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.