Struggle for Catalonia

Raphael Minder is a journalist who spent ten years as a staff correspondent for the Financial Times in Paris, Brussels, Sydney and finally Hong Kong, as regional correspondent for Asia. Since 2010, he has been New York Times correspondent for Spain and Portugal, covering a financial crisis that has turned political, including the territorial conflict over Catalonia.

`The current independence movement in Catalonia has wide implications not only for Spain but for Europe. In this timely and well-informed book the New York Times correspondent in Spain uses his numerous interviews with partisans and opponents of secession to give readers a balanced account of the issues at stake.' - John Elliott, Regius Professor Emeritus of Modern History, University of Oxford, 'A brilliant study of Spain's "Catalan problem" by a careful and conscientious journalist who has spoken to all the key players and missed absolutely nothing. Minder is an engaging writer, who combines sharp firsthand reporting with analysis that manages to be sceptical, thoughtful, insightful and non-partisan in equal measure. The result is an indispensable English-language guide to the political complexities of Catalonia's struggle for independence, which also takes readers deep into Catalan history and culture. A terrific achievement.' - Matthew Carr, author of Blood and Faith: The Purging of Muslim Spain, 1492-1614 and The Devils of Cardona