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    The Basque History of the World
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    The Basque History of the World
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    The Basque History of the World
    Ebook439 pages6 hours

    The Basque History of the World

    By Mark Kurlansky

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    The Basque History of the World is the illuminating story of an ancient and enigmatic people. Signs of their civilization existed well before the arrival of the Romans in 218 B.C., and though theories abound, no one has ever been able to determine their origins. Their ancient tongue, Euskera, is equally mysterious: It is the oldest living European language, and is related to no other language on Earth.
    Yet despite their obscure origins and small numbers (2.4 million people today), the Basques have had a profound impact on Europe and the world for more than 2,000 years. Never seeking more land, they have nonetheless fiercely defended their own against invaders ranging from the Celts and Visigoths to Napoleon and Franco. They have always been a paradoxical blend of inbred tradition and worldly ambition, preserving their indigenous legal code, cuisine, literature-even their own hat and shoe-while at the same time striving immodestly to be leaders in the world. They were pioneers of commercial whaling and cod fishing, were among the first Europeans in the Americas, Africa, and Asia during the age of exploration, and were prosperous capitalists when capitalism was a new idea, later leading the Industrial Revolution in southern Europe. Their influence has been felt in every realm, from religion (the charismatic Ignatius Loyola founded the Jesuits in 1534) to sports and commerce. Today, even while clinging to their ancient tribal identity, they are ready for a borderless world: The unique Basque concept of nationhood has never been more relevant, at a time when Basques are enjoying what may be the most important cultural renaissance in their long existence.
    Mark Kurlansky's passion for the Basque people- their heroes and commoners alike-and his exuberant eye for detail shine throughout The Basque History of the World. Like his celebrated book Cod, it blends human stories with economic, political, The Basque History of the World is the illuminating story of an ancient and enigmatic people. Signs of their civilization existed well before the arrival of the Romans in 218 B.C., and though theories abound, no one has ever been able to determine their origins. Their ancient tongue, Euskera, is equally mysterious: It is the oldest living European language, and is related to no other language on Earth.
    Yet despite their obscure origins and small numbers (2.4 million people today), the Basques have had a profound impact on Europe and the world for more than 2,000 years. Never seeking more land, they have nonetheless fiercely defended their own against invaders ranging from the Celts and Visigoths to Napoleon and Franco. They have always been a paradoxical blend of inbred tradition and worldly ambition, preserving their indigenous legal code, cuisine, literature-even their own hat and shoe-while at the same time striving immodestly to be leaders in the world. They were pioneers of commercial whaling and cod fishing, were among the first Europeans in the Americas, Africa, and Asia during the age of exploration, and were prosperous capitalists when capitalism was a new idea, later leading the Industrial Revolution in southern Europe. Their influence has been felt in every realm, from religion (the charismatic Ignatius Loyola founded the Jesuits in 1534) to sports and commerce. Today, even while clinging to their ancient tribal identity, they are ready for a borderless world: The unique Basque concept of nationhood has never been more relevant, at a time when Basques are enjoying what may be the most important cultural renaissance in their long existence.
    Mark Kurlansky's passion for the Basque people- their heroes and commoners alike-and his exuberant eye for detail shine throughout The Basque History of the World. Like his celebrated book Cod, it blends human stories with economic, political,
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBloomsbury Publishing
    Release dateJul 5, 2010
    ISBN9780802779427
    Author

    Mark Kurlansky

    Mark Kurlansky is the New York Times bestselling author of Milk!, Havana, Paper, The Big Oyster, 1968, Salt, The Basque History of the World, Cod, and Salmon, among other titles. He has received the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, Bon Appétit's Food Writer of the Year Award, the James Beard Award, and the Glenfiddich Award. He lives in New York City. www.markkurlansky.com

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    Reviews for The Basque History of the World

    4/5

    215 ratings17 reviews

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    • 4/5
      A fascinating history told from the perspective of a people whose culture has remained obscure for many years. The author carefully examines the mystery of Basque origin, tradition, and language. Then he goes on to tell the amazing tale of their heroic struggle to remain themselves despite much persecution by outsiders. Even without an independent Basque country, much of their culture still endures and their unique language is still spoken in their homeland.
    • 5/5
      Recipes are an interesting thing to listen to over audiobook; inevitably, they make me hungrier than when I read them in print. There were some really good ones in The Basque history of the world. The lack of measurements and inclusion qualitative description (e.g. "a beautiful" fish), as well as the laborious nature of many of the included Basque recipes immediately struck me as quite different from recipes in cookbooks I own and use - these all list how much of each ingredient, with unambiguous descriptions, if any.
    • 4/5
      I picked this off the charity shop shelf because it has a great cover. Only realised when I got it home that it's by the author of "Cod" which was one of the earliest (and best) of the books that cover whole epochs via the lens of a single subject. Enjoyed this one just as much - and learnt a lot, although you don't have to believe everything he writes. Quite a few reviewers found his writing boring but I read it in small chunks over several months and was always engaged.
    • 5/5
      A fabulous book. I came to it knowing the Basques only as a linguistic curiosity and I now know they're one of the coolest peoples on the planet and that they discovered America.No one's going to make any claims for Kurlansky being a great stylist, but he writes well and orders his material very well. What bumped this book up to a five was that it's the only one I've ever read that had a recipe for cat.
    • 3/5
      Interesting how the Basque how preserved a distinct own culture for so long. I would guess at the cost of a lot of internal norms/pressure. Did not finish.
    • 4/5
      Growing up, the Basques were a vague notion in the corner of my brain reserved for topics that I felt I should know more about. I knew about ETA, I knew that their language was like none other and I guessed they weren't on the winning side in the Spanish Civil War.So, when a friend recommended "The Basque History of the World", I leapt upon the book. And found that the Basque have played a much bigger role in world history than I thought possible. Kurlansky is obviously a fan of the Basque and write about them, their nation and their history uncritically, with the odd recipe thrown in for good luck.This is a good read and a good introduction to the Basques and I came away considerably more au fait about the Basques, and found that my guess about their role in the Spanish Civil War was right.
    • 4/5
      The Basque are one of the most enigmatic ethnic groups in Europe. Their culture and language have no known relative, and no one can say for certain what the true origin of the people is. While they have been physically isolated for most of their existence by living among hard to access mountains and valleys, they have not been set apart from the people around them since Roman times. From producing major historical figures like Ignatius of Loyola (founder of the Jesuits) and Miguel de Unamuno to being one of the most prosperous regions of Spain in recent history, Kurlansky shows how the Basque have been tied in to a great deal of Western history. Now perhaps better known because of ETA (and originally accused of the Madrid bombing in 2003), this book presents a good overview of the people and their seeming constant struggle to retain independence and autonomy despite larger cultures doing their best to overcome the people.
    • 4/5
      History is the beautiful, brightly lit foam on top of the annihilating tsunami of the unrecorded past. History books are the spectrographic analysis of the light glinting off that foam. Any attempt at making a book more than that is doomed to failure and tedium.This is not a tedious or failed book. It's just...well...curiously insubstantial. I don't like the focus on the Great and the Good in place of the gestalt of the actions of the Basques. I know, I know, most people can't name their great-grandparents, still less find evidence of their obvious existence, and historians are limited to what documentary evidence exists. But Ignatius Loyola stalled me every time I tried to re-read this book. I hated that jerk when I was confirmed, and given the confirmation saint of St. Charles Borromeo, a major Jesuit figure. I am a flawed being, I admit it...I can't abide hagiography, and I fear Kurlansky's absence of harsh, vituperative judgments thundered down upon the founder of the Jesuits sat ill with me.But the book is, overall, an attempt to do the extremely difficult: Show the unrecorded points of commonality that linked major events in history, ie the involvement of a people generally overlooked. I suspect the Basques like it that way. I don't know what the Basque majority's opinion was of this book, but I suspect it was well and truly mixed. He's drawing attention to us! Yay! Boo! And often from the same person, I'd bet.Why such a mingy rating as 3.6 stars? Because...well, because it wasn't anywhere near as much fun to read as I expected it to be.And Loyola, that rotten sleazebag.
    • 3/5
      Meh. This book was a real slog to get through -- I only finished because I feel honor-bound to finish what I start. I'm not sure why I found it such a slog, though. I guess I just couldn't get interested in the topic, though by any estimation it's the kind of thing that OUGHT to interest me. And what's with all the recipes? But if you look at a list of Kurlansky's books it's clear he's very interested in food.Regardless, I feel that my issues with the book were my own issues, and not the fault of the author's. I did enjoy his book on salt.In other words, I guess...just don't pay any attention to this review?
    • 5/5
      This book was entertainingly informative about a relatively obscure culture and region. However, the aspect that made the greatest impression on me was the description of Basque cuisine, which inspired me with a wish to try several dishes mentioned here.
    • 2/5
      I'm very interested in learning something about the Basque people. Unfortunately, I don't think I can make it through this book. It's a little too obsequious for my tastes. Kurlansky spends way too much time gushing about how cool and wonderful the Basque are. I like a little less cheerleading in my history books, thanks...
    • 4/5
      This book surprised me in some ways. I was interested in it specifically because my wife and I visited French Basqueland two years back. The book was very well written and very engaging, but I was a bit surprised that it was more or less a straight history of the Basque people from around the Middle Ages to the present. By "straight history" I mean it was mostly a traditional political history, with less cultural information than I was expecting, less about the mythology and social history. Also, much of the book from the post-World War II period onward was a description of the repressive measures of the Franco regime and its predecessors and about the radical and violent ETA nationalist terrorist group. Although all of that is of course important and central to the modern Basque story, the book made it seem as if there was little else going on in the Basque areas of Spain and France but that. So I didn't really feel that I got a very good picture of the modern Basque people.Nevertheless, as I said, I did enjoy the book and feel that I've learned a lot that's interesting about the Basque people, their history and their culture.It was also interesting to me that the book intersection so strongly with two other books I've read recently, for the section on the middle ages through the Renaissance helped provided some interesting perspective on things I'd recently read about in The Medici. And the detailed chapter on the Spanish Civil War, in which the Basques played an important role, mainly on the Loyalist side, resonated with the novel on the conflict, Another Hill, that I read a month or so. Funny how you can get some interesting congruence that way without even realizing you're doing it.
    • 3/5
      Parts of The Basque History of the World are fascinating - the discussion of Basque origins and language, social customs, recipes, and other insights. Other parts of the book are confusing and a little tedious - the late 19thand early- to mid-20th century history, for example. Kurlansky tends not to follow a strict chronology. Instead he brings in parallel streams of history that overlap, making the story with such unfamiliar names more difficult to follow. I'm a little uncertain how unbiased he is when it comes to discussing the conflict between the Spanish government and groups like ETA; I'd like to hear both sides before judging. In spite of this, the book is well worth reading.
    • 5/5
      This is a fascinating book about a mysterious people. The ancestral Basque homelands lie on the border between France and Spain, encompassing a bit of each country's territory. While the Basque are officially considered citizens of Spain, they consider themselves a separate group entirely. They are a mysterious group because anthropologists can't say exactly where they, or their native language, came from, only that both their physical traits and language have little in common with either the French or the Spanish. This book proffers a mixture of theory and recent scholarship to try and solve the mystery of the Basque: who are they, where did they come from, and how have they survived as a separate and unique people for so long? It's a very interesting read, and not at all dry or highly technical like many of these anthro-theory nonfiction books can be.
    • 3/5
      The Basque people are interesting in their desire for nationalism without necessarily the desire for a "country" in the traditional sense of the word. This book is primarily a history of the Basque search for cultural independence. I found it a bit hard to follow as it isn't always chronological -- I sometimes got confused by how different people fit into the story.I enjoyed far more the descriptions of Basque life -- the cooking, the writing, the development of the language. The comments and views of contemporary Basque citizens put the history into a more interesting perspective.
    • 5/5
      Recipes are an interesting thing to listen to over audiobook; inevitably, they make me hungrier than when I read them in print. There were some really good ones in The Basque history of the world. The lack of measurements and inclusion qualitative description (e.g. "a beautiful" fish), as well as the laborious nature of many of the included Basque recipes immediately struck me as quite different from recipes in cookbooks I own and use - these all list how much of each ingredient, with unambiguous descriptions, if any.
    • 3/5
      Points out just how much influence the Basques have had on the world because of their nature and where they live. Very good on the rise of ETA and Basque nationalism.