Revisionism in historical studies is a word much abused, both by its detractors and its adherents. It seems obvious that any new history should be "revisionist", or it would not be worth writing it at all. However, self-declared revisionists often seem unaware that, in striving to dig beyond established facts and shift traditional perspectives, they can conceal at least as much as they reveal. When revisionism becomes the new orthodoxy, it immediately demands to be revised.
Raymond Carr, one of the pre-eminent British historians of modern Spain, declares some rather bland "revisionist" principles in his introduction, but this book is better than that might lead one to expect. This is because the open-minded and inclusive approach of his contributors, himself included, frequently throws up material which casts as much doubt on the new orthodoxies as it does on the old ones.
Traditional schools of historiography stressed the idea that "Spain is different", that it stands outside the western European mainstream. The evidence for this is substantial, as Carr concedes. Seven centuries of Islamic dominance; the Christian "Reconquest" and the subsequent power of the Inquisition; a century as a pre-industrial world power followed by chronic, prolonged decline; the protracted failure to construct a unified and democratic nation-state: all these things tend to distinguish Spain from its neighbours.
This traditional perspective has sustained several radically opposed but complementary views of Spain. Reactionary historians have lauded Spain's preservation of Catholic pieties and feudal values, untainted by Protestantism, the Enlightenment, and modernity in general. Northern European progressives have used the "Black Legend" of an Inquisition-ridden, impoverished Spain as a cautionary tale against Catholic backwardness. Romantics of all hues have seen Spain as a repository of exotic customs. In sharp contrast to all three interpretations, revisionist historians, Spanish and foreign, emphasise those elements which Spain shares with its EU partners. They are heavily influenced by very recent history, especially the relatively benign experience of Spain's transition to democracy in the 1970s. Their slogan might be "Spain is the same".
The Reconquest is thus revealed as a founding myth of Spanish nationalism rather than as a fixed historical truth. The long push southwards by the Christian kingdoms emerges here, in Richard Fletcher's readable account, more as a demographic necessity than as a noble crusade. The often peaceful interpenetration of Christian and Moorish cultures is shown to have been mutually enriching. It was often financially enriching, too, in unexpected ways - quite a number of Christian knights willingly worked as mercenaries for Arab caliphs in local wars with Christian kings.
This is certainly a refreshing and liberating re-reading. It is not unlike learning that "800 years of British misrule and our freedom struggle against it" was a highly selective screen on which Irish nationalism painted over a much more multicoloured picture. Likewise, Felipe Fernandez-Armesto argues that intellectual and evangelising movements in the 16th-century Spanish Catholic church were a sort of surreptitious Reformation. This is not so convincing, nor are arguments presented later for an indigenous and dynamic Spanish Enlightenment. Too many instances of the exceptionally conservative nature of Spanish Catholicism and Spanish society arise in the succeeding chapters to give those views great credence but, again, it is good to see orthodoxies viewed from another angle.
It is particularly good to see one of the great sacred cows of contemporary Spanish politics - the democratic transition and the 1978 constitution - come under some critical scrutiny in Sebastian Balfour's final chapter. The painful reality is that Spain's evolution towards a unitary state is neither as complete nor as inevitable as many revisionists would wish. This is evidenced by the renewed conflict in the Basque Country, which dominates the book's closing pages. As Balfour puts it: "In the new Spain, reconciliation with the past remains unfinished business." The more Spain changes - and it has changed a lot - the more it remains the same: that is, "different".
It is not clear what readership this book is aimed at. It covers a great deal of ground - from the dim legends of Tartessos to the March 2000 election results - in too few pages. There are no references, which suggests a general market, but much of the dense narrative and analysis cannot be easily read without some specialist knowledge. That is counter-balanced, to a degree, by the unusually well-executed integration of the excellent illustrations with the text.
Paddy Woodworth is an Irish Times journalist