REVIEWS

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• THE FINANCIAL TIMES (NEWSPAPER)

"Shrewd and affectionate...full of gems...a good eye for architecture and topography...a splendid portrait of a bewitching land."
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• HOT PRESS (MAGAZINE)

"A spectacular achievement by any standards. Definitive in scope and lyrical in style...fit to set alongside any of the finest travel writing of recent decades."

• THE IRISH TIMES (NEWSPAPER)

"A terrific modern introduction to the Basque Country... succeeds in showing us the complexities of the Basque struggle for identity."

• THE DAILY TELEGRAPH (NEWSPAPER)

"Fascinating and complex...accurate and affectionate...its erudition and easy-going style are particularly refreshing."

• SUNDAY BUSINESS POST (NEWSPAPER)

"He weaves a rich tapestry from his catalogue of stories and journeys but is not slow to criticise, often with acerbic wit...knows his subject intimately...a roller-coaster ride around the region...expands our idea of identity in a world of sameness... more than a travel book. Through this valuable record of a culture surviving, often thriving, we share a richness and depth often missing from modern life. Woodworth guides us down that road with style and intensity, until you want to savour the uniqueness of the Basque country first-hand."

• THE TABLET (MAGAZINE)

"With his passion for his subject, and talent for telling anecdotes as well as cinematic scanning, Woodworth is one of the best guides to have on this mystery tour of one of Europe's most physically beautiful and culturally complex regions...painted with flair and insight."

• THE DUBLINER (MAGAZINE)

"A marvellous book...subtle and ironic...do buy this book if you are going to the Basque Country, or if you have no intention of ever going but enjoy armchair exploration."

• THE SUNDAY TRIBUNE (NEWSPAPER)

"An enthralling homage...deserves to rank as [the] companion of Julio Medem's film, The Basque Ball."

• JOSEBA ZULAIKA

'Jewels in every page' - an edited version of a pre-publication review of The Basque Country by Joseba Zulaika for the publishers, Signal and Oxford University Press

​Paddy Woodworth's book is much greater and better than anything I expected. It is filled with jewels almost in every page. Easy to read, sensorially rich, with perfect background information on history, ethnography, politics, balanced in the political and cultural perceptions, incredibly perceptive to the nuances of daily life, with a great combination of empathy and distance towards the Basques.

This is a wonderful text. Woodworth has made a major contribution to the literature on the Basques. I think his book is the closest to the British folklorist Rodney Gallop's seminal A Book of the Basques 80 years ago. It is incredibly perceptive in most basic things about current Basques. It is written with great empathy. The text has a lot of things that are brand new, things that appear obvious to a well informed traveler like him but which have never been written before.

This is a perfect text for introductory courses to Basque studies.

Basques themselves could learn so much from this book. Because of his hard gained insights, balanced views, and the power of his writing, Woodworth has earned a central place among foreign writers commenting on the Basques. Looking at the Basque Country through the veracity and the appetite for knowledge and even the moments of magic displayed by his text, a place as small as the one he describes becomes indeed a universe.

Woodworth has the merit of having opened the doors to the vision and taste, enigma and struggle of the place like no one else in recent years.

Joseba Zulaika is the author of numerous books and articles on the Basque Country, including Basque Violence; Terrorism and Taboo (with William Douglass); Chronicle of a Seduction (about the Guggenheim); ETA's Ashes, and That Old Bilbao Moon: The Passion and Resurrection of a City. He is a former director of the Center for Basque Studies at the University of Reno where he currently teaches anthropology. This edited version of the review is published here with his kind permission.