fiscal and political mismanagement. Charles V’s military accomplishments and Philip II’s continental power plays provided the bulk of Spain’s strength before giving way to weaker rulers whose eras ironically ushered in glittering poetic innovations, striking polychrome art, and lasting literary characters. Densely packed with historical and cultural details, these “Gold” and “Glitter” elements dovetail with an astute portrayal (inspired by Don Quixote) of Philip IV’s misguided favorite, the Count-Duke of Olivares, who as prime minister oversaw the Spanish Empire’s final descent. Goodwin’s belief in Spanish superiority results in occasional overgeneralizations (the Barber of Seville as the “most enduring character” and Velazquez’s Rokeby Venus as the “most stunning” female nude) and the near-omission of or ambiguity concerning relevant European figures such as England’s Elizabeth I and Charles I. Nevertheless, Goodwin successfully shows that significant achievements in art and culture, as well as colonial successes, allowed the diminishing powerhouse to keep her sparkle amidst the turmoil of decades of economic and military instability. Illus.

Starred review from June 1, 2015
A bright, wide-ranging chronicle of the golden age of the Spanish empire. Though Goodwin (Spanish, Portuguese, and Latin American Studies/Univ. Coll. London; Crossing the Continent 1527-1540: The Story of the First African-American Explorer of the American South, 2008) denies that he has written a magisterial work filled with scholarly detail but rather a book for the "idle reader," it is a well-researched, intelligent, and easily understood history of the first global empire on Earth. The author divides the work into two sections: "Gold" deals with the historical, economic, and political history, and "Glitter" explores literary and artistic works. At the beginning of the empire, King Charles V realized that the great wealth of silver and gold arriving from America would require a bureaucracy to ensure the availability of the banks, postal service, food, and roads essential for the movement of troops and supplies. He had to be well-organized and wealthy to wage wars and contain an empire that included the Netherlands, Naples, the Holy Roman Empire, and, eventually, Portugal. Charles was also an avid collector of Renaissance art and appointed the Venetian artist Titian as court painter. His son, Philip II, inherited a well-oiled machine that enabled him to expand the vast art collection his father had begun. He laid the path for Spain's great artists Velazquez, Murillo, and El Greco, who were joined by great writers and thinkers like Cervantes, Gongora, and Quevedo. Goodwin not only shows the greatness of Spain's empire, but also explains the psyche of Spaniards during the time. They preferred poverty over labor and honor over trade, and they were obsessed with purity of blood. The latter aspect was one of the prime drivers of the Inquisition, formed to rid Spain of lapsed Christians who had converted from Judaism during the diaspora of 1492. Any student of the Renaissance should read this excellent work showing Spain's enormous impact on the arts and, with her vast American empire, the world.

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May 15, 2015

Do not be intimidated by this weighty tome. Goodwin (history, Univ. Coll. London; Crossing the Continent) adopts a page-turning style to convey the sheer magnitude of Spain in this period. His focus is the "Golden Age" of Spain, which encompasses both the time when gold poured into the country from the New World and the artistic and literary age that followed. Readers will meet familiar characters such as explorer Hernan Cortes and painters Diego Velasquez and El Greco, as well as lesser-known figures including the playwright Lope de Vega, painter Francisco de Zurbaran, and sculptor Juan Martinez Montanes who were as famous in their time as Miguel de Cervantes is today. Don Quixote and his author also appear prominently in both halves of this work. There is plenty of traditional history here, particularly in the first half that follows the careers of Charles V and Phillip IV, but the overarching theme is about the visual artists and authors who created Spain's Baroque period. VERDICT Anyone wanting a better idea of the feel of this phase of Spanish history will be well served by this title. Accompanying maps and a genealogical chart are helpful. [See Prepub Alert, 1/5/15.]--Cate Hirschbiel, Iwasaki Lib., Emerson Coll., Boston

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