The Spanish civil war and its repressive aftermath, following the victory of General Francisco Franco, was a particularly savage conflict. But it is far-fetched to describe it as a holocaust, as Paul Preston does in his latest book. His provocative title raised eyebrows when it was published in Spain last year, as the country's horrors still pale in comparison with the magnitude of the Nazi Holocaust. Mr Preston, an emeritus professor at the London School of Economics and leading historian of 20th-century Spain, contends that no other word aptly conveys the whole of the Spanish tragedy, which included a strain of anti-Semitism. Thankfully he exercises better judgment within the covers of this meticulous and well-argued book.
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