''Iberia'', by

James A. Michener James Albert Michener ( or ; February 3, 1907 – October 16, 1997) was an American writer. He wrote more than 40 books, most of which were long, fictional family sagas covering the lives of many generations, set in particular geographic locales ...

(original title: ''Iberia: Spanish Travels and Reflections'', subtitled ''Photographs by Robert Vavra''), is an illustrated

travel book Travel is the movement of people between distant geographical locations. Travel can be done by foot, bicycle, automobile, train, boat, bus, airplane, ship or other means, with or without luggage, and can be one way or round trip. Travel ca ...

published in April 1968 that details the author's exploration of Spain as it was in the decades leading up to the mid-1960s. In researching the book, Michener visited Spain numerous times over a period of 40 years, also referring to it as his "second home".

Chapters

# Introduction # Badajoz # Toledo # Cordoba # Las Marismas # Sevilla # Madrid # Salamanca # Pamplona # Barcelona # The Bulls # Teruel # Santiago de Compostela * Index

Themes

Michener takes a measured, literary view on such subjects as the Moorish occupation,

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (born Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general and dictator who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces i ...

bullfighting Bullfighting is a physical contest that involves a bullfighter attempting to subdue, immobilize, or kill a bull, usually according to a set of rules, guidelines, or cultural expectations. There are several variations, including some forms wh ...

, and other controversial themes. Michener shows to be very prescient, as in his talk of national cycles of rebirth (p. 837): "And one of these days, (change) will be true even of Russia, and we had better be prepared to admit it ... though (in the United States) we fight against it and blind our eye and conscience to the fact".

References

1968 non-fiction books American travel books Books about Spain Books by James A. Michener Random House books {{Travel-book-stub