Bullfighting has long been perceived as an antiquated, barbarous legacy from Spain's medieval past. This book argues that many of that country's best poets, philosophers, and intellectuals have accepted the corrida as the embodiment of Spain's rejection of the modern world. While references to a form of bullfighting date back to the Poem of the Cid (1040), the modern bullfight did not emerge until the early 18th century. He argues that it was a precursor of the 20th-century mass leisure industry, focusing on the famous matadors, Francisco Romero and Manuel Rodriguez Manolete.