Gabriel Tortella is Professor Emeritus of Economic History at the Universidad de Alcalá, Madrid, Spain. He received the King Juan Carlos Economics Prize in 1994, and has been President of the International Economic History Association, the Spanish Economic History Association, and Chairman of the Academic Council of the European Association for Banking and Financial History, Frankfurt. Among his many publications, recent books include The Development of Modern Spain, The Origins of the Twenty-First, with J. A. Consiglio and J. C. Martínez Oliva, Banking and Finance in the Mediterranean with Gloria Quiroga, Entrepreneurship and Growth (Palgrave, 2013), and with José Luis García Ruiz, Spanish Money and Banking (Palgrave, 2013).

Chapter 1. Introduction.- Chapter 2. Medieval Origins of Catalonia and Spain.- Chapter 3. Catalonia in Early Modern Spain.- Chapter 4. Reform and Recovery in the Eighteenth Century.- Chapter 5. Catalonia and Spain during the Napoleonic Wars.- Chapter 6. The Nineteenth Century.- Chapter 7. The Twentieth Century, 1900-1975: Nationalism, Civil War and the Franco Dictatorship.- Chapter 8. Present-day Catalonia, 1976-2016: Politics, Economics, Education and Propaganda.- Chapter 9. Conclusion.

This book explores the complex history of Catalonia in relation to Spain from an economic and political perspective. It begins in the Middle Ages and ends in the present day, analysing the intricate political problems of modern day Catalonia within a context of European integration and nationalism.