Reviews
Violencia: A New History of Spain: Past, Present and the Future of the West by Jason Webster
pauliiiiiiiiina's review
informative
reflective
fast-paced
3.0
Violencia was a good, highly readable, general insight into Spain's history. The book was its strongest in describing the Moorish period in Spanish history, and all the innovation that came with it. It also provided a good, general, overview of the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s.
Despite these strengths, Violencia ended up being a little disappointing, because it shied away from discussing arguably one of the sorest periods in Spanish history, the rule of Franco. Even though the book reached the present day (around 2018), its ending was rushed in that the more modern times were very briefly discussed and almost sidelined. It would have been interesting to get more insight into the continued impact of Franco's shadow, the relationship Spain has with the rest of Europe and the EU, the impact of the 2011 Eurozone crisis - instead, the author repeated his main thesis for the book: history repeats itself, and unless Spain can miraculously change its approach to ruling its citizens, sooner or later violence will ensue, as it has so many times before.
It would also have been nice to "see his working", in other words, footnotes and a bibliography. For a popularised account of history it works, but does not stand up to scrutiny as a more serious work of history writing.
Despite these strengths, Violencia ended up being a little disappointing, because it shied away from discussing arguably one of the sorest periods in Spanish history, the rule of Franco. Even though the book reached the present day (around 2018), its ending was rushed in that the more modern times were very briefly discussed and almost sidelined. It would have been interesting to get more insight into the continued impact of Franco's shadow, the relationship Spain has with the rest of Europe and the EU, the impact of the 2011 Eurozone crisis - instead, the author repeated his main thesis for the book: history repeats itself, and unless Spain can miraculously change its approach to ruling its citizens, sooner or later violence will ensue, as it has so many times before.
It would also have been nice to "see his working", in other words, footnotes and a bibliography. For a popularised account of history it works, but does not stand up to scrutiny as a more serious work of history writing.
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