James franco

Franco brothers
Traces the life of the controversial Spanish general and dictator, and takes a critical look at his impact on Spanish history.
Generalissimo Francisco Franco, the Caudillo of Spain from the Nationalists' brutal, Fascist-sponsored victory over the Republican government in the Spanish Civil War until his quiet death in 1975, is the subject of this book.

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Book Overview

One of the most interesting biographies I have read

Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 19 years ago

This is a long, detailed book, but I found it to be excellent. The kinds of biographies I like are ones that bring the historical period alive by showing a view of the world and how the person interacted with it. This book really fit the bill because Franco is not a major historical player. So, the story of World War II from the perspective of Spain (not in the war) was interesting. WWII is always about the active participants. To see how Franco dilly dallied around with Hitler and Mussolini and survived the war to ally with the US was not something I had been exposed to before. Some of the other reviews indicate that the book is biased. I would say that the author has a view (as he should), but I did not find it to be a distraction.

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Franco: A Biography

April 19, 2019

Few Americans know much about Francisco Franco, leader of the winning side in the Spanish Civil War and subsequently dictator of Spain. Yet from 1936 until 1975, he was a famous world figure. Now he is forgotten—but not by all. Franco is, and has been for decades, a cause célèbre among the global Left, seen as the devil incarnate for his successful war against Communist domination of Spain. To successfully delay, or worse, block, any Left attempt to establish their permanent rule, thereby revealing that history lacks a progressive direction, is the unforgivable sin. Naturally, therefore, my own impression of Franco was generally favorable. But after reading up on him, my impression of him has changed. Now it is positively glowing.

It is very difficult to grasp the controversial figures of the past century. By “controversial,” I mean right-wing, since no prominent left-wing figure is ever deemed, in the common imagination formed by the left-wing dominance of academia and media, to be “controversial.” Instead, such people are “bold” or “courageous

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Franco: A Biography

SIR PAUL PRESTON CBE is Professor of Contemporary Spanish History at the London School of Economics and was previously a lecturer at the University of Reading and Professor of Modern History at Queen Mary University London. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and holds the Marcel Proust Chair of the European Academy of Yuste. He has been awarded honorary doctorates by universities in Spain and the UK. In 2006, he was awarded the International Ramon Llull Prize by the Catalan Government and, in 2018, the Guernica Peace Prize. Among his many works are Franco: A Biography, Comrades, Doves of War: Four Women of Spain, Juan Carlos, The Spanish Civil War, The Spanish Holocaust, The Last Stalinist, The Last Days of the Spanish Republic and A People Betrayed. In Spain, he was appointed a Comendador de la Orden del Mérito Civil in 1986 and awarded, in 2007, the Gran Cruz de la Orden de Isabel la Católica. He lives in London.