Or I'll dress you in mourning

This is my favourite book of all times. I have read it at least seven or eight times and every time, it never fails to excite me. The story is well told and animated and as well as understanding the life of El Cordobes, you also learn so much about the history of Spain, the era of Franco and the impact his tyranny had on the country. If you read this book, I guarantee you will not be disappointed.

I've read this book twice now. Never fails to enthrall me. It is great on 3 levels. One, a spellbinding plot that can keep you up all night. Two, it teaches some Spanish history and bullfighting lore. Three, it makes you grateful for what you have and shows that with perseverance your dreams can come true. A good book for a teenager. One of the best I've read in a long time.

Perhaps one of the best biographies I have ever read, this book tells the story of the fabled Spanish bullfighter Manuel Benitez "El Cordobes"! Born in strict poverty, this youngser defied all the odds in becoming perhaps the most famous modern day "toreador"! His phenominal rise to fame is truly something out of a novel! El Cordobes, desperate, illiterate, starving had one dream, to become a bullfighter. And the odds were stacked heavily against him. This noble profession certainly had no room for such a peasant! But the heavens were looking out for him and rise he did. With the help of an influential patron, El Cordobes succeeded, and with a fervor almost unparalleled. This is no "dull biography" but a gripping one, complete with all the ingredients of a first-rate novel! ([email protected])

Dealing with the improbable accention and life of the unorthodox Matador El Cordobes, this book also deals throughly with the Spanish Civil War of the thirties and should be of great interest to anyone who loves Spain and the writings of Hemmingway (Death in the Afternoon, For Whom the Bell Tolls, The Sun Also Rises) Maugham or Greene. The Matador grew up in poverty and became the Michael Jordan of the bullring to the dismay of all the afficionados of the pure form of the sport. In other words he interjected histrionics such as doing such things like flips as Jordan may dunk the ball while extending his tung. The story in this book will grip the novice from beginning till end and totally infuriate the purist. One evening twenty years ago I spent an entire night with the late, great western art historian, critic and author; Dean Krakel. He took me to his basement to view his impressive liberary of three thousand books and to show me the rifle John Wayne gave him from the set of "Stagecoach". He walked over to a shelf and chose this book and said, "Now if you can ever write a book this good, You've really done something."