Barcelona the Great Enchantress

In this pared-down version of his acclaimed Barcelona (1992), art critic Hughes traces Barcelona's progress from a burgeoning port city to the booming Catalan capital that roughly 1.5 million people call home today. Hughes's portrait chronologically flutters from one century to another, shedding light on the city's cryptic history in a way very few non-Catalans can. Hughes treats the city as if it's his own, and his critiques are justified and insightful, drawing on personal anecdotes, excerpts of Catalan manuscripts and anti-Castilian decrees. It's not the details of cataclysmic events like the plague of 1348 or the bitter suffocation forced upon Cataluna by Franco that make Hughes's book worthwhile, but rather the accounts of small events that transformed""one enormous ashtray, covered in a mantle of grime and grit"" into what is now an affable, colorful, modern hub. The author poetically weaves politics, food, architecture, sport, myths and music into a striking depiction of the great Catalan seaport. 8 b&w photos, 1 map.