The Paradox of Paradise focuses on the trajectory of urban coastal tourism in Spain from the late Franco years to the present through the lens of Spanish cultural production. "Sun-and-fun" destinations like Torremolinos (located in the Costa del Sol) and Benidorm (located in the Costa Blanca) established a model for urban renewal that literally built the coasts to accommodate and expand foreign tourism as the driving force of the so-called Spanish Economic Miracle.

In addition to inserting the coasts into the scope of Iberian urban studies (typically dominated by studies of Madrid and Barcelona) this project breaks new ground by bringing to the fore unexplored cultural artifacts vital to the narrative of development along the coasts in Spain: in particular the ubiquitous tourist postcard, which advances not only the post-Franco economic miracle, but does so by highlighting the transformation of the actual Spanish landscape along its coasts.

The Paradox of Paradise features more than twenty-five striking images of coastal Spain in the throes of its own coming of age. William Nichols has unlocked a strange, self-conscious archive that tells us as much about our own age of advertising as it does about the hotels and resorts and people on display.