SPAIN UNTROUBLED By Michael H. Mason
Spain is certainly in the news, and publishers are, naturally, taking advant- age of it ; but it seems hardly necessary, in view of the many new books available or in preparation, to revive old books, unless, of course, they are of outstanding merit and topicality. Spain Untroubled (Hodder and Stoughton, 5s.) is a reissue of Mr. Mason's Trivial Adven- tures in the Spanish Highlands, which was published in 1932. The author explains that " While many must be thinking of Spain, today, as a beastly Dago country where murder is the National Sport and crowds burn churches and rape nuns and neither side gives quarter to prisoners, I republish this book to show that the Spain I knew and loved was a white man's country—where the poor peasant was a simple gentleman and his wife and daughter were charming ladies." Fewer people than the author imagines will need his book for this reason, which assumes a more than usually stupid reaction to the news offered by the sensational Press. Apart from this Spain Untroubled may be read as an entertaining, though not very valuable, account of a trip by horse and mule from Bilbao to La Coruna. There are some excellent photographs.
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