White wall of Spain : the mysteries of Andalusian culture

ForewordThe virtue of this book, and it is considerable, is that Dr. Josephs relates one of the most ancient and interesting areas of Spain to the classical history of which it was a distinguished part. His wealth of illustrative material is rewarding, and his allusions to learned materials from a wide range of writing are provocative. Few experts on Spain will fail to learn something new from these pages. His heroes are Richard Ford, José Ortega y Gasset, and Federico García Lorca, and it would be difficult to find more capable cicerones. This book will offer many surprises to those who think they know Andalucía. Read the chapter on Tarshish and you'll see what I mean.JAMES A. MICHENER

From the ancient Phoenicians through Maimonides to Pablo Picasso's retrospective exhibit at the Museum of Moden Art in 1980, this fascinating swift trip through the past spans more than three thousand years of Spain's Andalusian civilization, the oldest in the Western world.
 Allen Josephs focuses on the cultural distinctions that have set Andalucia apart throughout recorded history: its Oriental origins, its ancient commerce and industry, its religious practices, and its varied artistic expression of those practices through music, dance, and the drama of toreo. In a marvel of synthesis, Josephs interweaves the writings of poets, historians, and archaeologists from Strabo and Polybius to Adolph Schulten, Richard Ford, Jose Ortega y Gasset, and Federico Garcia Lorca to illuminate the pervasive influence of this ancient culture on all Hispanic peoples. Allen Josephs is University Research Professor and professor of Spanish in the Department of English and Foreign Languages at the University of West Florida, Pensacola. He has published a number of books, as well as articles in scholarly journals and in the Atlantic, Boston Review, New Republic, and New York Times Book Review.

 

From the ancient Phoenicians through Maimonides to Pablo Picasso's retrospective exhibit at the Museum of Moden Art in 1980, this fascinating swift trip through the past spans more than three thousand years of Spain's Andalusian civilization, the oldest in the Western world. Allen Josephs focuses on the cultural distinctions that have set Andalucia apart throughout recorded its Oriental origins, its ancient commerce and industry, its religious practices, and its varied artistic expression of those practices through music, dance, and the drama of toreo . In a marvel of synthesis, Josephs interweaves the writings of poets, historians, and archaeologists from Strabo and Polybius to Adolph Schulten, Richard Ford, Jose Ortega y Gasset, and Federico Garcia Lorca to illuminate the pervasive influence of this ancient culture on all Hispanic peoples.Allen Josephs is University Research Professor and professor of Spanish in the Department of English and Foreign Languages at the University of West Florida, Pensacola. He has published a number of books, as well as articles in scholarly journals and in the Atlantic, Boston Review, New Republic , and New York Times Book Review . From the ancient Phoenicians through Maimonides to Pablo Picasso's retrospective exhibit at the Museum of Moden Art in 1980, this fascinating swift trip through the past spans more than three thousand years of Spain's Andalusian civilization, the oldest in the Western world. Allen Josephs focuses on the cultural distinctions that have set Andalucia apart throughout recorded history: its Oriental origins, its ancient commerce and industry, its religious practices, and its varied artistic expression of those practices through music, dance, and the drama of toreo. In a marvel of synthesis, Josephs interweaves the writings of poets, historians, and archaeologists from Strabo and Polybius to Adolph Schulten, Richard Ford, Jose Ortega y Gasset, and Federico Garcia Lorca to illuminate the pervasive influence of this ancient culture on all Hispanic peoples. Focusing on the cultural distinctions that have set Andalucia apart throughout recorded history, this book spans more than 3000 years in assessing the oldest civilization in the Western world. The author considers such areas as its Oriental origins, industry, commerce and the arts.