Iberia

Drawing on decades of travel, Michener moves through Spanish cities and provinces while reflecting on architecture, religion, food, music, bullfighting, politics and daily life. Personal encounters and observations are set beside discussions of Roman, Islamic, medieval and imperial Spain, presenting the country as a collection of powerful regional identities rather than a single uniform culture.

The book is both travel memoir and cultural history, shaped by the author's affection for Spain and his awareness of its contradictions under the Franco regime. It records a particular twentieth-century moment while continually looking backward to the Reconquista, overseas empire, civil war and traditions that continue to influence Spanish life.