Incomparable Realms

In this admirable and learned study Robbins reassesses the Spain of popular imagination--'angels and austerity, morality and morbidity; Habsburg power and discrete opulence'--to examine afresh its culture and society, its art, literature, mystical theology, its ideology, doctrine, and 'moral polemic.'...One of the book's significant strengths is the author's close and revealing reading of the paintings, never less than fascinating, illuminating, and authoritative. The book includes thirty-nine color plates and numerous black-and-white images embedded in the text that immeasurably add to the reader's understanding. -- Catholic Herald A brilliant account of the Spanish monarchy in its 'Golden Age, ' when it was the foremost power in Europe and ruled a global empire. This is an exceptional achievement by one of the very best cultural historians in the field, combining the art, architecture, literature, social values, political ideas, religious practices, and especially, the thought of Renaissance and Baroque Spain in a coherent and convincing synthesis. Grounded in solid, up-to-date scholarship, it is an invaluable resource for historians, while its lucid style makes this fascinating subject accessible to the general reader. Destined to become a classic of European cultural history. --Edwin Williamson, author of The Penguin History of Latin America Another fundamental work by one of Britain's foremost scholars on the Spanish Golden Age. Robbins delivers a masterful analysis of the intellectual, literary, and visual culture of the global Hispanic world in the early modern period. --Rodrigo Cacho, professor of early modern Iberian and Latin American literature, University of Cambridge