A BRIEF HISTORY OF SPAIN

This is the extraordinary story of Spain, from early tribalism and Roman rule to the Moorish conquest, Spain's eighteenth-century revival under the Bourbons, the Peninsular War and revolution in Spanish America right up to the catastrophic civil war and Franco's totalitarian regime. A key theme from Columbus's first voyage in 1492 was Spain's trans-oceanic empire which was central to the country's global impact. And the story continues with a look at contemporary Spain, not least Catalonia, and its future.

Black succeeds in covering not only political and military history, but also environmental and cultural factors. He looks, too, at what makes Spain's regions distinct, and how the history of the Iberian peninsula, could, at various points, have taken some very different turns.

Jeremy Black is one of the country's most respected historians. Andrew Roberts described him as the "most underrated thinker in Britain". He is a Senior Fellow at Policy Exchange and Emeritus Professor of History at Exeter University and a renowned expert on the history of war. He appears regularly on TV and radio. His other books include Maps and History, The British Seaborne Empire and Rethinking World War Two.