This book is designed only for the most resolute of military buffs. The author has attempted to trace Spain’s military campaigns during the seventeenth century, but aside from some excellent photographs of leading generals and statesmen, the book furnishes little information for the historian. The military history provided is perfunctory, and the author’s discussion of diplomatic events offers little which is new; indeed, in most eases, the secondary sources which he has used are out of date or untrustworthy, or both. Furthermore, no attempt is made to relate military history to economic questions. The reader will find nothing on the costs of war, the payment of troops, or problems of provisioning and transport. Statistics which would have presented a clearer picture of the size and development of Spain’s army are absent. In short, España bélica. El siglo XVII is better left to the devotees of dilettantish, inaccurate, and imprecise history.