Recommended Books

General

The Portuguese: The Land and Its People, by Marion Kaplan (Viking, 2006), is one of the best surveys of the country. The work covers Portuguese history all the way from the country's Moorish origins to its maritime empire and into the chaotic 20th century. It also gives travel information and discusses politics, the economy, literature, art, and architecture.

A towering achievement, Journey to Portugal: In Pursuit of Portugal's History and Culture (Harvest Books, 2002), is a compelling work by the Nobel Prize-winner José Saramago. Saramago traveled across his homeland to get a "new way" of feeling about Portugal's history and culture. From that personal quest, he created this monumental work.

History

A Concise History of Portugal, by David Birmingham (Cambridge University Press, 1993) is far too short at 209 pages to capture the full sweep of Portuguese history, but it is nonetheless a very readable history for those who like at least a brief preview of a country's past before landing there.

Another version of the same subject is Portugal: A Companion History, by José H. Saraiva (Carcanet Press, 1998). It will give you a sweeping saga of the land you're about to visit.

Portugal's role abroad is best presented in Charles Ralph Boxer's Portuguese Seaborne Empire (Carcanet Press, 1991). Since its initial publication in 1969, this frequently reprinted book has been the best volume for explaining how an unimportant kingdom in western Europe managed to build an empire stretching from China to Brazil.

Fiction & Biography

The epic poem of Portugal, O Lusiadas, written in 1572 by the premier Portuguese poet Luíz Vaz de Camóes, celebrates the Portuguese Age of Discovery. In 1987, Penguin rereleased this timeless classic. The best biography on Camóes himself remains Aubrey Bell's Luis de Camóes (Oxford Press, 1923).

One of Portugal's most beloved writers, Eça de Queiroz, wrote in the late 19th century. Several of his best-known narratives have been translated into English, notably The Maias (Penguin Classics, 1999), The Illustrious House of Ramires (New Directions Publishing, 1994), The Mandarin and Other Stories (Hippocrene Books, 1993), The City and the Mountains (Ohio University Press, 1967), The Relic (Eca Da Quieros, 1954), The Sin of Father Amaro (Max Reinhart, 1962), and Dragon's Teeth (Eca De Quieros, 1972). Queiroz (1845-1900) was the most realistic Portuguese novelist of his time, and his works were much admired by Emile Zola in France. The Maias is the best known and the best of his works.

The great poet Fernando Pessoa (1888-1935) is second only to Camóes in the list of illustrious Portuguese writers. Some of his works have been translated into English. Pessoa is still beloved by the Portuguese, and for decades he appeared on the 100-escudo note before it went out of circulation in 2002.

The Return of the Caravels, by António Lobo Antunes (Grove, 2002), is an unusual novel set in 1974. It brings back Portugal's history as an imperial power by "collective memory," as Vasco da Gama, Cabral, and other explorers return to Lisbon, anchoring their small but significant vessels alongside the giant tankers of today.

José Saramago, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature (see "General," above), remains one of the best novelists of modern-day Portugal. His Baltasar and Blimunda (Harvest Books, 1998) is a magical account of a flying machine and the construction of Mafra Palace -- it's a delightful read.

The work New Portuguese Letters by the "Three Marias" (Maria Isabel Barreno, Maria Teresa Horta, and Maria Fátima Velho da Costa), first published in Portugal in 1972, is available in English (Doubleday, 1975). The Portuguese government banned and confiscated all copies and arrested its authors on a charge of "outrage to public decency." They were acquitted 2 years later, and the case became a cause célèbre for feminist organizations around the world.

Wines

The finest book on the most famous of Portuguese fortified wines, port, is previewed in Richard Mayson's Port and the Douro (Faber & Faber, 2000). This is a comprehensive, articulate, and intriguing work. You learn the history of port from the 4th century up through modern methods of bottling the wine today.