Paul Preston

Paul Preston CBE (born 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.

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Paul Preston on a visit to Spain in 2008

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. He speaks Spanish fluently. He also speaks Catalan.

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.

Bibliography

• Published in the US with the subtitle: Steering Spain from Dictatorship to Democracy.

Awards and honours

• 2000 Commander of the Order of the British Empire
• 2005 Ramon Llull International Prize
• 2007 Grand Cross of the Orden de Isabel la Católica (one of Spain's highest honours)
• 2012 Samuel Johnson Prize, shortlist, The Spanish Holocaust
• 2013 Honour Prize of the Lluís Carulla's Foundation

External links

• Publications by Paul Preston at LSE Research Online
• Paul Preston Interview on The Señales de Humo