This book takes you inside the current Spanish economic crisis in an entertaining & digestible way. Serious pieces of commentary on historic & current events are interspersed with some witty observations about Spanish society & language. Wants you make to visit Marinaleda, the utopia at the centre of the piece, & meet its eccentric & inspiring mayor. Also - it's cheaper than a pint in London and lasts longer!

Useful and interesting account; would have enjoyed more detail and a longer stay for the writer!! Interesting historical facts and analysis.

It's a well written book but it starts with a load of baggage from the author. Spain is a mess of conflicting demands which center on how much can be taken out of society and the economy and neglects what needs to be put in. The Spaniards are lovely people with no interest in economics and no awareness of how the Euro would eventually crucify their economy. Spain is a lesson that not all change is progress. I hope they make it out their crisis, I really do, but they don't yet understand how much they need to change.

The subject itself is great and theres some fascinating quotes and experiences described, but theres quite a bit of irrelevant junk in there too and its quite short

Great

For more than thirty years a small town called Marinaleda in the province of Seville in Spain has been a shining example of true socialism. Led by its local mayor, the charismatic Juan Manuel Sánchez Gordillo, Marinaleda has seen the expropriation of agricultural land for co-operative use, the development of a unique form of truly socialist housing provision completely immune from the Spanish property crisis, the introduction of a working and effective participatory democracy and, perhaps most impressively, the achievement for decades of full employment (this in a region characterised by jobless rates of 40 per cent or more). In this highly welcome e-book Dan Hancox tells the town's story in a lucid, accessible and uplifting manner.

In an era of rampant economic crisis, the radical and successful political path that Marinaleda has followed is a wonderful example of what can be done when people struggle together to pursue truly radical socialist policies. Marinaleda provides a wonderful and refreshing example that another and better world is indeed possible.

I warmly recommend Utopia and the Valley of Tears for anyone with a serious interest in radical social change in the time of economic crisis in Europe and elsewhere. Let's be realistic, and demand the impossible! This book is a must-read for activists of nonviolence, journalists, idealists, as well as for researchers of fields like political science, popular resistance and social movement studies.

Great work!

I found this book to be an inspiration in a time when it seems democracy is becoming a rare thing in america. While there is no blueprint, the account let's us know that another world is possible. I recommend this for all who are engaged in maintaining humanity and sanity in a time of profit madness.