Modern Spain: 1808 to the Present Hardcover - 2017

Modern Spain: 1808 to the Present is a comprehensive overview of Spanish history from the Napoleonic era to the present day. From the war of independence and civil war to dictatorship and democracy, this book covers all the major historic events that shaped Spain's evolution in the modern era over the past two centuries.

Incorporating the most up-to-date historical research, author Pamela Radcliff weaves a fascinating and in-depth narrative of Spanish political, economic, cultural and social history into the broader fabric of European and global history. Readers will start their journey in the era of the liberal revolution of the early 19th century and Spain's transformation from an absolutist to a liberal regime. From the mid-19th century, the struggles over expanding the parameters of elite liberalism are explored through various popular movements of the right and left, culminating during the democratic "Sexenio" (1868-74). The journey continues through the 20th century, where alternating periods of dictatorship and democracy, punctuated by the Civil War of the 1930s, culminate in the transition of the 1970s to the current democratic regime. The book ends with an evaluation of the achievements and limits of the almost four decades of democracy since 1978.

Illuminating and grounded in the latest scholarship, which can be accessed in the extensive endnotes, Modern Spain: 1808 to the Present covers the full spectrum of politics, war, and social conflict that shaped and transformed Spain from the Napoleonic era into the first decades of the 21st century.