Spain, 1906. The Duke de Richleau has not yet succeeded his father, and is still the Count de Quesnoy. Anarchism permeates every country in Europe, and not a night passes without groups of fanatics meeting in cellars to plan attempts with knives, pistols or bombs against the representatives of law and order. A bomb outrage gives de Quesnoy ample cause to vow vengeance on the assassins. His attempt to penetrate anarchist circles in Barcelona nearly costs him his life. In San Sebastian, Granada and Cadiz he hunts and is hunted by them in a ruthless vendetta. A rich novel packed with true history, subtle intrigue, sudden violence, terrorism, blackmail and suspense, alongside the bitter-sweet romance between gallant young de Quesnoy and the beautiful Condesa Gulia.

This is a story of wars, revolutions, exiles and restorations; a parade of kings, queens, regents and pretenders. Its central theme is the fight for the throne of Spain between the Bourbon and Carlist pretenders, a fight which started in 1833. Both branches of the family abound in colourful characters: the shrewd Maria Cristina, the masculine Infanta Carlota, the sensuous Isabel II, the effete King Francisco, the suave Duke de Montpensier, the showy Carlos VII, the licentious Alfonso XII. The drama is acted out in many countries in the court living in formal splendour in the Palacio Real in Madrid, Don Juan dying incognito in a house in Brighton, Isabel living out her voluptuous days in Paris, Carlos VII scheming in his palazzo on the Grand Canal, the future Alfonso XII at Sandhurst, the Infanta Eulalia in Chicago, the son of Alfonso XIII dying in a car accident in the U.S.A. When this book was first published in 1966, the spirit of Carlism was still very much alive; the Carlists had thrown their weight behind Franco in the Spanish Civil War, and the recent marriage of the Carlist pretender to Princess Irene of Holland had spotlighted the old feud.

There is little available on the dramatic and colourful history of the Spanish monarchy. Experienced author and historian John Van der Kiste provides a readable and anecdotal look at one of the key European dynasties from the nineteenth century to the present. He begins with the wayward, ill-educated Isabella II, who was forced to marry her nephew. During much of her reign power was in the hands of her generals and her exile and abdication saw the crown of Spain hawked round Europe for two years. It was briefly accepted then refused by Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen - thus starting the Franco-Prussian War - and, after a short, unsuccessful stint as a republic, the monarchy was restored when Isabella's son Alfonso XIII was chosen as King. John Van der Kiste leads us through his popular reign, the reign of his son - who married one of Queen Victoria's granddaughters - and the socialist movement in Spain after the Great War which led to the dictatorship of Primo de Rovera. Finishing with the Spanish Civil War, the 'reign' of General Franco and the return of the monarchy with the present King, Juan Carlos, this is a fascinating look at the Spanish Bourbons.

This is a study in English of the Carlist Movement, the extreme right-wing party in Spain, during the climactic decade of the 1930s. Carlism represents the oldest existing movement of the traditionalist right in Europe. In 1931 Carlists had already been in conflict with Spanish liberalism and leftism for over a century, seeking to reverse the trends of the nineteenth century and restore a religiously inspired corporative monarchy and harmonious society. During the 1930s they attacked and plotted the overthrow of the democratic Second Republic, participated in the rising of 1936 and then played a major political and military role within Nationalist Spain. Dr Blinkhorn discusses Carlism's internal politics, power struggles and sources of support; its ideology; its relations with other elements in the Spanish right, principally Falangism and Catholic conservatism; its attitude towards the Republic, liberalism and the left; its view of contemporary events elsewhere in Europe; its stress on paramilitarism and conspiracy against the Republican regime; and its wartime role.

“Massive, beautiful . . . unquestionably some of the best writing on Spain [and] the best that Mr. Michener has ever done on any subject.”—The Wall Street Journal Spain is an immemorial land like no other, one that James A. Michener, the Pulitzer Prize–winning author and celebrated citizen of the world, came to love as his own. Iberia is Michener’s enduring nonfiction tribute to his cherished second home. In the fresh and vivid prose that is his trademark, he not only reveals the celebrated history of bullfighters and warrior kings, painters and processions, cathedrals and olive orchards, he also shares the intimate, often hidden country he came to know, where the congeniality of living souls is thrust against the dark weight of history. Wild, contradictory, passionately beautiful, this is Spain as experienced by a master writer.

No less than 150 classic western movies are surveyed, ranging from super productions like "The Big Country", "Destry Rides Again", "The Mark of Zorro", "Red River", "The Searchers", "The Spoilers" and "Unconquered" to the output of such popular "B" western film stars as Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Randolph Scott, William Boyd, Johnny Mack Brown, Tim Holt and Wayne Morris. Plus a big tip of the sombrero to Charles Starrett and John Wayne.