WASHINGTON IRVING
A vital book on momentous events in Iberia
The works of Washington Irving, one of the earliest of the great American writers, need little introduction. He was a man of varied interests and enormous talent able to write entertaining and enduring fiction including the iconic The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and the wonderful collection of travelogue and fantasy that is Tales from the Alhambra. His ability as an historian cannot be underestimated and he was able to leave posterity a canon of outstanding books on subjects ranging from the early days of exploration in his homeland, to this book, The Conquest of Granada, about the history of Spain-a country in which he worked while living in the famous Alhambra of Granada. The period of Spanish history this book concentrates on is fascinating. The Islamic world, both in the form of the Ottoman Turks and the Moors of North Africa, made enormous inroads into Christian Europe over hundreds of years. Before this Islamic tide finally abated it had to be turned back at Tours-almost at the gates of Paris-by Charles Martel in AD 732 and would besiege Vienna in 1529 and
