A Time of Silence: Civil War and the Culture of Repression in Franco's Spain, 1936-1945

Description

The years 1936-1945 in Spain saw catastrophic civil war followed by fierce repression and economic misery. Families were torn apart and social relations were disrupted by death, exile and defeat. Society became traumatized so deeply that people avoided talking openly of these years for decades. This study attempts to show how the Civil War was understood and absorbed, particularly by those who could claim themselves as 'the victors', during and in the immediate aftermath of the conflict. It does so by exploring the interchanges between violence, ideas and economics during a period in which liberalism was seen as foreign contagion that infected carriers of impurities such as freemasons, regional nationalists, the working class, non-Catholics and women. This was the context of the internal colonization that confirmed Franco's victory, concentrated economic power, and left executions and starvation in its wake.

'... eloquent and moving ... this richly textured study ... adds immeasurably to our knowledge of contemporary Spain and its wide comparative resonance illuminates both social policy and economics within European fascism.' History Today '... an admirable contribution to the effort to reconstruct the history of life under Francoism by weaving together the study of economy, society, politics and culture ... The result is a richer and more subtle portrait of twentieth-century Spain.' The Times Literary Supplement