Spain in the Middle Ages

[Carlos Mentley]

It is interesting to me that Menocal's book should come up.  I read it
and found it a terribly romanticized vision masquerading as serious
history; much like a lot of recent revisionist history.  It has not been
met with much enthusiasm in the academic world, mostly because Menocal
offers no support (no references to other historical documents, either
primary or secondary sources) for her claims.

There is an excellent series of books on the history of Islamic Spain,
published by Blackwell Press:

Collins, Roger.  The Arab Conquest of Spain, 710-797.
---.  Caliphs and Kings: Spain, 798-1033.
Reilly, Bernard F.  The Contest of Christian and Muslim Spain,
1031-1157.
Linehan, Peter.  Spain, 1157-1300.
McKay, Angus.  Spain: Centuries of Crisis, 1300-1474.
Edwards, John.  The Spain of the Catholic Monarchs, 1747-1520.

Also excellent, more from the Muslim perspective, is

Chejne, Anwar G.  Muslim Spain: Its History and Culture.  Minneapolis: U
of Minnesota P, 1974.

I reckon that most of these books may be considered a little drier than
Menocal's.  But in terms of solid scholarship and historiography, they
are very impressive.

Carlos