Raphael Minder landed in Madrid in 2010 to cover Spain for The New York Times just as the dark clouds of the financial crisis were about to burst into a full-fledged euro debt storm. A Decade as a Foreign Correspondent follows the turbulent and momentous events that have reshaped the countrys political landscape: a secessionist movement in Catalonia, the end of Spain's two-party system, and a desperate attempt to contain the coronavirus pandemic. With a correspondents keen eye, this book takes the reader on an extraordinary journey of discovery from the most remote corners of Spain, where an arid soil produces delicious truffles; to Moroccan hashish trafficked alongside migrants; to the historical repercussions of American nuclear bombs; and not least to the central square of Madrid, where Spain's radical left-wing movement was born. The book shines a light on Spain through colorful anecdotes that help explain the fraught present, as well as the charged past, of a nation that only returned to democracy in the 1970s. It offers an unbiased perspective on an emotionally-charged decade that has polarized Spain. This chronicle of the social, political and economic fabric of Spain is essential reading for all involved in Hispanic studies and Spanish culture. For diplomats, civil servants, and business analysts indeed for anybody focused and involved in European affairs this tale takes to heart every economic fraud, administrative incompetence and political misdeed imaginable. Published in association with the Canada Blanch Centre for Contemporary Spanish Studies, LSE.
