"In sum, this is a finely researched, closely argued, and well-presented study that illuminates many aspects of the role of artisans in Barcelona during a period of crisis. It presents a perspective on the city's problems that historians have hitherto tended to neglect in favor of the central areas of dispute."—Henry Kamen, American Historical Review, June 2003
"The author of this fine book proposes to incorporate popular politics in the larger political history of early modern Europe by looking at Barcelona's popular politics during the sixty years before the outbreak of the Catalan Revolt. Corteguera focuses his research and analysis on the city's artisans, both male and female. This strategy alone makes the book distinct from previous studies of the revolt and leads Corteguera to a new and powerful conceptualization of popular politics. . . . This study of artisans provides a nuanced and convincing picture of the relationship between popular discontent and elite government, and establishes Corteguera as a major interpreter of popular politics in early modern Europe."—Helen Nader, University of Arizona, Journal of Interdisciplinary History 34:4, Spring 2004
"Few authors have unraveled the knotted political skein of the common good better than has Luis Corteguera."—Donald J. Kagay, Albany State University, Sixteenth Century Journal XXXIV/4, 2003
"Shifting the focus from political elites to the common people, this work examines the artisans who comprised more than half of Barcelona's 30–40,000 residents in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century. Corteguera argues that the working classes in Barcelona shared a common political language and culture with the elites, Catalan and Castilian alike, who dominated the official institutions of early modern government. Popular politics was not simply mob rule, or a reaction to events in the highest circles of government. . . . Corteguera shows how this could happen peacefully, while the book as a whole demonstrates that the conversation between the people and elites took on an especially sharp edge whenever the threat of popular violence loomed over Barcelona."—Benjamin Ehlers, University of Georgia, European History Quarterly, 35.1
"In this engaging study, Corteguera shows the 1640 rebellion to be a political action rather than social revolution in which the armies—despite a greater use of violence—had motivations parallel with those of the principality's elite."—British Bulletin of Publications on Latin American, the Caribbean, Portugal, and Spain, No. 109, Oct. 2003
"For the Common Good is among the very first books to focus on the political beliefs and behavior of early modern craftsmen. Luis Corteguera makes an original contribution to our knowledge of this interesting and long-neglected subject."—James Amelang, Autonomous University of Madrid
"Marshaling a wealth of archival material, Luis Corteguera asks new questions about the place of artisans in an important Mediterranean seaport and documents the extent to which their demands—economic, judicial, and political—figured in the events leading up to the Catalan revolt of 1640. An adroit blend of social and political history, the book's narrative climaxes with a detailed analysis of the artisans, field workers, and other rebels involved in the dramatic 'on the beach' murder of the Spanish viceroy in June, 1640. This incident serves to underscore Corteguera's contention that the popular politics are too important to be overlooked. This book is essential reading not only for specialists in Catalan and Spanish history but also for anyone interested in the history of early modern Europe."—Richard L. Kagan, Johns Hopkins University
"In this fine work of local historical exploration, Luis Corteguera skillfully guides the reader into and through the multidimensional political history of the 'little people' of early modern Barcelona. Carefully examining a series of contentious political episodes culminating in the unprecedented violence of 1640, the author makes a compelling case for the importance of popular politics to our understanding of power and privilege in Europe's most formidable composite state.- Corteguera's artisans and their confraternities don't just lay claim to our sympathies; they loudly demand our respect!"—Wayne te Brake, author of Shaping History: Ordinary People in European Politics, 1500–1700
