''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 in particular geographic locales and ...

(original title: ''Iberia: Spanish Travels and Reflections'', subtitled ''Photographs by

Robert Vavra Robert Vavra (born March 9, 1935 in Glendale, California) is an American photographer and author based in El Cajon, California, California and in Spain in the summer. Career Inspired by bulls and bullfighting in Mexico, Vavra moved to Spain in ...

''), is an illustrated

travel book The genre of travel literature encompasses outdoor literature, guide books, nature writing, and travel memoirs. One early travel memoirist in Western literature was Pausanias (geographer), Pausanias, a Greek geographer of the 2nd century CE. In ...

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 (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

, Catholicism,

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War ...

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

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