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Paul Preston

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sir
Paul Preston
CBE
Preston in 2004
Born (1946-06-21) 21 June 1946 (age 80)
Liverpool, England
SpouseGabriella
Academic background
Education
ThesisThe Socialists, the legalistic right and the break-down of parliamentary government in Spain, 1931–1936 (1977)
Christopher Seton-Watson
Other advisors
Hugh Thomas
Raymond Carr
Academic work
DisciplineHistory
Institutions

Sir Paul Preston CBE (born 21 July 1946) is an English historian and Hispanist, biographer of Francisco Franco, and specialist in Spanish history, in particular the Spanish Civil War, which he has studied for more than 50 years. He is the winner of multiple awards for his books on the Spanish Civil War.[1]

Biography

[edit]

Preston was born in 1946 in Liverpool and brought up in a working-class neighbourhood by his grandparents (due to his mother's tuberculosis).[2] He was a Catholic early in his life.[3] Preston said in an interview that he has sympathy for the Second Spanish Republic: "I came from a fairly left-wing family. You could not really be from working-class Liverpool and not be left-wing. Emotionally, in my feeling for the Republic I think there is an element of indignation about the Republic's defeat, solidarity with the losing side. Maybe that's why I support Everton, although Everton wasn't the losing side in my day."[4]

Preston studied for his undergraduate degree in history at Oriel College, Oxford from 1964, while teaching part-time at a primary and secondary school in Huyton. He then gained an MA in European Studies at the University of Reading, where he took a course on the Spanish Civil War with Hugh Thomas. He travelled to Francoist Spain in 1969 (visiting Arroyo de la Miel) and 1973, and later credited his experience of the dictatorship with shaping his political views. He moved back to Oriel College to gain his DPhil with a thesis on The Socialists, the legalistic right and the break-down of parliamentary government in Spain, 1931–1936 (initially supervised by Raymond Carr,[5] then by Christopher Seton-Watson[6]) in 1977.[7][2][8] He lectured at the University of Reading as Hugh Thomas's replacement between 1973 and 1975,[9] and was Thomas's research assistant for the 1977 third revised edition of The Spanish Civil War.[2]

Preston joined Queen Mary University of London as a lecturer in 1975.[10][9] From 1991 to 2020 he taught at the London School of Economics, where he was Príncipe de Asturias Professor of Contemporary Spanish Studies and the founding director of the Cañada Blanch Centre for Contemporary Spanish Studies from 1994 to 2020.

He is a frequent visitor to Spain, where his work appears in Spanish and Catalan. He speaks both languages.[11]

He has been a member of the Royal Historical Society since 1982, of the British Academy since 1994, and of the University of California, Berkeley's Institute of International Studies since 1996.[12] He acted as the founding chair of the International Brigade Memorial Trust in 2000.[13]

He has a wife, Gabriella, to whom he dedicated The Spanish Holocaust: Inquisition and Extermination in Twentieth-Century Spain.[14]

Publications

[edit]

Regarding criticism from right-wing media outlets over his depictions of Franco and other figures, Preston stated in a 2021 interview: "I try to be honest, even if the right-wing press paints me as an amateur and a liar."[15]

Preston has produced a biography of Franco (Basic Books, 1994). He has also published a biography of King Juan Carlos I (2003). Recent books include We Saw Spain Die, on the subject of foreign correspondents who reported on the Spanish Civil War and Perfidious Albion: Britain and the Spanish Civil War, a collection of essays exploring "the hypocrisy of British foreign policy towards the Spanish Republic, in contrast to the selfless contribution of medical personnel from across the globe, including many doctors and nurses from Britain, Ireland and Commonwealth countries, and assessing the influence of prominent ‘writer-historians’ including George Orwell and Herbert Southworth."[16]

He has been described by Stephen Kotkin as "having a fair claim to being the world's leading authority on 20th-century Spain".[17]

The Spanish Holocaust

[edit]

In 2012 he published the English edition of the Spanish Holocaust.[18] This book represents a challenge to the pact of forgetting,[19] examining the many deaths and atrocities associated with the Spanish Civil War, and following the Francoist repression into the early 1950s.[20]

The book was criticised by the historian Stanley G. Payne; while Payne did praise Preston for his depth and breadth of research into atrocities during and after the war, he criticised Preston for bias in his downplaying of Republican atrocities. Payne argues that Franco's policy was to simply eliminate the leaders and main activists of the Republicans while letting most of the rank and file go free. On the other hand, Payne said that Preston's estimate for post-war executions committed by the Francoist regime was probably too low.[21]

At the same time the book received praise among other academics and journalists, with Giles Tremlett writing in the Guardian: "Preston provides facts, figures and harrowing descriptions in the first full and proper attempt to explain the horror. He does not shy away from strong words – 'holocaust' is deliberately chosen to describe the extent of cold-blooded killing [...] because its resonances with systematic murder should be evoked in the Spanish case, as they are in those of Germany or Russia".“[22]

Architects of Terror

[edit]

In 2023, he published Architects of Terror: Paranoia, Conspiracy and Anti-Semitism in Franco's Spain, in which he examined the conspiracy theories and antisemitism behind the rise of Francoism.[23][24][15] The book included profiles of six figures within the Francoist camp: Emilio Mola, Gonzalo Queipo de Llano, Mauricio Carlavilla, Juan Tusquets Terrats, José María Pemán, and Gonzalo de Aguilera Munro.[25]

Robert Low of The Jewish Chronicle reviewed the book positively, saying that it "shows how fake news is certainly not an invention of the 21st century, and that its consequences can be far-reaching and frequently lethal."[26]

Views and approach

[edit]

Preston has described himself as "not a theorist" and his work as "not Marxist", expressing a preference for biography over social history in his later years.[3] He declared himself a "big admirer" of Gerald Brenan's account of the background to the Spanish Civil War in the 1943 The Spanish Labyrinth,[3] and stated that he had been influenced by Burnett Bolloten's 1961 book The Grand Camouflage.[27] He confessed to having "enormous admiration for Juan Carlos" for his role in the Spanish transition to democracy.[3]

Awards and honours

[edit]

Honorary Doctorates

[edit]

Bibliography

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  • — (1978). The Coming of the Spanish Civil War: Reform, Reaction and Revolution in the Second Republic 1931–1936. London: Macmillan.[40]
  • __ (1986) The Spanish Civil War 1936–39, Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
    • (1996) [revised and updated version] A Concise History of the Spanish Civil War, London: Fontana Press.
  • — (1993). Franco: A Biography. HarperCollins. ISBN 9780465025152.[41]
  • — (1999). ¡Comrades! Portraits from the Spanish Civil War. London: HarperCollins.[42]
  • — (2002). Doves of War: Four Women of Spain. London: HarperCollins.[43]
  • — (2004). Juan Carlos: A People's King. London: HarperCollins.[44][n. 1]
  • — (2006). The Spanish Civil War: Reaction, Revolution and Revenge. London: HarperCollins. ISBN 0393329879.[45]
  • — (2008). El gran manipulador. La mentira cotidiana de Franco. Barcelona: Ediciones B.[46]
  • — (2009). We Saw Spain Die: Foreign Correspondents in the Spanish Civil War. London: Constable and Robinson. ISBN 978-1602397675.[45]
  • — (2012). The Spanish Holocaust: Inquisition and Extermination in Twentieth-Century Spain. London: Harper Press. ISBN 978-0393345919.[47]
  • — (2013). El zorro rojo, la vida de Santiago Carrillo. Madrid: Debate.[48]
  • — (2016). The Last Days of The Spanish Republic. London: William Collins.[49]
  • — (2020). A People Betrayed: A History of Corruption, Political Incompetence and Social Division in Modern Spain 1874-2018. London: William Collins.
  • — (2023). Architects of Terror: Paranoia, Conspiracy and Anti-Semitism in Franco's Spain. London: William Collins.
  • — (2024). Perfidious Albion: Britain and the Spanish Civil War. London: The Clapton Press.
  • — (2026). Downfall of a King: Juan Carlos of Spain. London: William Collins.

As editor

[edit]
  • Paul Preston, ed. (1976). Spain in Crisis: Evolution and Decline of the Franco Regime. London: Branch Line.
  • Paul Preston, ed. (1976). Leviátan: Antologia. Ediciones Turner.
  • Paul Preston, ed. (2001). Revolution and War in Spain, 1931–1939. Routledge.

References

[edit]

Informational notes

  1. ↑ Published in the US with the subtitle: Steering Spain from Dictatorship to Democracy.

Citations

  1. ↑ Night Waves, BBC Radio Three, 6 March 2012
  2. 1 2 3 Preston, Paul (2024), "How I Became A Historian of Spain", The Madrid Review, 1 (1), archived from the original on 15 July 2024
  3. 1 2 3 4 Faber, Sebastiaan (23 August 2018). ""I'm Not a Theorist. My Vocation Is Biography"—Checking in with Sir Paul Preston". The Volunteer. Archived from the original on 16 October 2018. Retrieved 26 July 2026.
  4. ↑ "The man who can't say no: Preston is working harder than ever". 2013.
  5. ↑ Jump, Jim (2018). "Paul Preston on studying the Spanish Civil war and understanding Spain today" (PDF). ¡No pasarán!. pp. 14–15. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 October 2021.
  6. ↑ Preston, Paul (1994), The Coming of the Spanish Civil War: Reform, Reaction and Revolution in the Second Republic (2nd ed.), London: Routledge, p. vi, ISBN 0-203-39289-2
  7. ↑ "Professor Paul Preston". Department of International History, London School of Economics. Retrieved 23 December 2021.
  8. ↑ "The Socialists, the legalistic right and the break-down of parliamentary government in Spain, 1931–1936". Bodleian Library. Retrieved 26 July 2026.
  9. 1 2 Jump, Jim (2018). "Paul Preston on studying the Spanish Civil war and understanding Spain today" (PDF). ¡No pasarán!. p. 15. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 October 2021.
  10. ↑ "Professor Sir Paul Preston". London School of Economics. Retrieved 26 July 2026.
  11. ↑ (in Spanish) 2007 Cadena SER interview Archived 20 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine, accessed via El País website
  12. 1 2 "Eugene Garfield and Paul Preston awarded Doctor Honoris Causa by the University of Barcelona". University of Barcelona. 14 June 2016. Archived from the original on 15 February 2024. Retrieved 26 July 2026.
  13. ↑ Jump, Jim (2018). "Paul Preston on studying the Spanish Civil war and understanding Spain today" (PDF). ¡No pasarán!. p. 12. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 October 2021.
  14. ↑ The Spanish Holocaust: Inquisition and Extermination in Twentieth-Century Spain, p. 530
  15. 1 2 "Paul Preston: 'Franco was shy with women, Mussolini an aggressive predator, and Hitler harbored a range of perversions'". El País. 19 November 2021.
  16. ↑ Perfidious Albion: Britain and the Spanish Civil War by Paul Preston, The Clapton Press, London, 2024.
  17. ↑ Kotkin, Stephen (24 March 2015). "Stalin's Man in Spain". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 26 July 2026.
  18. ↑ Spanish and Catalan editions appeared in 2011. España masacrada, El País.
  19. ↑ Treglown (February 2012). "The Spanish Holocaust by Paul Preston: review". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 15 October 2012.
  20. ↑ Tremlett, Giles (March 2012). "The Spanish Holocaust by Paul Preston – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
  21. ↑ Payne, Stanley "The History War", Wall Street Journal, 12.10.2012, retrieved 14.10.2019
  22. ↑ Tremlett, Giles (9 March 2012). "The Spanish Holocaust by Paul Preston – review". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 24 November 2023.
  23. ↑ Degroot, Gerard (26 June 2023). "Architects of Terror by Paul Preston review — paranoia, conspiracy and antisemitism in Franco's Spain".
  24. ↑ "John Foot - Fascists & Fantasists". 26 June 2023.
  25. ↑ Bishop, Patrick (24 January 2023). "How an anti-Semitic 'fake news' conspiracy drove mass murder in Franco's Spain". The Telegraph.
  26. ↑ "Book review: Architect of Terror - When Franco ruled and hatred spread". www.thejc.com. 14 April 2023. Retrieved 24 November 2023.
  27. ↑ Jump, Jim (2018). "Paul Preston on studying the Spanish Civil war and understanding Spain today" (PDF). ¡No pasarán!. p. 14. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 October 2021.
  28. ↑ Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores y de Cooperación: "Real Decreto 1455/2006, de 1 de diciembre, por el que se concede la Gran Cruz de la Orden de Isabel la Católica al señor Paul Preston, Director del Centro Cañada-Blanch de Estudios Españoles Contemporáneos en la London School of Economics" (PDF). Boletín Oficial del Estado (288): 42534. 2 December 2006. ISSN 0212-033X.
  29. ↑ Alison Flood (5 October 2012). "Six books to 'change our view of the world' on shortlist for non-fiction prize". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 October 2012.
  30. ↑ ACN (12 November 2012). "La Fundació Lluís Carulla atorga el Premi d'Honor a l'historiador Paul Preston". Vilaweb. Retrieved 22 November 2013.
  31. ↑ "The London Gazette 8 June 2018". The London Gazette. Retrieved 20 September 2022.
  32. ↑ "The London Gazette 21 August 2019". The London Gazette. Retrieved 20 September 2022.
  33. ↑ "The Hispanist historian Paul Preston is awarded an honorary doctorate by the URV". 15 May 2015.
  34. ↑ "Spanish history professor awarded honorary degree".
  35. ↑ "Paul Preston, Member of the European Academy of Yuste, receives an honorary doctorate from the University of Extremadura".
  36. ↑ "The Universitat de València will grant to the historian Paul Preston the distinction of new Doctor Honoris Causa".
  37. ↑ "Eugene Garfield and Paul Preston awarded Doctor Honoris Causa by the University of Barcelona".
  38. ↑ "Paul Preston y José Antonio Martín Pereda ingresan en el Claustro de Doctores Honoris Causa UC".
  39. ↑ "El historiador Paul Preston nuevo Doctor Honoris Causa por la UGR". 12 June 2023.
  40. ↑ Lannon, Frances (1980). "Book reviews". West European Politics. 3 (2): 268–269. doi:10.1080/01402388008424284.
  41. ↑ McLynn, Frank (7 November 1993). "The folly of appeasement". The Independent. Archived from the original on 25 May 2022.
  42. ↑ Pulpillo Leiva, Carlos (2016). "Acercamiento bibliográfico a las relaciones hispano-británicas durante la Guerra Civil Española" (PDF). La Albolafia: Revista de Humanidades y Cultura (9): 44. ISSN 2386-2491.
  43. ↑ Brendon, Piers (1 June 2002). "Love and death on the front line". The Guardian.
  44. ↑ Brendon, Piers (5 June 2004). "From a pawn to a king". The Guardian.
  45. 1 2 Romero Salvadó, Francisco J. (2014). "Investigando el laberinto español en el Reino Unido". Studia Historica. Historia Contemporánea. 32. Salamanca: Universidad de Salamanca: 455, 461. ISSN 0213-2087.
  46. ↑ Reig Tapia, Alberto (2007). "Preston, Paul: El gran manipulador. La mentira cotidiana de Franco, Ediciones B, Barcelona, 2008, 371 pp". Historia Contemporánea (35). Bilbao: Universidad del País Vasco: 867–872. ISSN 1130-2402.
  47. ↑ García-Guerrero, Isaac (2015). "Preston, Paul The Spanish Holocaust: Inquisition and Extermination in Twentieth-Century Spain, London: Harper Press, 2012, 700 pp. £30.00 (hbk)". Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism. 15 (2). doi:10.1111/sena.12145.
  48. ↑ Buj, Serge (2016). "Santiago Carrillo, une biographie de Paul Preston". Cahiers de civilisation espagnole contemporaine (16). doi:10.4000/ccec.6180. ISSN 1957-7761.
  49. ↑ Webster, Jason (19 March 2016). "Franco's bloody finale". The Spectator.
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