Are Portugal’s best days behind her?  Portugal’s decline has become a common theme put forward by historians and commentators who have focused their attention on the golden era of discoveries, the Empire and the role of Lisbon as a major Atlantic power.

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In this new book, Neill Lochery argues against the idea that Portugal is in an inevitable downturn, suggesting instead that this is an exciting and vibrant nation emerging finally from the shadows of political and economic hardship.

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Beginning with Portugal’s Carnation Revolution in April 1974 and charting the country’s emergence from the Estado Novo dictatorship (in power since 1933); the new period of democracy; Portugal’s time as holders of the Presidency of the European Union and the economic crisis that hit the country in 2010, Out of the Shadows is a fascinating and engaging account of Portugal in the closing decades of the twentieth century and the start of the twenty-first.

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With unprecedented access to diplomatic sources and personalities, including US State Department officials and British and Portuguese diplomats, Lochery presents a highly readable account, shedding light on a country most know little about other than as a holiday destination or a poverty-stricken European lightweight. Out of the Shadows will delight any reader interested in how this beautiful and odds-defying country has propelled itself out of the darkness and into a new era.