This is an interesting and engaging introduction to Spanish history, beginning in prehistory and continuing right up until the 2010s and the abdication of Juan Carlos. It's about themes and interesting moments and incidents rather than trying to tell the whole sweep of everything that went on in Iberia across those thousands of years but helps to give an idea of what Spain is, where it came from and where it might be going. Some of his arguments for Spanish exceptionalism are a bit weak, though. While the idea of different regimes defining what makes Spain and Spanishness in contrast to an "anti-Spain" is interesting, nationalism defining itself by what it is not is a feature in many countries (see Linda Colley's Britons, for instance). An ongoing metaphor about the three faces of Santiago doesn't work because two of those faces are too similar to work as separate analytic prisms. However, overall, this is interesting, and a good starting point on Spanish history before jumping into more detail on other areas.