Review
‘This is that rare thing – a work of academic history that is also an absorbing narrative. And its great merit is to remind us that at the centre of all the dynastic wrangling, political conspiracy and media speculation stands a man who has often felt very alone.’ The Economist
‘FOR more than 40 years a veil has been drawn over one of the most tragic episodes in the life of King Juan Carlos of Spain. Just before Easter 1956, his brother, Alfonso, 14, was shot dead with a .22 calibre pistol while the 18-year-old Juan Carlos was alone with him. The king’s authorised biography made no mention of the incident. But light has been shed on it by Paul Preston, a professor at the LSE, whose biography laying bare the king’s private life has reached No 1 in the Spanish bestseller lists. Preston’s book has caused a furore by suggesting the future monarch may have pulled the trigger. It says he admitted to a friend he had been holding the gun at the time. The professor has given more than 60 interviews to the Spanish media and has been bombarded with hate mail and death threats.’ Sunday Times, 11 May 2003
'The lights and shadows of the life of Juan Carlos are reproduced with scientific precision. Preston's scalpel has been implacable… A lucid, penetrating, accurate book, backed up with an arsenal of facts… A scientifically admirable work that once more sees one of the great European historians flexing his muscles.' Luis María Anson, La Razón
‘A splendid book which, as an unauthorised biography, offers both a panoramic view of contemporary Spain as well as providing profound insight into the role of a King in the late twentieth century… The book provides a magnificent mosaic to solve the riddle that is the Spain of the last seventy-five years.’ Marius Carol, La Vanguardia
'Preston's Juan Carlos is much more ambitious than a mere biography. I must confess that it is a long time since I read a six-hundred page book at a sitting. This is one of the books that, after thirty pages, you just know that you either stop or let yourself be carried on right to the end. It is not only a model biography of the King but also a detailed, quietly erudite, history of Spain from 1931 to the present, rich in anecdotes, written with magisterial literary skill.' Antonio Gallego Morell, Ideal de Granada
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
About the Author
Paul Preston CBE FBA is Principe de Asturias Professor of Spanish History and Director of the Canada Blanch Centre at the LSE. Born and raised in Liverpool, educated at Oxford, he has taught in Reading, Rome and London. He lives in north London with his wife and their two sons. And he supports Everton FC.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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