A rigorous, critical, and accessible history of Spain. Stripped of clichés, flags, and nostalgia: it is a history of people, of conflict, and of constant change.

For the first time, this is not the story of corrupt kings or violent heroes, but of the women and men who have lived in ongoing transformation—organizing themselves in different ways, facing hardships and hopes, clashing ideas, fraught power relations, and a continuous drive to improve their lives. Across these lands, societies have been built as diverse as they were ever-changing: from hunter-gatherers to today’s global citizens. No fixed culture, no eternal identity—because history itself is change.

Chapter by chapter, the book shows how migration and interaction with other peoples have always been decisive in shaping Spain’s many presents—whether Iberian, Roman, Andalusi, American, or today’s digital era.

This is how Juan Sisinio Pérez Garzón, professor emeritus at the University of Castilla-La Mancha, tells the story. Throughout his career as a teacher and researcher, he has sought to understand why, in Montesquieu’s words, “what is true in one time becomes error in another.” His most recent works include History of the Left in Spain (2022) and History of Feminism: The Women’s Revolution (2024