[Books] The Basque History of the World

One of the first books I decided to pick to learn more about Basques was Mark Kurlansky's The Basque History of the World. I knew beforehand about the positive and negative reviews but I felt that I needed something that gave me a broad view of everything from food to politics to culture but without being too heavy (I could always go into that later on).

One of the main reasons why Kurlansky's book is great for a beginner (i.e. someone completely unfamiliar with Basque history) is because of its readability factor. He is able to present such polemic topics as nationalism in a way that draws people in and forces them to want to know more.

I also love how the book is sprinkled with poetry (Gabriel Aresti's Nire aitaren etxea defendituko dut), quotes about Basques from famous works (Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises) and interesting recipes (bacalao al pil-pil).

As I learned more about Basque history, I did come out with one major gripe about Kurlansky's book. I felt that when it came to certain issues pertaining to armed-struggle in Basque nationalism, he did not give a clear and balanced view. Perhaps he might have wanted to downplay the negative aspect of armed-struggle to counterbalance the anti-nationalist bias being perpetrated by the Madrid press but I would have rather he presented both sides of the story on an equal level so the reader can be informed and come to their own decision about things.

Still, all that aside, I think Kurlansky ended up writing a great book. It certainly is one of my favourites and I always suggest it to people who are either unfamiliar with Basque history or people who simply think all Basques are racist terrorists who hate Spain.