Conflict in Catalonia: images of an urban society

These four excellent interdisciplinary essays, ranging from the 16th century to the 1980s, form a cohesive yet prismatic view of Catalan society under strains of class and national identity. James Amelang describes the retreat from public ceremonies and festivals into private celebrations in their palaces as symbolic ways in which the ruling elite made class and cultural distinctions in the early modern period. The opera house in the 19th century, analyzed by Gary McDonogh, became a significant cultural symbol by which the ruling elites expressed their power. The final two contributions treat the crisis of Catalan identity in its most recent post-Franco phase. Kathryn Woolard singles out language as the definitive mark of identity in a region largely populated by immigrants. This heterogeneous population causes dilemmas on the political scene, according to Susan DiGiacomo, for socialist and communist parties operating between Catalan identity and a mixed non-Catalan working-class population. McDonogh's comprehensive introductory survey of Catalan history amply serves a volume abundant in bibliographical materials.

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