Books about Alhambra from Amazon.com

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Price: $2.14 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Read the Bldg Blog interview with Mary Beard about the Wonders of the World series (Part I and Part II)

The Alhambra has long been a byword for exotic and melancholy beauty. In his absorbing new book, Robert Irwin, Arabist and novelist, examines its history and allure.

The Alhambra is the only Muslim palace to have survived since the Middle Ages. Built by a threatened dynasty of Muslim Spain, it was preserved as a monument to the triumph of Christianity. Every day thousands of tourists enter this magnificent site to be awestruck by its towers and courts, its fountained gardens, its honeycombed ceilings and intricate tile work. It is a complex full of mysteries--even its purpose is unclear. Its sophisticated ornamentation is not indiscriminate but full of hidden meaning. Its most impressive buildings were designed not by architects, but by philosophers and poets. The Alhambra, which resembles a fairy-tale palace, was constructed by slave labor in an era of economic decline, plague, and political violence. Its sumptuously appointed halls have lain witness to murder and mayhem. Yet its influence on art and on literature--including Orientalist painting and the architecture of cinemas, Washington Irving and Jorge Luis Borges--has been lasting and significant. As our guide to this architectural masterpiece, Robert Irwin allows us to fully understand the impact of the Alhambra.

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Price: $11.40 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Rough draughts of some of the following tales and essays were actually written during a residence in the Alhambra; others were subsequently added, founded on notes and observations made there. Care was taken to maintain local coloring and verisimilitude; so that the whole might present a faithful and living picture of that microcosm, that singular little world into which I had been fortuitously thrown; and about which the external world had a very imperfect idea. It was my endeavor scrupulously to depict its half Spanish, half Oriental character; its mixture of the heroic, the poetic, and the grotesque; to revive the traces of grace and beauty fast fading from its walls; to record the regal and chivalrous traditions concerning those who once trod its courts; and the whimsical and superstitious legends of the motley race now burrowing among its ruins..
Price: $14.35 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Three story collections of great urbanity and poise from the first American author to burst onto the international literary scene. "The Alhambra," Irving's "Spanish Sketchbook," was inspired by his 1829 residence at the ancient Moorish palace at Granada; weaving history, legend, and description, it remains the best guidebook to this haunting place. Over 120 tales in all..
Price: $16.99 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Washington Irving’s dreamlike description of Spain’s Granada and the beautiful Moorish castle, the Alhambra, remains one of the most entertaining travelogues ever written Enhanced here with exquisite Spanish guitar music, the narrative is a heady mix of fact, myth, and depictions of secret chambers, desperate battles, imprisoned princesses, palace ghosts, and fragrant gardens, described in a wistful and dreamlike eloquence, will transport listeners to a paradise of their own..
Price: $13.49 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The first American writer to make his pen his primary means of support, Washington Irving rocketed to fame at the age of 26. In 1809 he published A History of New York under the pseudonym Diedrich Knickerbocker to great acclaim. The public's appetite for all things Irving was insatiable; his name alone guaranteed sales. At the time, he was one of the most famous men in the world, a friend of Dickens, Hawthorne, and Longfellow, as well as Astor, Van Buren, and Madison. But his sparkling public persona was only one side of this gentleman author. In brilliant, meticulous strokes, Brian Jay Jones renders Washington Irving in all his flawed splendor - someone who fretted about money and employment, sufferedfrom writer's block, and doggedly cultivated his reputation. Jones offers as never before a very human portrait of the often contrasting public and private lives of this true American original..
Price: $9.99 [Notify me when price goes down.]

This book gives a detailed description of the Moorish Castle it is named after, along with story of kings, legends of leaders, lost and found loves, and enchnted treasures. Written so exquisitely, makes the reader feeling of being there..
Price: $18.56 [Notify me when price goes down.]