SOCIAL SCIENCES

Granada:A Pomegranate in the Hand of God

by Steven Nightingale
Counterpoint. 2015. 400p. photos. bibliog. ISBN 9781619024601. $26; ebk. ISBN 9781619025066. TRAV
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Many travel stories focus on a fish-out-of-water, inexperienced family moving to a foreign land and their trials and tribulations while buying and remodeling a house, but this book puts a twist on the genre and does not really focus on the family reboot of home and life. Nightingale (a writer and poet) and his family moved into the Albayzin neighborhood (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) in the city of Granada, Spain, right across from the historic Alhambra, bought and remodeled a home with a garden. But that's just the backstory. What the author really wants to talk about is the beauty and brutality of the history that has taken place in this area for hundreds of years among the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim populations.
VERDICT While readers might wish for more cute anecdotes about the author and his family and their adventures in an unfamiliar country, this book takes readers on a different historical path. Armchair travel enthusiasts and those who are interested in Spanish and Islamic history will enjoy this tale.
Reviewed by Melissa Aho, Univ. of Minnesota Bio-Medical Lib., Minneapolis , Mar 01, 2015
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