The Franco Regime, 1936–1975

Selected Bibliography

Selected Bibliography Biographies of Franco and General Works on the Regime to 1986 The first brief biography of Franco, entitled simply Franco (San Sebastian, 1937), came from the pen of Joaquin Arraras and was accompanied by two shorter accounts from foreign authors, Dr. Rudolf Timmermans, General Franco (Zurich, 1937), and Georges Rotvand, Franco en la nouvelle Espagne (Paris, 1937), as well as Victor Ruiz Albeniz, Heroes de Espana: Francisco Franco (Avila, 1937). There followed Jose Millan Astray's eulogy, Franco el Caudillo (Salamanca, 1939), and Johann Froembgen, Franco: Ein Leben fur Spanien (Leipzig, 1939), while four years later came Angel Perez Rodrigo, Franco, una vida al servicio de la Patria (Madrid, 1943), and Fernando de Valdesoto, Francisco Franco (Madrid, 1943). A hiatus of more than a decade ensued, finally broken in 1955 by the first serious foreign publication, S. F. A. Coles's Franco of Spain (London, 1955). The most ambitious official biography to that date, Luis de Galinsoga's Centinela de Occidente (written in collaboration with Salgado-Araujo), appeared in Barcelona one year later, offering a newer Cold War image. Several further eulogies that appeared in the next few years had little more to offer: Fernando Rubio, Francisco Franco (Madrid, 1958), Francisco Salva Miquel and Juan Vicente, Francisco Franco (Historia de un espanol)(Barcelona, 1959), and J. M. Sanchez Silva and J. L. Saenz de Heredia, Franco, ese hombre (Madrid, 1964). The first completely critical treatments finally appeared in 1964 in the attempted psychological interpretation by Luis Ramircz [pseud.], Francisco Franco, historia de un mesianismo (Paris), and Salvador de Madariaga's brief satire, Sanco Panco (Mexico City). Three major, relatively favorable accounts by foreign writers appeared next: Claude Martin, Franco, soldat et chef d'Etat (Paris, 1965), Brian Crozier, Franco: A Biographical History (London, 1967), and George Hills, Franco: The Man and His Nation (London, 1967). There were also more minor treatments abroad: Sven Andersen, Francisco Franco (Stockholm, 1968), Alan Lloyd, Franco (Garden City, N.Y., 1969), and Anton Stefanescu, Francisco Franco (Paris, 1969). This series ofworks climaxed in 1970with J. W. D. Trythall, El Caudillo (New York). Though not as detailed as the biographies by Crozier and Hills, Trythall's book was the most accurate and best balanced and remains in certain respects the best biography ever written, though its data base has been superseded in recent years. 645 646 Selected Bibliography The last ofthe official biographies and by far the best and most informative was Ricardo de la Cierva, Francisco Franco: Un siglo de Espana, 2 vols. (Madrid, 1972-73). A thoroughly revised and better balanced edition appeared in Barcelona in 1986. Several minor biographies appeared in Germany, France, and Spain during the mid-1970s, without new information or insights. There were two more specialized treatments in French: Philippe Noury, Francisco Franco: La conquete du pouvoir, 1892-1937 (Paris, 1975), which dealt primarily with the rise to power, and Edouard de Blaye, Franco, ou la Monarchie sans Roi (Paris, 1974), which concentrated more on the final decade. Of a number of brief attempts at biographies in Spain during the 1980s, two stand out. Carlos Fernandez, EI general Franco (Barcelona, 1983), though abbreviated and thematic, was the first since that of La Cierva to present new material, while Juan Pablo Fusi, Franco: Autoritarismo y poder personal (Madrid, 1985), finally superseded Trythall as a brief account and ranks as the most lucid and profound treatment by a Spanish author. The first descriptive surveys of the new Spanish regime were prepared by friendly German and Italian journalists at the close of the Civil War, particularly Otto Schempp, Das autoritiire Spanien (Leipzig, 1939), and Arrigo Solmi, Lo stato nuovo nella Spagna di Franco (Milan, 1940). Emmett J. Hughes, Report from Spain (New York, 1947), was the first important critical account, while Sheila M. O'Callaghan, Cinderella of Europe (New York, 1949), was more favorable to the regime. The only new assessment in the 1950s was Herbert M. Matthews, The Yoke and the Arrows (New York, 1956). Arthur P. Whitaker, Spain and Defense of the West: Ally and Liability (New York, 1961), offered the first strictly scholarly account, written primarily from the viewpoint of international relations. Benjamin Welles, Spain: The Gentle Anarchy (New York, 1965), was a journalist's treatment that especially stressed the politics of the 1950s and early 1960s, and Ludovico Garruccio, Spagna senza miti (Milan, 1968), presented the first major new assessment in Italian. Soviet accounts concentrated much more on the activities of the opposition than on discussion and...