El Generalisimo

<p><b><u>*A BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR: <i>Telegraph</i>, <i>Financial Times</i>, <i>i Paper</i>*</u></b><br><b><br>''Making Francisco Franco’s long life and 36 years of dictatorship enjoyable reading is a daunting challenge ... Giles</b><b> Tremlett nonetheless succeeds magnificently'' </b>PAUL PRESTON<br><br><b>''An excellent biography – compelling, authoritative, even entertaining – of this highly dislikable creature’ </b>SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE,<i> DAILY TELEGRAPH</i><br><br>From a scrawny military graduate to Europe’s youngest general, Francisco Franco was known for his ambition and calculated risk-taking. But his reputation remains a topic of fierce debate.<b> Did he cripple Spain’s democracy or save the nation from left-wing tumult?</b><br><br> In this definitive new biography, Giles Tremlett lays bare the story of a tyrant who deliberately wielded terror to maintain an iron grip on power. He traces Franco’s ruthless Civil War leadership through to <b>his alignment with Hitler and Mussolini</b> and the Cold War years that followed. Packed with fresh insight and chilling details, <i>El Generalisimo</i> unravels the life and legacy of <b>the enigmatic dictator who shaped twentieth-century Spanish history</b>.<br><br><b>''A magisterial, groundbreaking new portrait ... Sets a gold standard in Spanish Civil War history'' </b>ELIZABETH DRAYSON</p>