In 2011 James Mustich tagged
five notable books on Spain, including:
The Ornament of the World by Maria Rosa Menocal
More than any other European country, Spain has been at the crossroads of three major monotheisms. During the period of Moorish conquest (756-1492), the Ummayads and their political descendants displayed inclusive tolerance to the “peoples of the Book”; Jews persecuted elsewhere in Europe flocked to the Iberian peninsula, and the intellectual heritage of the classical world was preserved for posterity. Offering insights that could prove invaluable to our globalized era, Maria Rosa Menocal composes a valuable portrait of this period of cultural equanimity, and its eventual devolution into the chaos of the Inquisition.
Read about
another entry on the list.
--Marshal Zeringue
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