The Lead Books Today

Abstract

The nature of truth as it is manifested through the interplay of history, fiction, myth and legend forms the kernel from which the Lead Books unfurled. Ancient and contemporary historical circumstances created the backdrop to a series of events whose uncanny synchronicities engendered a body of cultural and religious icons of ineffable significance for Catholics and Muslims alike. The stage upon which this intense and long-lasting drama was played out was the city of Granada, whose position as the primary city of Spain was, and in my view still is, at stake, largely due to its vital role in the momentous events which have formed the subject of this book. Modern Granada has an exotic allure unlike any other Spanish city; its stunning natural setting amid the snow-capped mountains of the Sierra Nevada and its striking Islamic architecture lend it a fairytale glamour. It is Spain’s most visited tourist location, embodying the idealized myth of this city as a site of unsurpassable beauty with a history to match, in which Christians lived side by side with their Moorish compatriots, whose cultural interaction has left its traces all around in the buildings, markets and lifestyle of the Granadans. The Moorish quarter of the Aibaidn, home to Miguel de Luna and crucible of the unrest which led to the Alpujarra war, is now a gentrified neighbourhood with narrow, winding streets boasting North African-style tea shops, where locals often greet each other in Arabic, and wish each other a Happy Ramadan.