This is a review of Catalonia Reborn: How Catalonia took on the corrupt Spanish state and the legacy of Franco.

I chose to read it because I had watched with interest as the events surrounding the referendum unfurled in October 2017.

I knew a bit about the history of the people of Catalonia from fiction I head read, and vague mentions of ETA during my Spanish classes at GCSE and A level. This book helped me to gain a deeper understanding of the region and the people within it.

Having said this Catalonia Reborn is not the book to read if you want a balanced perspective. It is very much written from the point of view that the Spanish state is corrupt and full of political leftovers from the Franco era intent on oppressing the people of Catalonia.

I don’t know enough about the topic to say if this is likely to be true or not, but this book did make me want to read more about the region and its current events so in that way the book was a success.

A very politically motivated book. About the past ,present and up coming future of the Catalan region. Thank you to both Luath Press for my ARC in exchange for my honest unbiased review .

There was a lot I liked about this book. It had a nice conversational style, the history sections, although detailed, were accessible for someone who wanted to learn a bit more about Spain and Catalonia but didn't necessarily want to be overwhelmed.

The only real problem with Catalonia Reborn is that approached its subject matter from one political perspective and had no issue editorialising throughout. Which is perfectly fine if that's what someone is looking for, and there were plenty of times I agreed with a number of the points that were made. However, I also felt that further reading from a far less politically biased viewpoint was required to gain a better understanding from the current situation and history of Catalonia.

This was an ARC from Netgalley and Luath Press in exchange for an honest review. With kind thanks.