»The Basque History of the World

Against my intuition, I ordered a copy of Mark Kurlansky's Basque History of the World and started reading it. Kurlansky's research, experience, and writing all shine in this history: he interleaves the contentious political and nationalist struggles of the Basque with well-researched, concisely-written pieces about Basque culture -- the typical beret, the recently-formalized yet still-isolated language -- and in doing so, underscores the unique cultural and political contributions of the Basque people.

I was very happy to find that Google Earth has excellent satellite imagery and map coverage of Basque country, and the online version includes the beautiful subway stations!