Ana Frank’s newspaper: History
Introduction
Spain Since 1812, third edition, international standard book number: 978-0-340-98174-0, was written by Christopher J Ross and published on June 1, 2009 by Routledge. Christopher J Ross is a professor at the University of Economics and Business Administration of Vienna. It is a detailed and concise vision of Spanish history over a period of 200 years, composed of 214 pages.
The main audience of the book would be language students, as it meets the specific criteria of language courses, history students and teachers. In addition, anyone with interest in modern history. The chapters are chronologically organized, so it is clear and easy to follow. Each of them begins with a summary of the main events and political movements in Europe within that period.
Developing
The chapters end each end with a list of topics for the debate that can encourage the reader to participate in more research and analysis of the subject. An example of this is at the end of chapter 6 ‘return to the future’, ‘What significant changes occurred in Spain, and in the Francoist regime itself?’. This helps the reader to reflect on the information he has read and be able to implement his new knowledge in order to form an answer.
The Spanish terms associated with key concepts and figures are introduced and explained throughout the text. For example, it is explained that Chapter 1 on page 18 ‘Regenerationism’ is associated with a certain group of people known as ‘Generation 1898’ who were concerned about Spain’s backwardness and wanted to stop it. These definitions throughout the book help the reader better understand the context of an event in history.
The author, Christopher Ross, sympathizes with the leftist ideas and only criticizes Franco’s right fascism. It tells the history of the Spanish Civil War from the point of view of the Republicans, presented as ‘the defenders’ and refers to the nationalists as ‘the rebels’. This could suggest that the author has let his own point of view influence his writing.
The author is not a historian, he is a language teacher, so he may not have the knowledge and experience of someone who investigates only the history of Spanish.
conclusion
In conclusion, the book meets the specific needs of language students and anyone who is interested in the history of Spanish. It is extremely useful for Spanish students, since it offers a clear vision, step by step of the history of Spain since 1812 and mentions more recent events such as the economic crisis of Spain and the change of the country in the political climate. It also establishes the country or the region in question in the context of the world in general.
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