Dejanirah Couto

Portuguese translation of the french original Histoire de Lisbonne, this book, by a Lisbon born Maître de Conférences at the École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris, gives, in three hundred and fifty pages, a quick view of the history of the portuguese capital city since her foundation by the Fenicians, around 1200 BCE, up to the present day. With such a large scope, it cannot be much detailed and every single reader is bound to take issue with some of the statements, facts, or the author's explanations. Nevertheless, given these limitations, it still is an interesting book, presenting a condensed and unified historical view of a city that, in spite of her many problems, is one of my favorite urban centres, and certainly the only one I feel really at home in.… (més)