What would have made Spain better?
A narrator who knows how to pronounce Spanish words would have greatly improved this book. Also, less background on why the author decided to study Spain — it was a very uninteresting hour.
Would you ever listen to anything by Stanley G. Payne again?
I’ve heard that he is an authority on the comparative history of fascism, so I would give that work a chance. But the amount of ideological axe-grinding he does in this book was a little obnoxious. He couldn’t get through the Visigoth period without lashing out at multiculturalists.
How could the performance have been better?
The number one criterion for a good narrator for a book on the history of Spain is being able to pronounce Spanish-language words. Pierce did not meet that criterion. Every time he had to say a Spanish-language word or name, it was cringeworthy. He seems like he would be okay for other audiobooks…but he was not the right person for this job.
Any additional comments?
I wish that I could get my credit back.