Introduction
Sir Paul Preston CBE (born 21 July 1946 in Liverpool) is an English historian and Hispanist, biographer of Franco, specialist in Spanish history, in particular the Spanish Civil War, which he has studied for more than 30 years. He is the winner of multiple awards for his books on the Spanish Civil War.
Biography
Preston was born in 1946 in Liverpool. 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."
Since 1991 Professor Preston has taught at the London School of Economics, where he is Príncipe de Asturias Professor of Contemporary Spanish Studies and director of the Cañada Blanch Centre for Contemporary Spanish Studies.
He is a frequent visitor to Spain, where his work appears in Spanish and Catalan. He speaks both Spanish and Catalan.
He has a wife, Gabriella, to whom he dedicated The Spanish Holocaust: Inquisition and Extermination in Twentieth-Century Spain.
Publications
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 ones on the subject of foreign correspondents who reported on the Spanish Civil War and Franco's control of his generals. In 2012 he published the English edition of the Spanish Holocaust. This book represents a challenge to the pact of forgetting, examining the many deaths and atrocities associated with the Spanish Civil War, and following the Francoist repression into the early 1950s. The book was criticised by Stanley Payne; while Payne did praise Preston for his depth and breadth of research into atrocities in and after the war, he criticised Preston for bias when it came to Republican atrocities, as well as arguing that Preston's characterisation of the Nationalists as planning to exterminate their opponents is contradicted by the fact that the overwhelming majority Spanish left was still alive after the wartime and post-war executions, despite being completely at Franco's mercy - 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.
Awards and honours
- 2000 Commander of the Order of the British Empire
- 2005 Ramon Llull International Prize
- 2006 Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic
- 2012 Samuel Johnson Prize, shortlist, The Spanish Holocaust
- 2013 Honour Prize of the Lluís Carulla's Foundation
- 2018 Queen's Birthday Honours: Knighthood for services to UK/Spain relations.
- 2019 Honoris causa Doctorate in the University of Cantabria