Hugh Thomas, best known for his authoritative analysis of the Spanish Civil War, has chosen from diaries, letters, memoirs and novels ranging across five centuries of Madrid's history. The anthology brilliantly evokes the drama and personalities of the past by drawing on eyewitness accounts and commentaries from both visitors and inhabitants including Beaumarchais, Beckford, Alexandre Dumas, Goya, Victor Hugo, Hemingway, Napoleon and scores of others.