Nigel Townson The Penguin History of Modern Spain : 1898 to the Present

The best account in a single volume of Spain since 1898, exemplary for concision and for accuracy in the use of language, as well as for equanimity and generosity of spirit Felipe FernndezArmesto, TLSA revelatory new history of Spain, from the late nineteenth century to the twentyfirstSpain is different, proclaimed the Franco regime in the 1940s, keen to attract foreign tourists. For the most part, the world has agreed. From the end of its glorious empire in 1898 to the dazzling World Cup victory in 2010, the prevailing narrative of modern Spain has emphasized the countrys peculiarity. Generations of historians and readers have been transfixed by its implosion into civil war in the 1930s, seduced by the valiant struggle of the republicans, horrified by the barbarity of the dictatorship which followed. Francos Spain was seen as an anomaly in the midst of prosperous and permissive postwar Western Europe. But, as Nigel Townson shows in this richly layered and exciting new history, beyond the familiar image, there lies a radically different history of Spain of a dynamic and progressive society that fits firmly into the narrative of modern Europe. Drawing on over forty years of postFranco scholarship, The Penguin History of Modern Spain transforms our knowledge of Spain and its politics, society, economics and culture. It interweaves cuttingedge Spanishled research never before published in English and testimonies of peasants, housewives, soldiers, workers, entrepreneurs,... | Nigel Townson The Penguin History of Modern Spain : 1898 to the Present