In this book Linda Martz explores the major developments in the theory and practice of poor relief in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Spain and determines how far Spanish attitudes to poverty compared with those of other countries in western Europe. This scholarly and lucid exploration of attitudes to poverty and welfare has been prepared with the interests of non-Hispanists also borne in mind and all quotations are in English. It provides an original contribution to the socio-economic history of western Europe.

This collection of essays examines interactions of war, peace and religion in the United States, a country where religious faith was, and still is, often deeply felt and widely held, where faith has provided a set of values to uphold with fervor or to transgress in protest, and where religion has been used to legitimize both armed violence and passive resistance. These essays analyze the mythos of America as a place of religious freedom, yet one imbued with a socially-imposed civil religion and underpinned by a heavy presumption of Protestant dominance. With subjects ranging from the War of...