HISPANIA: A HISTORY OF ROME IN IBERIA

Meticulous archaeological research meets the pace of great storytelling, in a vivid reconstruction of the ancient world that feels textured, complex, and profoundly alive.
When Roman ships reached the shores of Iberia in the summer of 218 BC, they did not land in a wild or unknown land. Before them lay a mosaic of peoples, cities, languages, and traditions that had spent centuries connecting the western edge of the Mediterranean with the rest of the ancient world. What began as a military campaign against Hannibal would eventually become one of the most decisive political and cultural transformations of Antiquity: the birth of Hispania.
Hispania: A History of Rome in Iberia traces the seven centuries of Roman presence on the Iberian Peninsula and reconstructs the complex encounter between Rome and the Iberian peoples.
Far from being a peripheral province, Hispania became one of the Empire's greatest laboratories: a stage for wars, cultural exchange, and profound social, economic, and cultural transformation. Its cities flourished, its elites reached the Roman Senate, and its lands produced emperors, intellectuals,and bishops who helped shape the destiny of Rome.
In this book, Rubén Montoya weaves together political and military history with everyday life, social tensions, and the multiple identities that coexisted across this territory, illuminating the major turning points of the historical narrative
through the latest archaeological discoveries. A rich, deeply human history told by an archaeologist and historian who knows Rome through both its written sources and the ground on which it once stood.

How today's authoritarian leaders think, and why democracy is losing ground
Democracies rarely collapse overnight anymore. Today, they are more likely to erode from within. Authoritarian leaders no longer seize power through coups: they win elections, exploit institutional weaknesses and gradually reshape the rules in their favour.
Why do leaders as different as Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin,Xi Jinping, Giorgia Meloni, Javier Milei, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan,Nayib Bukele and Marine Le Pen succeed despite their profoundly different ideologies?

History readers will relish this richly researched, vividly told portrait of Roman Hispania, where archaeology brings forgotten lives, everyday experiences,and long-lost voices back into the story.