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Book SynopsisSince the early modern era, historians and observers of Spain, both within the country and beyond it, have identified a peculiarly Spanish disdain for work, especially manual labor, and have seen it as a primary explanation for that nation's alleged...
Trade ReviewRuth MacKay's 'Lazy, Improvident People' is a critical examination of the common notion that Spaniards in general have historically preferred to do anything rather than dishonor themselves through manual labor.... To MacKay, the myth of the 'lazy, improvident' Spaniards amounts to a series of discourses in which intellectuals, Spanish and foreign alike, have for centuries been responding largely to each other in ways that reflect the specific political contingencies of their own moments rather than the social and economic realities that characterized the lives of the overwhelming majority of ordinary Spaniards.... The strength of this rich and thought-provoking monograph lies above all in the synthetic range achieved by the author via her thoughtful engagement with an incredibly broad assortment of sources.... MacKay is to be applauded heartily for offering us (to build upon her metaphor) a very 'fruitful' book indeed—one in which are contained seeds that will likely continue for many years to bear bountiful harvests of discussion and debate.
-- David Coleman * Newsletter of the American Academy of Research Historians of Medieval Spain *
