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Title details for World Without End by Hugh Thomas - Available

World Without End

Spain, Philip II, and the First Global Empire

by Hugh Thomas
Shaun Grindell
Audiobook
2 of 2 copies available
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2 of 2 copies available
The legacy of imperial Spain was shaped by many hands. Chief among them is the towering figure of King Philip II, the cultivated Spanish monarch whom a contemporary once called "the arbiter of the world." Cheerful and pious, he inherited vast authority from his father, but nevertheless felt himself unworthy to wield it. His forty-two-year reign changed the face of the globe forever. Alongside Philip we find the entitled descendants of New Spain's original explorers—men who, like their king, came into possession of land they never conquered and wielded supremacy they never sought. Here too are the Roman Catholic religious leaders of the Americas, whose internecine struggles created possibilities that the emerging Jesuit order was well-positioned to fill.


With the sublime stories of arms and armadas, kings and conquistadors come tales of the ridiculous: the opulent parties of New Spain's wealthy hedonists and the unexpected movement to encourage Philip II to conquer China. Finally, Hugh Thomas unearths the first indictments of imperial Spain's labor rights abuses in the Americas—and the early attempts by its more enlightened rulers and planters to address them.


Written in the brisk, flowing narrative style that has come to define Hugh Thomas's work, the final volume of this acclaimed trilogy stands alone as a history of an empire making the transition from conquest to inheritance—a history that Thomas reveals through the fascinating lives of the people who made it.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    August 11, 2015

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781494592691
      • File size: 434173 KB
      • Duration: 15:04:31

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      June 29, 2015
      The final installment of Thomas’s trilogy (after Rivers of Gold and The Golden Empire) completes his overview of Spain’s Golden Age–era conquests in the Americas and Asia. While he provides contextual information about Philip II’s European and colonial concerns, the emphasis remains on the vigorous conquering and colonizing of resource-laden lands to benefit Spain’s reputation and coffers. Thomas clearly excels in the Spanish history of religion, politics, and culture, but he mistakenly claims—without citation—that Philip’s desperately needy English wife, Mary I, was uninterested in him, as well as that the most recently canonized pope was Pius V (five popes have been canonized since). The inclusion of historical maps and relevant appendices helps greatly in tracing individual figures and explorations, especially when the narrative’s expansive approach and numerous tangential stories make it difficult for readers to keep track. Thomas successfully shows that Spain’s global ambition knew no bounds; the history of western Spanish colonies may be well-trod, but the discussion of initially optimistic attempts to conquer China and the Philippines will pique interest. Illus. Agency: Wylie Agency.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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