Spain: What Everyone Needs to Know(r)

Spain is now the Eurozone’s third largest economy, the second most popular tourist destination in the world, and a major player in the current world order. The nation’s path to this status has followed a long and often turbulent history, involving conquest, empire, civil war, dictatorship, and a hard-fought transition to democracy, now challenged by increasing fragmentation and polarization of political life.

In the second edition of Spain: What Everyone Needs to Know(R), veteran journalist William Chislett updates his comprehensive overview of Spain’s history, economy, and politics to contextualize the country’s situation in the 2020s. In the concise, question-and-answer format of the What Everyone Needs to Know(R) series, Chislett covers a range of topics, including the legacy of the early Muslim presence, the influx of immigrants and the separatist Catalan region, the transition to democracy after the death of General Franco, the creation of the welfare state, the impact of European Economic Community membership, the 2008-2014 banking and real estate crisis, and the changing political landscape in the last decade. New material analyzes the watershed 2015 general election and the rise of the far right, and presents the key challenges that will shape Spain’s future in the years to come.

Engaging and comprehensive, this book is an authoritative starting point for readers interested in the history and influence of the storied Spanish nation.

William Chislett is a writer who has lived in Madrid since 1986. He covered Spain’s transition to democracy (1975-78) for The Times of London and was later the Mexico correspondent for the Financial Times (1978-84). He is emeritus senior research fellow at the Elcano Royal Institute. He was granted Spanish nationality in 2021 by Royal Decree.