El conde-duque de Olivares

Sir John Elliott’s *The Count-Duke of Olivares* is considered one of the most important history books of the twentieth century—a monumental work about a man and an era (Gaspar de Guzmán and the final years of Spanish dominance) that transcends the boundaries of mere biography. Historians worldwide have unanimously acclaimed this book as a definitive study that illuminates a pivotal period in European history and confronts us with a subject as complex as the decline of the Spanish Empire. Moreover, as critics have noted, it is a splendid literary work.