They are a mythical people, almost an imagined people, writes Kurlansky. Signs of their civilization exist well before the arrival of the Romans in 218BC. Their forbidden tongue is equally mysterious, it is related to no other, but today the Basques are enjoying what may be the most important cultural renaissance in their long existence.

Andalusia is a passion - and fifteen years after his last visit Laurie Lee returned. He found a country broken by Civil War, but the totems of indestructible Spain survive: the Christ in agony, the thrilling flamenco cry the pride in poverty, the cult of the bullfight, and the humour of hopelessness that paradoxes deep in the fiery bones of Spain.

Spain owes its special historical position in Europe very largely to its intensive encounter with the Orient. Moorish-Andalusian art and architecture combine elements of various traditions into a new, autonomous style. This book describes the Great Mosque in Cordova and the Alhambra in Granada, the architectural witnesses to this achievement.