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Can anyone recommend a good book to give me a background to Franco's rule and more recent Spanish history please?
Having travelled in the Middle East and also to Sarajevo and other places where conflict is within living memory I know that what we may read about and consider history is actually still the lived experience of people we may meet and not totally the past. I'd like to have an idea of what happened and how it was before I go, if that makes sense but this is an area I've never read about.
Apologies if I've missed a thread on this, I've had a good look but haven't spotted any.
Jo
Thank you. This indicates how clueless I am!Awlays a bit hesitant when talking about politcvs here seeing the forumrules are clear.
But I can recommend Adam Hochschilds " Spain in our Hearts "
Spain in Our Hearts: Americans in the Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 by Adam Hochschild – review
What makes people volunteer to fight in other countries’ wars? An accomplished storyteller sifts history to find those eager to remake the world, while also remaking themselveswww.theguardian.com
Feel free to pm me for more recommendations.
Thank you.My suggestions would be:
Giles Tremlett: Ghosts of Spain. Travel through a country's hidden past.
Jeremy Treglown: Franco's crypt. Spanish culture and memory since 1936.
I enjoyed both of these books very much and they helped me understand Spain a bit better (at least I'd like to think so)
Thank youPaul Preston is also worthwile.
A People Betrayed by Paul Preston review – a magisterial study of Spain's turbulent past
From Primo de Rivera to General Franco … a lively account of corruption, political incompetence and social division in modern Spainwww.theguardian.com
And this novel about the Basque situation by Fernando Aramburu.
Homeland by Fernando Aramburu: 9780593310892 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books
The basis for HBO's Patria, named one of the "Best TV Shows of 2020" by The New York Times In the heart of Spain’s Basque Country, two friends, Miren and Bittori, find their worlds...www.penguinrandomhouse.com
Thank you!Paul Preston is very comprehensive. I have listened to the whole audiobook and learned a lot - especially in the post-Franco chapters which help my understanding of more recent influences and events.
However, it is very dense with fact that doesn't stick in my brain from audio, so I now have a paper copy from the library, in order to re-read the 1930s. If I were really serious about studying this, I'd probably also get a kindle version so that I could search.
It really is that fascinating and complicated!
My first recommendation would also be Ghosts of Spain. The perspective is very different from scholarly history.My suggestions would be:
Giles Tremlett: Ghosts of Spain. Travels through a country's hidden past.
Jeremy Treglown: Franco's crypt. Spanish culture and memory since 1936.
I enjoyed both of these books very much and they helped me understand Spain a bit better (at least I'd like to think so)
I have a copy of Ghosts of Spain, by Giles Tremlet, I would reccommend.My suggestions would be:
Giles Tremlett: Ghosts of Spain. Travels through a country's hidden past.
Jeremy Treglown: Franco's crypt. Spanish culture and memory since 1936.
I enjoyed both of these books very much and they helped me understand Spain a bit better (at least I'd like to think so)
I could never recommend a good book on that period. It gets into a grey area of forum non political rules. One mans truth is another mans falsehood so I tend to stay out. Just go to your local library and see what they have and make your own mind up about what is good and what is not. To quote the Grinch, one mans toxic soup is another mans pot pourri.Can anyone recommend a good book to give me a background to Franco's rule and more recent Spanish history please?
Having travelled in the Middle East and also to Sarajevo and other places where conflict is within living memory I know that what we may read about and consider history is actually still the lived experience of people we may meet and not totally the past. I'd like to have an idea of what happened and how it was before I go, if that makes sense but this is an area I've never read about.
Apologies if I've missed a thread on this, I've had a good look but haven't spotted any.
Jo
have always been a great fan of Hugh Thomas.I always recommend Giles Tremlett as a good and readable basic -- in the sense of providing a good base for further reading -- text. Along with a potted history, it examines the situation of memory and remembrance, a very current issue in Spanish life, and then gives a review of life in Spain-- how the medical system works, etc. As we walk along through these towns and pueblos, we will have a better understanding of the (pre-pandemic) challenges which ordinary Spaniards face.
Hugh Thomas' The Spanish Civil War is now in its 4th edition. Written to be read, rather than pored over by academics, this doorstopper will tell you everything you ever needed to know about the Civil War. My Spanish friends tell me that this is their go-to serious book, one of them admitting that they trust an outsider's well-reseached and sympathetic perspective over a domestic one. It was my introduction to Spanish history and I have a well-thumbed copy of the 2d edition on my shelf.
If you want something lighter, Rebecca Pawel's Death of a Nationalist is a good policier set in the early years of Franco's régime. Two of my Spanish historian friends recommen it as giving a very accurate flavour of life at that time. We often encounter writers who spend a few months in a country and then feel comfortable in writing a novel set in its history-- the results are almost always awful but Rebecca Pawel's Lt Tejada series is the exception to the rule, and are well worth the read.
Hello,Can anyone recommend a good book to give me a background to Franco's rule and more recent Spanish history please?
Having travelled in the Middle East and also to Sarajevo and other places where conflict is within living memory I know that what we may read about and consider history is actually still the lived experience of people we may meet and not totally the past. I'd like to have an idea of what happened and how it was before I go, if that makes sense but this is an area I've never read about.
Apologies if I've missed a thread on this, I've had a good look but haven't spotted any.
Jo
Thank for the heads up on that documentary Irishwalker. It looks very good. Right now, it is available on Netflix in the UK but not the U.S., FYI. Perhaps soon ...There is currently a five part series on Netflix 'Franco: The Brutal Truth about Spain's Dictator'
It is very good and gives an in-depth history of the civil war and the reign of Franco up to his
death in the 70's. The archive footage from that period is excellent. I have watched it a couple of
times, so as try and absorb the level of detail.
I'm a politician, I get that.I could never recommend a good book on that period. It gets into a grey area of forum non political rules. One mans truth is another mans falsehood so I tend to stay out. Just go to your local library and see what they have and make your own mind up about what is good and what is not. To quote the Grinch, one mans toxic soup is another mans pot pourri.
I'm slowly reading Giles Tremlett's The International Brigades: Fascism, Freedom and the Spanish Civil War which was published in 2020. So far it's great if very detailed. At 720 pages it might be a long time before I could provide a review of the whole bookMy suggestions would be:
Giles Tremlett: Ghosts of Spain. Travels through a country's hidden past.
Jeremy Treglown: Franco's crypt. Spanish culture and memory since 1936.
I enjoyed both of these books very much and they helped me understand Spain a bit better (at least I'd like to think so)
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