I was mainly interested in this as part of my current 'thing' about the Spanish Civil War, the Francoist period and the Transition that followed. The opening chapters of Ghosts... deal with exactly these subjects and do so very well. This is quite different from a formal history; it is more a combination of travelogue, reportage and informal history. And in being so, it can quickly give a better, more vivid and immediate, picture of the terrible effects and legacy of that Civil War. One page of vivid reportage can be worth a chapter of dry, footnoted, history.
It seems to me that Mr Tremlett takes a slightly left-of-centre view of Franco and the state made in his image. The bibliography cites Paul Preston, but not Stanley Payne (reviewed elsewhere here). In fundamental, Franco is depicted as a bad guy, and a somewhat contemptible little pot-bellied man; on his death in November 1975, Spaniards of all hues -- except for a small hardline minority -- lost no time in making up for lost time. They liberalised in a hurry, to the point where Spain is at the forefront of European social development -- for better or worse. Juan Carlos is shown as duplicitous -- in a good way; he was expected to perpetuate Francoism but instead immediately abandoned the cult. He stood up as the hero of democracy in the face of the attempted putsch in February 1981. His son, Prince Felipe, enjoys wide acceptance and legitimacy in this most unlikely of monarchies.
The chapters on tourism -- saved by the bikini -- are interesting and good fun, especially in the depiction of Benidorm. The notion of 'enchufe' -- the universal Spanish practice of gently subverting 'the system' to one's own advantage -- is fascinating, and has its analogues in every vibrant culture. Not very different from Ireland, as I can certify.
Interesting but not good fun are the terrible events of March 11, 2004 ('11-M'), when bombs killed 191 people on the Madrid train system, and its tortured aftermath.
Some parts of the book, I wasn't so interested in. It started flagging for me a bit during the piece on Flamenco, and some of the later chapters I will leave for reference reading.
But very good and engaging overall; recommended.
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