Valencia

A lot has happened in the miles and years we’ve covered together. Midnight at The Valencia is an honest account of some of the highs and lows we encountered and the stories we found along the way: ‘Ride Home’ unfolds a portrait of a boy we watched going off to war, only to see him return later a man; ‘Adeline’ is a melancholy love letter from a father to his daughter; ‘Morning Light’ follows a family man as he tries to rebuild his life after a divorce; ‘Breathe’ chronicles a tryst between illicit lovers fighting to slip the stranglehold of failing relationships; ‘Push/Pull’ is that plaintive rite of passage through loss and grief we all have to navigate; ‘Keep on Running’ is a cautionary tale of a friend’s brush with the unsolicited attentions of a stalker; and if ‘Holding my Breath’ is a confession to a partner of feeling trapped in a relationship, ‘Your Spark’ is the counterpoint finale: a thank you from one of us to his wife.

«Ormai la storia contemporanea non si scrive più pensando alle esperienze dei sopravvissuti, ma contando il numero dei morti.» I corpi smembrati e torturati, il sangue e i cadaveri sono un elemento della realtà quotidiana del Messico e dei luoghi di confine tra Nord e Sud del mondo, ma sono anche una merce di scambio e un prodotto brutale del capitalismo globale e della cultura iper-consumista che ha diffuso. Mentre il prodotto criminale lordo è giunto a sfiorare il 15% del PIL mondiale, è evidente che a circolare liberamente nell'epoca della globalizzazione neoliberista non sono le persone, bensì la droga, le armi, la violenza e il capitale che queste generano..

Max Cámara is feeling low. Ominous cracks have appeared in the walls of his flat; the body of a well-known paella chef has been washed up on the beach; there are rows and threats about abortion clinics; and the town is set on demolishing El Cabanyal, the colourful fisherman's quarter on Valencia's sea-front.

Drawing on hitherto unpublished sources James Casey explores two major themes in Spanish historiography - the consequences of the expulsion of the Moriscos (heavily concentrated in Valencia in the early seventeenth century), and the way in which the Habsburg Monarchy kept or lost control over its peripheral provinces.