Ghosts of Spain: Travels Through a Country's Hidden Past

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Larman (2017). "Isabella of Castile by Giles Tremlett review – she fought and conquered" . Retrieved 23 June 2018. Tremlett has written a smart and highly readable book that mixes incisive political history with sophisticated cultural reporting."--"Seattle Times" An] incisive and engaging book....[Tremlett's] sober analysis of how the Madrid train bombings of March 11, 2004...exposed deep fissures in Spanish society is the best report I've read on the subject....[A]n invaluable book. Indeed, since it appeared in Britain last year, 'Ghosts of Spain' has become something of a bible for those of us "extranjeros" whoz Tremlett is author of five works of history and non-fiction that have been translated into half a dozen languages. He won the Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography in 2018. He has held various roles for The Guardian, including as chief correspondent in Iberia and as a Long Reads writer. [2] He previously wrote for The Economist. He was a Visiting Fellow at the London School of Economics for five years from 2016.

Ghosts of Spain : travels through Spain and its silent past Ghosts of Spain : travels through Spain and its silent past

Tremlett's] affectionate yet critical intimacy with the country helps to make this book much more than an ordinary journalistic survey...[with the] sort of insight that vindicates his approach to a deeply traditional and fast-changing land."--"Wall Street JournalMr. Tremlett['s]...affectionate yet critical intimacy with the country helps to make this book much more than an ordinary journalistic survey... .Extended residency has...allowed Mr. Tremlett to gather off-beat stories distinctly revealing of his adopted land."-- "Wall Street Journal "(Francis X. Rocco) Ghosts of Spain contains some real gems, including the story of Hildegart Rodríguez who was brought up by an ambitious mother to be a child prodigy. She edited her first newspaper aged 14 and founded the League for Sexual Reform, only for her mother to shoot her dead in a jealous rage while she slept. Tremlett] paints a rich, multicolored canvas of one of Europe's most fascinating nations.""--Entertainment Weekly" They feel as if they have had this forced upon them. This is truer in the Basque country and Andalucia than in most other places, but there is no doubt the sentiment is palpable.

Ghosts of Spain: Travels Through Spain and its Silent Past Ghosts of Spain: Travels Through Spain and its Silent Past

One of the biggest shadows is in regard to the Spanish Civil War, which saw anywhere between 149,213 to 2,000,000 people killed. George Orwell’s Homage to Catalonia gives an account of what Spain was like during the war if you want to do some further reading. It may seem to the outside like Spain is a monolithic country, but once you live there and travel around, it becomes clear that there are a lot of people who don’t buy into the idea of being Spanish.

verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ An] incisive and engaging book... .[Tremlett's] sober analysis of how the Madrid train bombings of March 11, 2004...exposed deep fissures in Spanish society is the best report I've read on the subject... .[A]n invaluable book. Indeed, since it appeared in Britain last year, 'Ghosts of Spain' has become something of a bible for those of us "extranjeros" who have chosen to live in Spain. A country finally facing its past could scarcely hope for a better, or more enamored, chronicler of its present."-- "New York Times Book Review" (Sarah Wildman) Galicia and Aragon even have their own languages too, however, they are not as widespread as the other two. Geographically speaking, Spain is a vastly different country depending on where you go. Head to the north and it is mountainous. Andalucia is mountainous too, with beautiful beaches. The East Coast is the tourist hotbed, with beaches stretching all the way down the coast. He had his first taste of Spanish life when he lived in Barcelona for two years in the mid-1980s. After a period in Lisbon and then in London he returned to Spain in the mid-1990s. He was The Guardian's correspondent for Spain, Portugal and the Maghreb for a dozen years. He was also Madrid correspondent for The Economist for a decade until 2016. In 2012 he was voted Correspondent of the Year by the Madrid International Press Club. He has been a regular current affairs commentator for Spanish broadcasters, including state-owned TVE television, La Sexta and the country's biggest radio station, Cadena SER, as well as contributing to newspapers like El País or El Mundo. He was co-founder and curator of the Docubeats documentary project at The Guardian and El País.

Ghosts of Spain: Travels Through Spain and Its Silent Past by Ghosts of Spain: Travels Through Spain and Its Silent Past by

It also has an interesting recent history. Until the death of Franco in 1975, Spain was under the grip of a fascist dictatorship. Regions such as Catalunya and the Basque country were marginalised and their local languages were suppressed. It is appropriate, therefore, to try to get to grips with this most complex of nations by delving into its history. Its 'ghosts' are one of the keys to understanding Spain and, after a lengthy period of denying their existence, it seems the Spanish are waking up to this fact. The clearest example of this new trend has been the recent opening up of some of the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of mass graves that dot the countryside dating from the civil war. Estimates put the number of bodies in these unmarked ditches at 30,000. They are, almost all, men and women killed during the Francoist repression, a dirty secret Spain has done its best to forget. Now, though, a handful have been excavated and the murdered victims given proper burial. Today, it provides an income for a large part of the population and is the driving force of the economy. Without a strong manufacturing or agricultural base, tourism provided Spain with a lifeline, one that keeps on giving to this very day. Ghosts of Spain review A cautious acceptance of tourism by Franco laid the seeds for the development of the industry in Spain and the rest, as they say, is history.An] affectionate, deeply informed tour of the country... . a highly informative, well-written introduction to post-Franco Spain. Mr. Tremlett' s taut recounting of the 2004 train bombings in Madrid makes especially timely reading, with the suspects now on trial."-- "New York Times "(William Grimes) Faber & Faber: Ghosts of Spain [Giles Tremlett, 9780571221684]". Archived from the original on 6 June 2011 . Retrieved 26 May 2010. As time has gone on, this policy has not worked. Resentment has lingered and old fault lines still run through Spain. It is one of the reasons why the independence movement in the Basque Country and Catalunya are so prominent.

Ghosts of Spain: Travels Through Spain and Its Silent Past Ghosts of Spain: Travels Through Spain and Its Silent Past

This digging up of the past marks Giles Tremlett's starting point for a series of essays on Spain, loosely presented as a travel book, exploring some of the more intriguing aspects of the country through its history, taking in everything from flamenco to Basque nationalism. After years working as the Guardian's Madrid correspondent, he has amassed a treasure trove of fascinating information and anecdotes. The book explained why and made it clear that the divisions are still present in society today. Something I experienced first-hand from living in Barcelona. A]n evocative, often poignant sojourn through the as-yet uncleared psychic mists of the civil war."-- "Star-Tribune "(Michael J. Bonafield) His book Ghosts of Spain: Travels through a country's hidden past (2007) [3] was translated into five languages. Stegemann, Luke (January–February 2021). "The dry run: a brilliant study of folly and ambition". Australian Book Review. 428: 30–31.Giles E.H. Tremlett (born Plymouth, 1962) [1] is a historian, author and journalist based in Madrid, Spain. An] affectionate, deeply informed tour of the country.... a highly informative, well-written introduction to post-Franco Spain. Mr. Tremlett's taut recounting of the 2004 train bombings in Madrid makes especially timely reading, with the suspects now on trial."--"New York Times "(William Grimes) This well traveled journalist... knows his subject as he ventures through the past to explain the present personality of a country so varied that even in modern times its complicated medieval legacy is part of everyday life." "-- ""Washington"" Times" (Ann Geracimos) They were hit hard by Franco as he suppressed their cultural identity amidst his totalitarian rule. Despite the passing of time, they have never forgotten what happened and that has been passed down through the generations.