España: temas de cultura y civilización (review)

266 Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies thereof), a gargantuan highway network, rhe suburbs it has spawned, and halting efforts to reclaim the urban center. Part II, "Places of the City," explores Houston through detailed and grounded accounts of the city's prominenr and hidden locales—boulevards and housing projects, municipal parks and immigrant enclaves —and what they say about the city and American urban life in late twentieth century. In part III, "Buildings of the City," the focus is architectural, how Houston's economic booms, loose planning, and daring design make rhe city a place astounding to its critics in ways both positive and negative. Contributors chronicle the rise and rise again of the Houston skyscraper , rhe city's changing housing, the aging modernity of the Astrodome, and the postmodernity of Conoco's new corporate headquarters . Luckily, the editors chose to append updates to these essays—some twenty years old— rather than revise them, leaving these dispatches intact and redolent of the 1980s and 1990s Houston from which they emerged. The result is a compelling, aggregate portrait of city making in its time and place. Three audiences will find rhis book appealing , each more general than the last. First is the aficionado of Houston and urbanism in Texas, for which this book's specificity is miracle. Second is the reader interested in late twentieth century Sunbelt city, tired of hearing about die post-industrial Northeastern U.S. or the disaster-prone California metropolis, for which this account of a city in the middle will be refreshing. This book will speak to inhabitants of similar cities not so lucky to have a corps of such skilled and prolific observers. This brings up the third, and most generalized, audience . Getting a handle on our jealousy, we may find it inspirational to hold in hand a book so devoted to the ongoing critical engagement with just one city, a forum outside local media boosterism or academic jargon where thoughtful commentary can be aired in clear English prose. For criticisms of this book, please hold a mirror up to my comments above. This is a highly specific and place-bound kind of book, which assumes you think Houston is interesting and has something to teach us. Because Cite is specifically pitched as critical commentary and not theoretical analysis, the reader must often draw out broader lessons and be willing to extrapolate from this city's experience. These essays remain dispatches more rhan case studies , since there is no conceptual framework being developed or grounded in the particular. If you are contented with Houston's specificity , or willing to do some analytical work of your own, this may be your book. If not... One may, in the end, like Houston less after reading this book than before. But Ephemeral City makes the contribution of looking carefully and without undue prejudice at sprawling metropolis that increasingly defines urban life. Houston may be, as in the words of the editors, "a wild, confusing place." But such cities more of motion than fixity may be our urban future. This book reminds us that paying attention, getting it down on paper, and debating it is not only necessary, but also possible. Why can't it be like this more often? David L. Prytherch The Miami University España: temas de cultura y civilización Heinle, 2003 By Luisa Piemontese-Ramos and Carlos Arboleda A Spanish civilization and culture text for American undergraduates is difficult to write. No particular approach will appeal to all audiences whether it is organized thematically, historically , politically, geographically, etc. España: temas de cultura y civilización will not satisfy all readers, either. This textbook is directed at intermediate -advanced learners and is organized geographically, devoting each chapter to a particular Spanish autonomous community, though some chapters focus on two regions. The only difference widi regard to that organization is Chapter 1, "España y la Comunidad Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies 267 Europea" and the final chapter, "España en el mundo." It needs to be stated from the outset that this text does not follow a historical pattern as many other civilization texts do. The textbook does include a rather short...