{"product_id":"9781788547420","title":"Lost Paradise: The Story of Granada","description":"Author: Drayson, Elizabeth\u003cbr\u003eISBN: 9781788547420\u003cbr\u003ePublisher: Bloomsbury\u003cbr\u003eYear first published: 01 Oct 2021\u003cbr\u003ePages: 480 Format: Hardback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch2\u003e'The true paradises are the paradises we have lost,' wrote Marcel Proust. This beautifully illustrated account of the historical city of Granada strikes at the heart of this message. \u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'An admirable achievement... (Drayson has) expertise as a scholar and command as a storyteller'\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eBBC History Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'A glittering homage to one of the world's most beautiful and storied cities'\u003c\/b\u003e Dan Jones\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Beauty built on blood and brutality... A fascinating new tome'\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eDaily Mail\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'A gloriously illustrated book as compelling to look at as it is to read'\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eInternational Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Andalusian city of Granada has long cast its spell on visitors. In the ninth centruy, the Muslim sage Abd al-Malik described it as a place of enchantment, while a later poet, Ibn Zamrak, sang of it as a city that wears a crown upon its forehead, bejewelled with diamond stars. From the early Middle Ages to the present, foreign travellers have been bewitched by Granada's peerless beauty.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGranada is also the stuff of story and legend, with an unforgettable history to match. Romans, then Visigoths, settled here, as did a community of Jews; in the eleventh century a Berber chief made Granada his capital, and from 1230 until 1492 the Nasrids     Spain's last Islamic dynasty     ruled the emirate of Granada from their fortress-palace of the Alhambra. After capturing the city to complete the Christian Reconquista, the Catholic monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella made the Alhambra the site of their royal court.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn this, the first narrative history of Granada for English-speaking readers, Elizabeth Drayson takes the reader on a voyage of discovery that uncovers the many-layered past of Spain's most complex and fascinating city, celebrating and exploring its evolving identity. Her account brings to the fore the image of Granada as a lost paradise, revealing it as a place of perpetual contradiction and linking it to the great dilemma over Spain's true identity as a nation. This is the story of a vanished Eden, of a place that questions and probes Spain's deep obsession with forgetting, and with erasing historical and cultural memory.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ships in 10 to 15 days","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46631845920926,"sku":"UBD-9781788547420","price":62.78,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0400\/9043\/5742\/files\/9781788547420.jpg?v=1774310105","url":"https:\/\/classicbargains.com.au\/products\/9781788547420","provider":"Classic Bargains Australia","version":"1.0","type":"link"}