Walking Holidays in Andalucia

Books The Arabic Role in Medieval Literary History: A Forgotten Heritage (The Middle Ages Series) - by Maria Rosa Menocal $$$ “Modern civilization’s myriad pretensions to objectivity have unfortunately tended to obscure the fact that much of our writing of history is as much a myth-making activity as that of more primitive societies.” Menocal's now classic (and still controversial) book is well worth the trouble of finding a copy (I waited 6 weeks for mine). She uncovers a hidden thread of influence on Dante, Boccaccio, and Petrarch (and thus our Western Heritage) that most scholars would have preferred lay forgotten. Yes, Virginia, there really wasn't a "Renaissance". Instead, European authors tapped into the great watershed of Islamic culture and borrowed the best of it, recasting it for a Christian audience (Michael Kucher - University of Washington, Tacoma). £££