Spain and the Great Powers in the Twentieth Century

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Includes some very useful material - Rated
The best material comes from historians dealing with themes from 1898 to the late Franco period. Clearly, quite a lot of thought has gone into developing new perspectives on issues such as Spain in the first world war, Spain's relations with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, etc. It tails off a bit as we approach Spanish foreign policy today. Indeed, some contributions read as if Spain hasn't put a foot wrong since 1975. One would have liked to see a more forthright analysis of how Spain actually behaves in defending its interests in the EU. But it's still a very useful book.

Provides excellent overview - Rated
Edited books tend to be rather unsuccessful. Individual contributions tend to be of varying quality and the whole book often lacks coherence and structure, and the coverage can be incomplete. However, this book by Sebastian Balfour and Paul Preston that appears in the 'Cañada Blanch Studies in Contemporary Spain' series is neither of these. In their individual contributions, the 10 respected authorities from Spain and from the UK, Canada, and New Zealand provide a very good coverage and overview over Spanish relations with the great powers in the last 90 years, or, as one should rather say, over the influence these great powers exerted over Spain. Overall, this book provides a very good overview although sometimes space constraints prevent a more detailed analysis, e.g. Preston's analysis of Hispano-Italian relations 1936 - 1943; and, perhaps, Viñas contribution is too favourable towards Gonzalez's foreign policy. Nevertheless, this book provides a good starting point for further reading. It is definitely one of the standard edited books on this topic.