Robert Hughes once wrote a book about Barcelona: a huge social history about how this magnificent city took on the appearance of today and an important work of scholarship that anyone spending time in the Catalan capital would be well advised to read. Yet somehow I prefer this, a piece that purports to be the story of a football club, yet bursts forth from the walls of the Nou Camp and onto the streets with all the glorious control of a Rivaldo free-kick and the bite of a Guardiola tackle. Anyone who doesn't understand how a sport can grip the consciousness of a people need only read this to understand, for herein we have a history of Catalonia in the twentieth century, a nation within a nation subjugated for decades under Franco, and a search for identity and expression. Oh, and yes — there's plenty of football stuff too ...