The Basque History of the World
by Mark Kurlansky
Penguin Books

Spain: Explosives and Basques Seized
The police arrested six suspected Basque separatists in Catalonia and seized 550 pounds of stolen explosives. The authorities said the police action had dismantled the separatist ETA's network in Barcelona and averted a possible wave of bombings.
— The New York Times, Aug. 25, 2001

If only exposed to the mainstream media, most Americans would tell you the only newsworthy events taking place in Basqueland, indeed in the entire country of Spain, are ETA's car bombings and assassinations of government officials.

There is more to Basqueland than ETA, however, and Mark Kurlansky's "The Basque History of the World," while acknowledging the presence and tracing the history of ETA, emphasizes the long-overlooked tale of Basque history, culture and language. The book (published in 1999 and reprinted in paperback in 2001) tells the fascinating story of an ancient civilization and sheds light on the marginalization of the Basques and their longstanding struggle for independence. Although it remains difficult to sympathize with ETA, a deeper understanding of the Basques results in a more clearly defined notion of the demands and viability of the region's nationalist movements.

While Basque history parallels the formation of Spain up to a point, the region's people have consciously and unconsciously diverged for hundreds, even thousands, of years. The Basque story is a necessary aside from Spanish history and a story that, officially, is rarely told.

Kurlansky aims to hit every mark on the Basque timeline, while incorporating poems and quaint first person accounts into the book. The result is a somewhat uneven work that at times shines — like in the detailed, horrifying description of the bombing of Guernica and dictator Francisco Franco's categorical denial of all involvement — while bogging itself down with extraneous information and recipes for dishes that would be impossible to create outside of Bilbao. Where does an amateur chef pick up baby eels, anyway?

Despite these jagged tendencies, Kurlansky's work does succeed in introducing this region's rich history to readers. Kurlansky notes that Basques sailed to America with Columbus (in fact they may have already been here when he arrived), that its language has no known antecedents in spite of linguists' unending efforts to trace its roots, and that its culture helped popularize chocolate even as its industry supplied Europe with steel. Through it all, there is the story of the countless ways in which the rest of Spain has continually attempted to suppress Basque's expression of their individuality.

Leaving not a red Basque beret untouched, Kurlansky includes a description of every Basque who has made a significant contribution to the cause of celebrating Basqueness — concentrating on lesser-known Basque figures instead of big names like Miguel de Unamuno — and perhaps losing some of his fair-weather Basque fans along the way.

Kurlansky's failings lie in his obvious bias: his insinuations that the region's culture and people are stronger, smarter and better than everyone around them and his tendency to unconditionally support ETA's terrorist attacks diminish the book's presence as a completely historical account. His work does, however, unearth some startling information not covered in Spanish history books about the government's involvement in organizations as bad as, if not worse than, ETA.

Historically, Basques are one of the most repressed people in Spain, if not the world; Kurlansky's text does fill a void in the official Spanish view of Basqueland and its people. A Basque reading list cannot in good conscience be comprised solely of "The Basque History of the World," but Kurlansky's work is undeniably a good introduction to a people who have had a presence on the world stage since the dawn of recorded time and show no signs of quietly stepping down.

— Sara J. Brenneis (sara at flakmag dot com)