The Selected Essays of Julio Caro Baroja

The Selected Essays of Julio Caro Baroja gathers together some of the author’s finest writing on a wide variety of topics relevant to the Basque Country and the lives of Basques throughout history. Gathered and introduced by Jesús Azcona, these essays provide a broad sketch of Caro Baroja’s extraordinary career spanning almost the entire turbulent twentieth century. In Caro Baroja’s view the material world of technology and its applications and the spiritual world of social and cultural life are inextricably intertwined. Among the topics covered in these essays are the historical-cultural context of the Basque Country in relation to its neighbors; Basque history; cultural cycles and identity; Basque-Iberianism; the Basque language, its lexicon, and its dialects; the “traditional” Basque economy, and agriculture and cattle raising; the structure and functions of the Basque house; Basque shipbuilding and ironworking; the Basque relationship with the sea; the feeling of belonging in the Basque Diaspora; and the Basques yesterday and today.