Overview

Told for the first time in English, Paul Preston’s new book tells the story of a preventable tragedy that cost many thousands of lives and ruined tens of thousands more at the end of the Spanish Civil War. This is the story of an avoidable humanitarian tragedy that cost many thousands of lives and ruined tens of thousands more. On 5 March 1939, the eternally malcontent Colonel Segismundo Casado launched a military coup against the government of Juan Negrín. To fulfil his ambition to go down in history as the man who ended the Spanish Civil War, he claimed that Negrín was the puppet of Moscow and that a coup was imminent to establish a Communist dictatorship. Instead his action ensured the Republic ended in catastrophe and shame. Paul Preston, the leading historian of twentieth-century Spain, tells this shocking story for the first time in English. It is a harrowing tale of how the flawed decisions of politicans can lead to tragedy.

Full Product Details

9780008163419

Table of Contents

Reviews

'Preston's mission in life is to bring clarity to the confusing tragedy of the Spanish Civil War. This is his twelfth book on the war and its legacy ... [it] is written with the same sober lucidity that distinguishes the previous eleven' The Times 'Compelling and convincingly argued ...the story of the final, tragic days of the Spanish Republic has never been told so clearly before. With a keen eye for historical detail and a painful sense of the human lives at stake, Preston paints a vivid portrait of those involved' Spectator Praise for 'The Spanish Holocaust': 'A book of extraordinary moral and emotional power, a classic of historical scholarship and a deeply affecting record of man's inhumanity to man.' Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times 'A harrowing and moving account of the immense terror and enormous atrocities, especially perpetrated by General Franco's followers, during and after the Spanish Civil War, meticulously researched and superbly written by an outstanding historian.' Ian Kershaw 'Essential reading for anyone wishing to understand Spain and its recent history... Preston's excellent, spine-chilling narrative explains just how deep Franco's early investment in terror was...this is an invaluable book that does not shrink from even the harshest of truths' Guardian 'Preston's staggeringly detailed powerful and affecting chronicle of the savagery unleashed during the Spanish civil war...is a history of rare moral and emotional power, which alters forever our view of one of the most symbolic conflicts of the last century' Sunday Times, History Book of the Year

A Daily Telegraph Book of the Year 'Preston's mission in life is to bring clarity to the confusing tragedy of the Spanish Civil War. This is his twelfth book on the war and its legacy ... [it] is written with the same sober lucidity that distinguishes the previous eleven' The Times 'Compelling and convincingly argued ...the story of the final, tragic days of the Spanish Republic has never been told so clearly before. With a keen eye for historical detail and a painful sense of the human lives at stake, Preston paints a vivid portrait of those involved' Spectator 'Masterly and intensely moving ... in Preston, author of several award-winning books on the conflict, the reader could not hope for a more sure-footed guide ... Britons today know far less than they should about the Spanish Civil War ... our knowledge would be poorer still but for Preston's indefatigable scholarship, elegant prose and impeccable judgement' Sunday Telegraph 'Scholarly and authoritative' Literary Review

A Daily Telegraph Book of the Year`Preston's mission in life is to bring clarity to the confusing tragedy of the Spanish Civil War. This is his twelfth book on the war and its legacy ... [it] is written with the same sober lucidity that distinguishes the previous eleven' The Times`Compelling and convincingly argued ....the story of the final, tragic days of the Spanish Republic has never been told so clearly before. With a keen eye for historical detail and a painful sense of the human lives at stake, Preston paints a vivid portrait of those involved' Spectator`Masterly and intensely moving ... in Preston, author of several award-winning books on the conflict, the reader could not hope for a more sure-footed guide ... Britons today know far less than they should about the Spanish Civil War ... our knowledge would be poorer still but for Preston's indefatigable scholarship, elegant prose and impeccable judgement' Sunday Telegraph`Scholarly and authoritative' Literary Review

Author Information

Paul Preston is Príncipe de Asturias Professor of Contemporary Spanish History and Director of the Cañada Blanch Centre of Contemporary Spanish Studies at the LSE. He was lecturer at the University of Reading then successively lecturer in, reader in and Professor of History at Queen Mary College, University of London. In 2006 he was awarded the International Ramon Llull Prize by the Catalan Government. Among his many works are The Triumph of Democracy in Spain (1986), Franco: A Biography (1993), A Concise History of the Spanish Civil War (1996), Comrades (1999), Doves of War: Four Women in Spain (2002), Juan Carlos (2004) and The Spanish Civil War (2006). He was decorated by Spanish King Juan Carlos a ‘Comendador de la Orden de Mérito Civil’ and in 2007, the ‘Gran Cruz de la Orden de Isabel la Católica’. In 2000 he was awarded a CBE.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available