Twentieth-Century Spain

"Twentieth-Century Spain tells the gripping story of this country's long and often painful struggle towards modernity. During this period, Spain has seen two monarchies, one republic, two dictatorships and one of the bloodiest civil wars in Europe's recent history."--BOOK JACKET. "This book provides a comprehensive, thorough and detailed analysis of Spain's political, social and economic evolution throughout this century. It examines the crisis and collapse of clientelist politics and the attempts at reform during the inter-war years through military dictatorship and progressive republic. The choice was ultimately to be decided by three years of civil war fought between the left-wing Republican forces and the Nationalists, led by General Franco and backed by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy."--BOOK JACKET. "The Nationalist victory held Spain under Franco's authoritarian rule for almost forty years - the only pro-Axis regime to survive into the liberal-democratic era of Western Europe after 1945. Finally, the dismantlement of the Francoist state and the consolidation of democracy are discussed together with an assessment of Spain's current political situation."--BOOK JACKET.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.