When on his game Hughes’ writing is insightful, witty, observant, educational. Here that would be the first 100 pages and the last 120, of the 574 pages which reveal that the Catlans are not Spanish, but Catalan; their art, architecture and politics come from their history of being with or against the rest of Spain, having their own language and culture, with economic/political battles against Madrid from early Roman history to today (Beckham was going to Barcelona F.C. before Real Madrid stole him away at the last second). I imagine he started with the idea of writing a book about the fantastic Art Nouveau architecture in one of the most architecturally interesting cities in the world, to discover that the Catalan spirit was such a force in shaping the uniqueness of the style that more needed to understood about who these people with their own language and culture that is sometimes banned by the national government. Unfortunately the author goes too deep in cataloging the complexities of the history of Barcelona, some of which is just not that interesting, the large middle of the book saps the reader’s strength. The text comes alive again for the ending sections on the late 1800s when Barcelona was the bomb throwing anarchy capital of the world leading into the development of the Art Nouveau/Modernista movement, although slowing a bit before finishing with a really excellent examination and comment of Gaudi, the person and his work.
Mr Hughes needed a stronger editor for this book, it would be a brilliant 250 page book. Some severe editing to take out the boring but academic sections was really needed. That said, it is worth reading. Scim the middle sections. When Hughes is on his game it is good reading
Het Epos van Barcelona, koningin der steden
