What's Up with Catalonia: The Causes Which Impel Them to the Separation

This lively compilation of penetrating essays from 35 experts raises questions that transcend the specific issue of Catalan independence from Spain.%C2%A0Forcibly absorbed by the kingdom of Spain in 1714 following military defeat, Catalonia, in 2012, held its largest pro-independence rally. The collection's essayists persuasively maintain that the Spanish centralized bureaucracy drains Catalonian wealth even as it continues its historical suppression of Catalan culture. Language and culture are important; they, as much as territory, define a Catalan. And one writer even raises the question: if Catalonia does%C2%A0obtain full independence, what future will Spain itself have? Given the inability of the Franco regime to stifle Catalan inclinations to independence, a sentiment that more recent initiatives from Madrid have only encouraged,%C2%A0reforms to the present system that would give Catalonia a better fit may well prove impossible.%C2%A0Although the collection does not contain any anti-independence pieces,%C2%A0the reader comes away with a vivid sense of the threads that run through history and the impermanence of political structures.