Those who are curious about the historical workings of modern Spanish labour and political history from 1875-1980, will serve their minds quite well in reading this title. The author, Mr. Carr, brings to the reader - an illuminating work distinctly expressing a balance of sufficient historical detail counteracted most positively, by an obligatory laconic approach.

Preceding 1875, Spain's "anaemic" history of the industrialist/labourer relationship had long been existant from the 1830's. Throughout the book, the author serves to describe more or less emphatically, natural obstacles hindering the early Spanish industrial revolution. For over a thousand years, psychological and environmental differences amongst the varying regional mentalities and topograghies of the country were acutely (and still are) recognized and preserved by Castilians, Catalonians, Valencians, Asturians, Galicians, Andalusians, Aragonese, Leonese, Basques etc.

Hence, nineteenth-century economic needs and demands from both labour and industrialists were always at odds from region-to-region. Augmenting this basic complexity was the growing frequency of intra-party factions, electoral manipulation, church-burning, innumerous strikes and assassinations by both civilians and, an increasingly intervening military. The core issue throughout this time period: An effective, congruous establishment of a "national economic" vision entailing long-term growth. The entry into what was considered by some to be a "Godless" era of mass-modernity, were the traditionally-minded peasants, industrialists, conservatives and churchmen - for they feared the gradual, societal disintegration of Classical, Catholic Spain.

Yet astonishingly, there were those political, military, religious and civilian figures wanting to see a Spain fully industrialized via the exemplary French/English model. It is this overall social/political dichotomy (also recognized by Spaniards), that Mr. Carr gently explicates, the understanding of how such perennial intransigence (both an excellent and horrible human quality) on the part of all parties, generated the unfortunate broth for a "violent soup" that became the Spanish Civil War.

Post-civil war recovery, Opus Dei, growing consumerism, transition to democracy and the restoration of monarchy are covered in more general detail.

With very little knowledge of the details of Spanish history I found this difficult reading. Like G. Gerson's wrote, I also found myself burried among the names of places and people, with the exception of the perhistoric through Roman period of Spanish history (of which there are fewer names to get lost in).

With further reading, I have come to understand that Spanish history is very complex subject and so the writing of it is not easy, but I did find other books which managed not to get quite so bogged down in numerous details and presented the material in a more organized manner. Bottom line is that I don't suggest this as an introduction.

First, you must realize that a 300-page book that covers 2500 years of history can only accomplish the briefest of surveys. This book does a solid job with this task. The text is sensibly divided into nine chapters, each covering a distinct historical period. Raymond Carr is the editor and author of one chapter. Considering that each chapter has a different author, the book has a remarkably unified feel. Carr has done a good job making sure each chapter supports the others and avoiding redundancy. There is good balance as well; most chapters touch on social, demographic, economic, and cultural trends as well as the obligatory political narrative. This gives the reader nice insights into the character of each period and helps to understand the course of events.

Also, there are several high-quality pictures included, a bonus for a short survey history book. The bibliography has helped me choose other books to read. It is organized by chapter, which is helpful although some referenced books ought to have been included under more than one chapter.

I do have one complaint: there is no chapter on Islamic Spain. This topic is not covered at all, except peripherally when the Moors directly impinge upon the medieval Christian kingdoms. The Moorish presence is probably the single factor that, more than any other, distinguishes Spanish history from that of other Western European countries. Islamic Spain also made a huge contribution to the development of Western civilization by serving as the avenue for the reintroduction of Aristotle's works to Western Europe in the Middle Ages. Also, most of Spain was under Islamic rule for about 500 years. These facts are all discussed from the outsider view point of the Christian kingdoms, but I feel a chapter highlighting the nature of Islamic civilization in Spain would have been a tremendous addition.

Overall, however, the book quickly familiarizes the reader with the broad panorama of Spanish history in a coherent and enjoyable way. If you need such an introduction, I recommend this book.

[Reviewer's background: I am a non-historian who mostly reads history in his spare time. After a fascinating trip to Spain, I decided to pick this book up as my first introduction to its history.]

Since it is written by various authors, the book is not entirely of an even quality. The earlier parts and the last chapter are the best. But it is all reasonably good. It is fairly clear cut and brief so you do not get bogged down. It has a great reading list for further adventures. It does not have a lot of nit-picking footnotes that I have to compulsively read. It does have a lot of excellent and helpful black and white illustrations. I rarely finish a history book. I finished this one.