A historical past of Spain, based at the Historia de España y de l. a. civilización española of Rafael Altamira via Charles E. Chapman, PH.D. Assistant Professor of heritage within the collage of California and released in 1918.

INTRODUCTION

THE indisputable fact that this ebook is in nice half a precis, or choice, from one among mine, as is said within the Preface, makes it virtually an obligation for me to do what could in any occasion be a superb excitement with regards to a piece by way of Professor Chapman. I confer with the obligation of writing a couple of paragraphs in terms of advent. yet, even as, this situation reasons a definite clash of emotions in me, considering not anyone, until or not it's a pedant, can act so freely in self-criticism as he might if he have been facing the paintings of one other. thankfully, Professor Chapman has included a lot of his personal harvest during this quantity, and to that i'll refer with whole loss of embarrassment.
Obviously, the plan and the exertions of condensing all the fabric for a historical past of Spain represent in themselves a commendable success. actually, there doesn't exist in any language of the area at the present time a compendium of the background of Spain lowered to at least one quantity which will fulfill all the exigencies of the general public at huge and the wishes of educating, with no an way over interpreting and of work. not one of the histories of my kingdom written in English, German, French, or Italian within the 19th century might be unqualifiedly advised. a few, akin to that via Hume, entitled The Spanish humans, show very good attributes, yet those are observed through omissions to which glossy historiography can not consent. As a common rule those histories are altogether too political in personality. At different instances they offend from an far more than bookish erudition and from a scarcity of a private impact of what our individuals are, in addition to from a failure to relate their tale in a fascinating manner, or certainly, they perpetuate mistakes and legends, lengthy on the grounds that discredited, with admire to our prior and current lifestyles. we now have a few one-volume histories of Spain in Castilian that are to be urged for the wishes of our personal secondary colleges, yet now not for these of a international state, whose scholars require one other demeanour of presentation of our historical past, for they must practice an interrogatory perfect that is various from ours of their research of the deeds of one other people,—all the extra so if that folks, just like the Spanish, has mingled within the lifetime of approximately the complete international and been the sufferer of the calumnies and fanciful whims of historians, politicians, and travellers.