Barcelonas

Less a guide than a cultural resource for Barcelona-bound visitors, this work by Montalban ( The Pianist ) combines, in Robinson's flavorful translation, a review of the city's turbulent political history (culminating in democracy following civil war and Franco's repressive regime) with a lively account of Catalan character and a personal view of contemporary Barcelona. The author's itineraries here take in the city's varied architecture--from villas, parks and Gaudi's famous surrealistic structures to squalid barrios--and other aspects of Barcelona as Catalonia's capital and Spain's major seaport and center of industry and modern art. In a scathing preface, Montalban deplores an Olympic Games-inspired, four-year ``speculative frenzy'' of ``uncoordinated . . . implacable destruction and construction.'' Photos. (June)