olivia

Please can anyone recommend a book on the History of Spain in recent history just before and during the Franco years? I have looked in bookshops and can't find anything. I don't want anything too academic. I am just interested to learn more about life for the Spanish people during those years.

montgomail

Ghosts of Spain by Giles Tremlett:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ghosts-Spain.../dp/057122167X

Sam Greenfield

Is that the one that we are all supposed to be reading

montgomail

Some of us are, indeed.

Mitzyboy

I'm half way through it. It covers a lot of areas of Spanish history last century from the bodies by the roadsides to flamenco, really interesting

olivia

Thanks all of you.
I have ordered it! Also one on the Spanish Civil War. I can't wait to start learning more about the recent history from Monarchy back to Monarchy.

bil

Laurie Lee, 'As I walked out one midsummer morning'

olivia

Oh my goodness!
That sounds great too! I am now starting a wish list!

montgomail

Thanks - I'd long forgotten about this one.

livit

Go on Amazon.co.uk there are hundreds.

Mitzyboy

I never realised for instance that the present King of Spain was actually chosen and groomed by Franco to carry on from him. But unbeknown to Franco the future king was actually in league with the democratic party, hence why when Franco died there wasnt more of the same!

Carol&John

Hi Olivia,

You might like to add Victoria Hislop's, The Return to your list. It's a light enough read (re: salsa dancing) about wartime Granada. An interesting point is that it raises the history of the "children's camps" in the UK.
Also, Winter in Madrid by C.J. Sansom is a thriller, set during the war.

Carol

Chiclanagir

I have just finished The Return by Victoria Hislop. Fascinating read. Really brings it home the dreadful deeds done in Franco´s name and not that long ago either. I wouldn´t call it a particularly light read though.

whitelinen

I can recommend .......Homage to Catalonia ....George Orwell

Fortaleza

Ghosts of Spain is a fantastic read, but not necessarily what you want. This is a journalist's account of his time in Spain using some history as a tool to convey his observations over the time he has been here. Same thing with Orwell's Homage to Catalonia - again a fantastic book but a very personal account of his own experience during the civil war.

A great starting point is The Story of Spain by Mark Williams. It takes you from around 2000 years BC right up to (more or less) the present day in just about 230 pages. It gives a basic, fairly non-opinionated account of Spanish History. It also includes at the end of each chapter a list of places to visit as mentioned in the chapter. Plus there is a suggested reading list at the end of the book. This is not the most complete book ever written but a great place to start. From here you can then move on to other books to explore parts of Williams' book more comprehensively.

Also, seek out books written by Paul Preston. One of the problems of the civil war is that as it is still a relatively recent part of history and such an emotive issue, it is very difficult to get an impartial factual account of what happened. Spanish historians themselves admit that it will take a number of generations yet before the 'perfect' account (ie acceptable to both sides) can be written by a Spaniard. They point to Preston and an American writer whose name I forget as the fairest account of the war, seeing things from both sides and just telling the story as it happened without editorialising.

ADDENDUM: Going back to Ghosts of Spain, his account of the civil war is more about the scar it left on society today, not really what happened at the time. Tremlett uses anecdotes from survivors and family of the fallen to recount the horror of the war, but he is more interested in the legacy of the war and subsequent dictatorship and how it has impacted on today's generation. For an account of the war, Preston's book is head and shoulders above anything else on the market. For a personal account of a soldier involved in fighting, almost like a diary, then of course Orwell is where to go.