Franco (Life&Times)
by Michael Streeter
List Price:
Our Price: $10.41
You Save: $5.54 (35%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $9.89 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Michael StreeterEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2005-12-01
ISBN: 1904950329
Number of pages: 170
Publisher: Haus Publishing
Book Reviews of Franco (Life&Times)
Book Review: Great Historical Biography
Summary: 4 Stars
This was an excellent, if very brief, introduction to the life of the Spanish dictator, Francisco Franco. Streeter describes his subject in a relatively objective manner, giving us the positive and negative aspects of Franco's personality and his actions from his childhood up to his death. For instance, despite his slight frame and bookish nature, Franco was a fearless and effective soldier as a young man. He also had the capability to be quite clever at times. On the other hand, he comes across as somewhat politically inept and out of touch with reality. Then there is his capacity for cruelty. He could be very sentimental about abstract things yet coolly indifferent to the deaths of his own people, including his own brother. He seems like a typical dictator in this regard.
I have to disagree with the reviewer who condemns the book for leaving out facts and being "apologetic" for Franco. For one, this is an intentionally concise biography (135 pages) not an exhaustive tome; therefore it is impossible to fit every little fact and detail into it. Secondly, the author is hardly an apologist for Franco. He is OBJECTIVE, as all historians should be, but he has no problem pointing out that Franco could be very cruel and used terror to meet his ends. In fact, I think it would be difficult to read this book and come away with a positive view of the dictator. He is portrayed as a cold, arrogant, tyrant whose main concern was the preservation of his own power. He was clearly an authoritarian man of the right, but it wouldn't be accurate to describe him as either a fascist or a monarchist. His government was made up of both of these factions, but he seems to have done just enough to appease each of them without really aligning himself with one or the other. His main concern seems to have been strictly power and the preservation of Spain as a traditional Catholic state.
As for Franco's relations with the Axis powers; Streeter argues that although Franco supported the Axis in principle, he simply had very little to offer them after the devastating Civil War. He actually sent a list of extraordinary demands (military aid, colonial territory, etc.) to Hitler, to which, in return, he would enter the war on the Axis side. For his part, Hitler decided that Spain's potential contributions were not nearly enough to warrant these demands, and thus rejected them. With that said, Franco seems to have cleverly played both sides of the fence (he accepted aid from the allies) as his ultimate priority was strictly the preservation of Spain, as well as his own power. In fact, Hitler and Mussolini both had low opinions of him, the former even calling him a coward and a "Latin charlatan."
All in all, this is a great biography of the man for anyone who doesn't want to slog through a massive tome. The book is very aesthetically pleasing as well. It is sleek, compact, has glossy pages and many pictures. Four stars.
Biographies & Memoirs Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Spain
Spain: A HistoryOxford University Press, USA; Published: 2001-12-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.00
Price in other shops:
Barcelona and Modernity: Picasso, Gaudi, Miro, Daliby William H. Robinson, Jordi Falgas, Carmen Bellon Lord
Yale University Press; Published: 2006-11-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $42.46
Price in other shops:
The Spanish Civil War: Reaction, Revolution, and Revenge, Revised and Expanded Editionby Paul Preston
W. W. Norton; Published: 2007-06-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.56
Price in other shops:
Empires of the Atlantic World: Britain and Spain in America 1492-1830by John H. Elliott
Yale University Press; Published: 2007-04-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.98
Price in other shops:
Franco (Life&Times)by Michael Streeter
Haus Publishing; Published: 2005-12-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.49
Price in other shops:
The Politics of War: The Story of Two Wars Which Altered Forever the Political Life of the American Republic 1890-1920by Walter Karp
Moyer Bell; Published: 2003-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.72
Price in other shops:
The Last Voyage of Columbus: Being the Epic Tale of the Great Captain's Fourth Expedition, Including Accounts of Mutiny, Shipwreck, and Discoveryby Martin Dugard
Back Bay Books; Published: 2006-05-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.98
Price in other shops:
The Spanish Civil War: Revised Edition (Modern Library Paperbacks)by Hugh Thomas
Modern Library; Published: 2001-12-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.88
Price in other shops:
Dogs of God: Columbus, the Inquisition, and the Defeat of the Moorsby James Jr Reston
Anchor; Published: 2006-10-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.95
Price in other shops:
The Spanish Civil War: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)by Helen Graham
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2005-06-23; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.72
Price in other shops:
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
Franco (Profiles in Power)by Sheelagh M. Ellwood
Longman Publishing Group; Published: 1994-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.99
Price in other shops:
Ferdinand and Isabella (Profiles in Power)by J. Edwards
Longman; Published: 2004-12-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $20.50
Price in other shops:
Barcelona the Great Enchantress (National Geographic Directions)by Robert Hughes
National Geographic; Published: 2004-06-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $18.51
Price in other shops:
The Story of Spain: The Dramatic History of Europe's Most Fascinating Countryby Mark R. Williams
Golden Era Books; Published: 2004-04-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $15.61
Price in other shops:
Hitler Stopped By Francoby Jane Boyar, Burt Boyar
Marbella House; Published: 2001-07-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $15.00
Price in other shops:
Moorish Spainby Richard Fletcher
University of California Press; Published: 2006-05-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $19.40
Price in other shops:
Mad for God: Bartolom? S?nchez, the Secret Messiah of Cardeneteby Sara T. Nalle
University Press of Virginia; Published: 2001-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $21.25
Price in other shops:
Homage to Cataloniaby George Orwell
Harvest Books; Published: 1980-10-22; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.12
Price in other shops:
Philip IIby Geoffrey Parker
Open Court; Published: 2002-05-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.63
Price in other shops:
The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939by Antony Beevor
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2006-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.50
Price in other shops: