A people betrayed : a history of corruption, political incompetence and social division in modern Spain Cover Image

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A people betrayed : a history of corruption, political incompetence and social division in modern Spain / Paul Preston.

Preston, Paul, 1946- (author.).

Summary:

"Nowhere does the ceaseless struggle to maintain democracy in the face of political corruption come more alive than in Paul Preston's magisterial history of modern Spain. The culmination of a half-century of historical investigation, A People Betrayed is not only the definitive history of Spain from 1876 to 2016, but an absorbing narrative that becomes a lens for understanding the challenges that all democracies have faced in the modern world. As A People Betrayed demonstrates, Spain's decrepit political system led to defeat in 1898 at the hands of the United States and cost Spain the last of its major colonies. Preston shows how the humiliation and economic degradation following the loss of empire brought forth a succession of feeble governments, culminating in the tragic Spanish Civil War and the rise of Francisco Franco's fascist dictatorship. The first historical work to discuss the continuities of political unrest and national anxiety in Spain up until the present, this sweeping history illuminates the vicious political cycle that continues to create a stark gulf between the people and the elite political powers who rule over them"-- Provided by publisher.

Record details

ISBN: 9780871408686
ISBN: 0871408686
Physical Description: xvi, 750 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm
Edition: First American edition.
Publisher: New York : Liveright Publishing Corporation, a division of W. W. Norton & Company, 2020.
Copyright: ©2020

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Formatted Contents Note:

Spanish stereotypes? passion, violence and corruption -- Violence, corruption and the slide to disaster -- Revolution and war : from the disaster of 1898 to the tragic week of 1909 -- Revolution and war : from the tragic week of 1909 to the crisis of 1917-1918 -- A system in disarray : disorder and repression, 1918-1921 -- From colonial disaster to dictatorship, 1921-1923 -- The primo de rivera dictatorship : the years of success, 1923-1926 -- The primo de rivera dictatorship : the years of failure, 1926-1931 -- The second republic : reform and frustration, 1931-1933 -- The black years and the coming of war, 1933-1936 -- Civil war : hatred, incompetence and profit, 1936-1939 -- World war : survival, hypocrisy and profit, 1939-1945 -- The Franco regime : corruption and terror, 1945-1953 -- The Franco regime : corruption and complacency, 1953-1969 -- The twilight years of a corrupt regime, 1969-1982 -- The painful creation of a democracy, 1975-1982 -- The grandeur and misery of a newborn democracy, 1982-2004 -- The triumph of corruption and incompetence, 2004-2018.