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Title: Franco: A Biography by Paul Preston ISBN: 0-465-02515-3 Publisher: Perseus Books Group Pub. Date: 01 December, 1994 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $37.50 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.77 (13 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Must read to understand Spain and the Spaniards
Comment: This is a classic and describes a period of Spain's history that has formed post-Franco culture to an important level. Paul Preston has written a very detailed book about this period, well researched and documented; it also reads well and even though most of the readers will know how the story ends (this is what defines 'history')it maintains the tension even when re-reading after some time. The most recent book (I believe only written in Spanish so far) about Don Juan Carlos (king of Spain) is equally impressive. To both books, however, there is one thing I missed: the deeper psychological background to the key players. Why did they do what they did? Why was Franco able to 'hang on' for so long, how was Juan Carlos able to live under one regime and then change to a democracy (doing what I would call a 'Gorbachov': growing up in the system, getting powerful in the system and then defeating the same system). I am looking forward to have those aspects covered by Mr Preston one day.
Rating: 5
Summary: The best documented, most readable, academic book of 1996.
Comment: Paul Preston's Franco is so comprehensive that a reader with no prior knowledge of the Spanish war or Francisco Franco, could claim expertise on the subject by reading this book. The book is the best documented book I have yet seen. Almost every paragraph is footnoted and bears the proper notation as to its source. This is an academic work that must have taken years to complile into such a magnificent work of history. This book is in a class of its own. Its objectivity is awsome, but never boring.
Rating: 5
Summary: Outstanding Biography
Comment: This is a first rate biography by Prof. Paul Preston, perhaps the leading authority on mid-20th century Spain. Written well and documented superbly, this book offers an unparalleled account of Franco's long career. Preston presents Franco as an unusually able opportunist dedicated to a relatively primitive ideology characterized by narrow nationalism, a virtually paranoid fear of leftism, and reactionary Catholicism. Preston demonstrates well that Franco essentially embodied the worst tendencies of the Spanish upper and middle classes. Franco's world view was formed by his provinical background, his narrow education in the Spanish military and his service in the colonial forces in Morocco. Physically unimpressive, Franco became a national figure and leader of the Spanish Army by a combination of reckless bravery and an attention to organizational detail unusual in the primitive Spanish military. Franco was then able to use his prestige and connections to eventually attain a position of primacy among the rebellious commanders on the Nationalist side in the Spanish Civil War. Preston shows well that Franco probably put his political aspirations ahead of military success during crucial phases of the Civil War. Franco appears to have been infected with the idea that he was some kind of 2oth century El Cid selected to save Spain from Bolshevism-Freemasonry. Preston analyzes in detail many of the claims made by Franco's supporters. These include the suggestions that he kept Spain out of WWII and that he set the stage for Spain's remarkable economic growth in the 1960s. Preston shows that Spain's neutrality owed considerably more to good luck and intelligent Allied pressure than Franco's diplomacy. Spain's economic boom occurred only after Franco's cabinet contained indivduals who rejected his primitive ideas of economic autarchy. The Franco regime was characterized by systematic repression from start to finish. From the remarkable brutality of Franco's troops during the Civil War to the massive post-war imprisonments to the systematic repression that lasted into the 1970s, the Francist regime characterized by attacks on anything deemed threatening. Threats included free speech, freedom of religion, independent trade union activity, and a host of institutions necessary for a decent society. Well into old age, Franco continued to express warm feelings about the Nazis and Italian Fascists who had once been his allies. Prior reviewers who characterize Preston's analysis as biased are themselves showing evidence of prejuidice. Preston presents Franco as a narrow-minded, vicious, and egotistical tyrant because that is exactly what Franco was.
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Title: Gulag: A History by Anne Applebaum ISBN: 0767900561 Publisher: Doubleday Books Pub. Date: 15 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: Castles of Steel: Britain, Germany, and the Winning of the Great War at Sea by ROBERT K. MASSIE ISBN: 0679456716 Publisher: Random House Pub. Date: 28 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: Absolute Friends by John le Carre ISBN: 0316000647 Publisher: Little Brown & Company Pub. Date: 12 January, 2004 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
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Title: Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow ISBN: 1594200092 Publisher: The Penguin Press Pub. Date: 26 April, 2004 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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