This book analyzes the decay of Liberal politics in Spain as the regional version of the general crisis that engulfed most of Europe between 1916 and 1923.

This book analyzes the decay of Liberal politics in Spain as the regional version of the general crisis that engulfed most of Europe between 1916 and 1923. Romero enriches the important wider debate about this watershed period of European history when, in the face of unprecedented mass social protest and political mobilization, incumbent governing elites struggled to find a valid formula of social containment in the dawning of mass politics which also saw the spread of the radical new doctrines of Bolshevism and Fascism. Above all, this book examines Spain's "crisis of modernization," a process marked by complex social and political realignments through which the nature of civil society was profoundly altered. It resulted in an unprecedented spiral of violence and a polarization that firstly led to an authoritarian formula of social control in 1923, and ultimately to the outbreak of civil war in 1936.

Romero Salvado, author of two studies and numerous articles on Spain in the 20th century, provides a remarkable political narrative of this period, drawing upon extraordinary research. Utilizing correspondence and newspapers, he captures the daily flow of events and probes the motives of king and politicians. The notes and bibliography are a treasure for historians to exploit. - N. Greene, Wesleyan University, Choice,Vol. 46, No. 08, April 2009