" this was a disappointment for me. i thought it was going to be full of revelations about the basque popping up to influence events at pivotal moments in history, or perhaps the book would be a catalog of the basque political or industrial contributions to the world. instead, it was just a list of events that you'd expect to find in any book about anyone. like most of mark kurlansky's books, and many potboiler 'histories' of the recent past, however, it needed a sensational, gimmicky title. if it just was titled, a history of the basque, it would have been closer to ideal. "
— thos., 1/26/2014