Its historiographical value is twofold. On one level, it convincingly depicts an intricate pattern of historical fault lines specific to the Spanish context that appear to link civil disturbances that were separated by over one hundred years. And, finally, by focusing on the peculiarities or distinctive features of Spain's past, the book makes a compelling argument for revisiting our assumptions about the precise place the Spanish Civil War holds in twentieth-century European history.

American Historical Review

[A] novel and creative comparison between two civil wars in Spain 100 years apart, the first virtually unknown outside of Spain and the second one of the most well-studied events of Spanish history … [A] worthy subject of inquiry, and the book will likely open up a productive discussion about change versus continuity in modern Spanish
history.

Journal of Modern History

[The] book is superbly organized, provocative, and informative … Very valuable for fresh, thoughtful insights into Spanish history. Summing Up: Essential. All academic levels/libraries.

CHOICE

In substance this is a laudable work, first, as an unusually keen comparative historical analysis, and, second, in the very helpful way in which it contributes further to the understanding of the First Carlist War within a broader context.

The English Historical Review

Mark Lawrence's highly original comparison of Spain's civil wars of the 1830s and 1930s teems with insight.While historians have seen the conflict of 1936-1939 as very much part of a wider European war, the Carlist war of a century earlier has been seen as more exclusively Spanish. Dr Lawrence now provides important nuance with prolific evidence of the extent to which the war so much better known thanks to Hemingway and Orwell was also utterly Spanish. He thereby uncovers a previously unremarked continuity between the two wars in religious, geographical and political terms.The study of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Spain will be considerably enriched by this fascinating work.

Paul Preston, Professor of Contemporary Spanish Studies, LSE, UK

This is the first history which systematically compares the First Carlist War (1833-40) and the Spanish Civil War (1936-39). The results, which are based on an impressive range of primary and secondary sources in many languages, renovate the traditional theme of the “Two Spains” and produce remarkable insights into both conflicts.

Michael Seidman, University of North Carolina Wilmington, USA