Michener clearly loved Spain and knew many Spaniards as friends. He discusses Spain's history, culture, art, literature, dance, geography, sports, and spirituality. Rather than putting all that into nice neat little buckets, he weaves it all together to paint an entrancing picture of the Spanish soul as he knows it.

Unlike many such authors, Michener uses photos very carefully to illustrate aspects of Spanish culture, from the assuredly adamant eyes of the Guardia Civil to the warm smiles of the poorest people. He also takes a lot of time to explain words that are difficult to translate and what they tell us about Spanish culture.

Recommended with equal enthusiasm whether from the viewpoint of history, religion, culture, or art. Also of special value to those living in Spanish-speaking countries or regions with large Hispanic populations, as Spain's influence on those cultures, as a mother country, is readily apparent.

Bravo, Sr. Michener. Faltan mucho a Ud.

28 of 29 found the following review helpful:


Michener's Best  Feb 14, 2000
As an avid fan of Michener's fiction, I decided to pick this book up to see how Michener dealt with nonfiction. I can without hesitation say that Michener is at his best in this genre. "Iberia" is a stunning achievement of meticulous care and fascinating recounting of events.

His account of Spain, though dated now by thirty years, made me feel as if I were there travelling side by side with Michener. It is wonderfully detailed and always engaging. There are long sections that are just descriptions of art and architecture, and being the art philistine that I am, these became a bit tedious. Still, my appreciation of these passages came less from the art described than from the obvious passion with which Michener describes them...

This book is a must-read.

18 of 19 found the following review helpful:


I SHOULD HAVE READ THIS BOOK MANY YEARS AGO  May 13, 2001 By JIM SHIVE
Although I have read literally thousands of histories, geographies, and anthropologies over the years, I had always avoided Michener thinking he was a "popular writer" not an academic. After reading 'IBERIA', I know now that not only is he popular but is a knowledgable and insightful observer and analyst. He writes about Spain in a personal yet authoritative manner and manages to cover most of the major themes of the Spanish way of life without being pedantic. The only shortcoming I would ascribe to this book is that being written almost 40 years ago towards the end of the Franco regime, the book, in parts, is dated by more recent developments in Spanish history, politics, and societal change. This, of course, is to be expected in a book largely a history of then contemporary Spain. Michener has given us a snapshot of Spain as he knew it during the 1930's, '40s, '50s and '60s. Although Spain has changed along with and in many cases more than other parts of the world due to not having changed much for so long, Michener's descriptions and insights remain largely accurate and relevant even for readers in the 21st century. Even if some anachronisms are included, they still hold interest as a description of how much Spain has changed in the 25 years since Franco's death.

9 of 9 found the following review helpful:


A truly great book  Nov 03, 2005 By Highlanderthal "LONE WOLF"
an avid fan of Michener's fiction, I decided to pick this book up to see how Michener dealt with nonfiction. I can without hesitation say that Michener is at his best in this genre. "Iberia" is a stunning achievement of meticulous care and fascinating recounting of events.
His account of Spain, though dated now by thirty years, made me feel as if I were there travelling side by side with Michener. It is wonderfully detailed and always engaging. A note of caution the spain michenor describes is not present day spain,the book is more a passionate history.


11 of 12 found the following review helpful:


An overlong and somewhat dated love- letter to Spain  Sep 03, 2005 By Shalom Freedman "Shalom Freedman"
This is not a Michener novel but a Michener personal travel journal about the Spain he traveled in for thirty years and knew very well. It is rich with information about all aspects of Spanish culture and life. Michener was a writer who loved people, and loved talking to them . And this book contains the accounts of hundreds of conversations on all aspects of Spanish life.
It describes in great detail some of the main areas and cities of Spain, Madrid, Cordoba, Salamanca, Sevilla, and the Entremurada region.
It gives a tremendous amount of detail on different kinds of food and places of accomodation.It is often in this regard very critical.
Michener is a very good writer but not a great one. And there are passages of the book which are very interesting but fail to reach a higher level of poetic inspiration.
A number of the set pieces in the book are truly wonderful. I greatly enjoyed his account of the medieval Jewish traveler Binyamin Mitudela and the comparison Michener makes between his travels and times and Mitudelas.
The book is dated in certain ways. It is of course not up - to- date politically. But also in attitude. I think no editor today would allow the passage in which Michener talks about why all young married Spanish women are fat and content. And how they know in the land of no- divorce their husbands will not leave them even though all the husbands definitely take more attractive women as mistresses.
Michener writes a lot about bullfighting a sport he admires. I however found many years ago in the one bullfight I attended a lot of cruelty. I think more people today would share my concern that the cruelty to the animals simply does not justify the glorious spectacle of the bullfight.
On the whole I think it is possible to learn a lot from this book about Spain, and too about James Michener.

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