Investigates the Spanish people and culture, and examines how Spaniards and Americans can interact with each other successfully.

Now in an updated second edition Seven years after the publication of the first edition, Spain is still different, but it is changing, too - modernizing rapidly and participating as an active member of the European Union. While thoroughly updating her original work, Helen Wattley-Ames has maintained her focus in describing the uniqueness of both the Spanish people and their culture and on examining what effect the differences have on the way the Spaniards and Americans relate to and interact with each other. She looks at how Spain has evolved from a travel destination, as source of "sun and cheap wine," to a dynamic modern society. She depicts a people proud of their accomplishments, yet working hard to maintain valued traditions in the face of increased buying power and more European and American influence. The author begins by looking into Spain's past and at critical dimensions of present day American-Spanish relations. She then explores certain aspects of culture important in cross-cultural interactions: society and the individual; relationships; language and communication; work and play. She ends each chapter with an "encounter" - a critical incident that illuminates a situation which may cause misunderstanding, embarrassment or conflict. With extensively updated and revised sections on women (in the workplace in particular), and new sections on minorities and immigrants, and ethics and corruption, the new edition of Spain is Different will be welcomed by anyone looking for clear guidance on how to be most effective in the encounter with the people and culture of Spain.

"Spain Is (Still) Different introduces readers to issues concerning the cultural function of tourism in Spain. An international team of scholars addresses both theoretical perspectives on the study of tourism in Spain and specific cases of the cultural impact of travel and tourism on Spanish culture in the late eighteenth to early twenty-first centuries.

The end of the second millennium witnessed an increase in science-fictional apocalyptic narratives globally. There is a noteworthy difference between such fictions from Latin America and the anglophone world and those from Spain, in which scientific explanations of events coexist with biblically-inspired plots, characters and imagery. This is the first book-length study of either science-fictional novels or apocalyptic literature in that country, analysing six such works between 1990 and 2005. Within a theoretical framework that includes critical and genre theories, archetypal criticism, and biblical scholarship, the book explains this phenomenon as a result of three historical factors: the ‘Two Spains’, Spanish ‘difference’, and the ‘Pact of Silence’, a tacit agreement that made justice and accountability impossible in the name of a peaceful transition to democracy. It repressed any processing of the historical trauma experienced during the Civil War and dictatorship, trauma that manifests itself symbolically in these fictions.

Seven years after the publication of the first edition, Spain is still different, but it is changing, too—modernizing rapidly and participating as an active member of the European Union. While thoroughly updating her original work, Helen Wattley-Ames has maintained her focus in describing the uniqueness of both the Spanish people and their culture and on examining what effect the differences have on the way the Spaniards and Americans relate to and interact with each other. She looks at how Spain has evolved from a travel destination, as source of “sun and cheap wine,” to a dynamic modern society. She depicts a people proud of their accomplishments, yet working hard to maintain valued traditions in the face of increased buying power and more European and American influence. The author begins by looking into Spain’s past and at critical dimensions of present day American-Spanish relations. She then explores certain aspects of culture important in cross-cultural interactions: society and the individual; relationships; language and communication; work and play. She ends each chapter with an “encounter”—a critical incident that illuminates a situation which may cause misunderstanding, embarrassment or conflict. With extensively updated and revised sections on women (in the workplace in particular), and new sections on minorities and immigrants, and ethics and corruption, the new edition of Spain is Different will be welcomed by anyone looking for clear guidance on how to be most effective in the encounter with the people and culture of Spain.

The history of twentieth-century Spanish nationalism is a complex one, placing a set of famously distinctive regional identities against a backdrop of religious conflict, separatist tensions, and the autocratic rule of Francisco Franco. And despite the undeniably political character of that story, cultural history can also provide essential insights into the subject. Metaphors of Spain brings together leading historians to examine Spanish nationalism through its diverse and complementary cultural artifacts, from “formal” representations such as the flag to music, bullfighting, and other more diffuse examples. Together they describe not a Spanish national “essence,” but a nationalism that is constantly evolving and accommodates multiple interpretations.

The slogan that launched the tourist industry in the 1960s, Spain is different, has come to haunt historians. This book tackles a number of key themes in modern Spanish history: liberalism, nationalism, anticlericalism, the Second Republic, the Franco dictatorship and the transition to democracy.

* Provides a deeper, long-term understanding of the nation and its people * Designed to supplement the "usual suspect" guide books A guidebook can show you where to go, a phrasebook what to say when you get there. Only Speak the Culture: Spain will lead you to the nation's soul. Spain boasts a rich and sometimes misunderstood culture, itself infused with the influences of other great and distant civilizations. Spanish life, language and culture in its widest sense is a major force of growing influence. How many outside it understand its origins and significance? Through exploring the people, the movements and the lifestyles that have shaped the Spanish experience, you will come to an intimate understanding of Spain and the Spanish. There are many travel guides and manuals on living in Spain. Speak the Culture: Spain is different: a superbly designed, informed and entertaining insight into Spanish life and culture and who the Spanish really are. For new residents, business travelers, holidaymakers, students and lovers of Spain everywhere, Speak the Culture: Spain is an engaging companion and guide to an enviably rich civilization at the heart of Europe. Excerpt "As you might expect Spain's traditional vernacular architecture isn't easily pigeonholed; regionalism generates marked variation. Available building materials and, more significantly, climate have always dictated how people build their houses or outbuildings. The Spaniards' approach to living arrangements is more easily summed up. They're nothing if not sociable; while northern Europeans anxiously section off their own plot of terra firma, in Spain they seem to enjoy living on top of each other, clustered in apartments and houses around the plaza mayor. It's not like they're short of space either--a population density of around 85 per sq km is one of the lowest in Europe."

This volume, largely the work of Spanish scholars, looks at the functioning of Spain since the introduction of democracy and more particularly since the Constitution of 1978. Contents: The Franco Legacy in Perspective: Juan Carlos and the Emergence of Democracy Paul Preston. Collective memory and the transition to democracy: on the peculiarity of the Basque Country in Spanish context Paloma Aguilar Fernandez. Reflections on the Struggle Against Franco Elias Diaz. Decentralisation in Spain: weakly institutionalized pluralism Joseph M. Colomer. Elections, parties and democratic consolidation in Spain Jose Ramon Montero. Political Scandals in Democratic Spain Fernando Jimenez Sanchez. Power Diffusion or concentration: in search of the Policy Process Paul Heywood. Pressure Groups and the Articulation of Interests Joaquim M Molins and Alex Casademunt. Judicial Review and Political Empowerment: Abortion in Spain Belen Barreiro Perez-Pardo.