A People Betrayed
A History of Corruption, Political Incompetence and Social Division in Modern Spain 1874-2018
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A People Betrayed
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Narrated by:
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Peter Noble
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By:
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Paul Preston
About this listen
From the foremost historian of 20th century Spain, A People Betrayed is the story of the devastating betrayal of Spain by its political class, its military and its Church.
This comprehensive history of modern Spain chronicles the fomenting of violent social division throughout the country by institutionalised corruption and startling political incompetence. Most spectacularly during the Primo de Rivera and Franco dictatorships, grotesque and shameless corruption went hand-in-hand with inept policies that prolonged Spain’s economic backwardness well into the 1950s.
A People Betrayed looks back to the years prior to 1923 when electoral corruption excluded the masses from organized politics and gave them a choice between apathetic acceptance and violent revolution. Bitter social conflict, economic tensions and conflict between centralist nationalism and regional independence movements then exploded into the civil war of 1936-1939.
It took the horrors of that war and the dictatorship that followed to break the pattern. The moderation shared by the progressive right and a chastened left underlay a bloodless transition to democracy after 1975. Yet, as before, corruption and political incompetence continued to have a corrosive effect on political coexistence and social cohesion.
Sparkling with vivid portraits of politicians and army officers, some corrupt and others clean, recounting the triumphs and disasters of Kings Alfonso XIII and Juan Carlos, A People Betrayed unravels the mystery of why both right and left have been unable or unwilling to deal with corruption and the pernicious clash between Spanish centralist nationalism and regional desires for independence.
©2020 Paul Preston (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers LimitedListeners also enjoyed...
What listeners say about A People Betrayed
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- peterstod
- 18-04-20
Shocking History
Detailed history, well read. Milliibs of lives were a misery while the rich got richer and didn't care.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Ed
- 09-09-21
An important critique of one of the world's most s
in common with so many others, I have a deep love of Spain. It has long been a source of fascination to me that a country whose talents and instincts are so profoundly intellectual and artistic should be so incapable of political standards to match its European colleagues.
This book is a lucid and detailed account of how Spanish political life has developed over the last 150 years and offers an insight into the dark side of Spain. Deeply shocking, at times bleak, but underscored with benevolence, the narrative takes the listener through events with a sense of pity and frustration.
I came away better informed about sensitive and painful matters often buried in the Spanish psyche.
For those who want to get closer to Spain, but retain a position of neutrality, I'd say that this is a rare English-language chance to do just that.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 05-05-20
Depressing yet fascinating
A great listen, this was very well read. Quite a depressing book but interesting nonetheless, I don't understand how people who steal from the public purse can live with themselves, let's hope Spain, and other countries, can get to drips with this huge issue.
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- HGJohn
- 02-10-20
Essential Spanish history
For most people, myself included, Spanish history of the 20th Century begins and ends with the Civil War and the Franco dictatorship. By following the themes of corruption and political incompetence, Paul Preston puts the War and dictatorship into a wider context of coup, brutality, repression and corruption across the whole of the 20th Century. Franco may have been the master, but by no means the only perpetrator. This is a brilliant book, superbly narrated by Peter Noble and will be essential listening for all students of Spanish history.
I've read other reviews on here criticising the Spanish pronunciation of Paul Noble. I think they're confusing the differences in Spanish pronunciation and Catalan where "j" is not an "h", but a "dz" sound. Paul Noble's narration is excellent throughout.
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2 people found this helpful
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- The Curator
- 06-11-20
Fascinating and complex
I was glued to this all the way through. From stitching up elections to dodgy royals via a fascist dictatorship, when it comes to dirt the Spanish have plenty to go round. Be warned though, this isn’t a beginner’s book so if, like me, your knowledge of Spanish history is limited to stuff about the period 1936-39, you may end up googling a lot.
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- Jiri
- 06-09-23
Very interesting!
It’s been my first book on Spanish politics and I found it fascinating. Spain is like a world-crucible because many things described in this book manifested and still manifest today in many other parts of the world. It’s very important read for anyone who is not Spanish but wants to understand more. It’s very long book but so insightful that time flies when you listen to it.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Michael Rees
- 18-10-21
Jaw dropping
Paul Preston is the historian that Spain deserves having failed to produce one of their own . The book explains why no such person has emerged
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- James Hatt
- 16-02-21
My delusion with Spain....
Terrific narration. Astonishing story. I have read Paul Preston books before. This book however, opened my eyes beyond belief. Particularly given the deceipt of the people of Spain that prevailed (and continues to prevail) at such a staggering level. whether it be the corruption on one side or the incompetence of the other. I want to retire to Spain. Makes you think!
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- Shaun
- 10-05-20
A history of corruption in modern Spain
Dr. Preston (as he was then) was one of my History tutors at Queen Mary College, London University in the late 1970s. His left-wing sympathies were self-evident and never hidden! That being said, everything he writes here is perfectly true - you just have to remember that his sympathies are clearly with the Left in Spain. This book is not really for the general reader but for those who have a deep interest in Spanish history. Be warned: there are scores and scores of acronyms - PSUC, ICE, POUM, PSOE, PCE - the list is almost endless! The most interesting sections of the book for me were those which dealt with the corruption of Franco and his family. After listening to this, I do recommend his biographies of Franco and King Juan Carlos.
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4 people found this helpful
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- djmp
- 01-08-20
An eye-opener
In many respects deeply depressing. Corruption and incompetence now as in 1870 plus Franco legacy
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1 person found this helpful