Combining military and cultural history, the book explores British soldiers' travels and cross-cultural encounters in Spain and Portugal, 1808-1814. It is the story of how soldiers interacted with the local environment and culture, of their attitudes and behaviour towards the inhabitants, and how they wrote about all this in letters and memoirs.

Introduction 1. To the Peninsula 2. First Contact: Lisbon 3. Landscape and Climate 4. Billets and Hospitality 5. Searching for Civilization 6. The Religious World 7. 'Dark-Eyed Beauties' Conclusion: Crossing to Civilization

Gavin Daly is Senior Lecturer in Modern European History at the University of Tasmania, Australia.