A People's History of Catalonia

By: Michael Eaude

Write A Review

Hardcover | 20 September 2022

At a Glance

Hardcover
288 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
22.5 x 14 x 2.5

Booktopia Frenzy

Save 20% when you buy 2 or more selected books.*

Ends 15/11/24

View Promotion >

FRENZY

Hardcover

Limited Stock Available

$174.75

or 4 interest-free payments of $43.69 with

or

In Stock and Aims to ship in 1-2 business days

On October 1, 2017, the Spanish police assault on Catalans voting in a peaceful referendum shot Catalonia's struggle for independence onto the world's front pages. Today, those two million-plus voters have neither forgiven nor forgotten: the struggle continues.

Catalonia's national consciousness has deep roots. A People's History of Catalonia tells this small country's history, from below, in all its richness and complexity. Catalonia's struggles for freedom have, for centuries, been violently resisted; and its language and rights, suppressed. Since the nineteenth century, the fight for national sovereignty has often intertwined with working-class mobilisation for social justice. Barcelona became known as the Rose of Fire. In 1936 Catalonia saw one of history's most profound workers' revolutions.

From the peasant revolts of the 15th century and the siege of Barcelona in 1714, through the explosive workers' movement led by anarchists, the defeat in the Spanish Civil War, to the anti-Franco resistance in the grim years that followed, the author tells a compelling story whose ending has yet to be written.

Industry Reviews

'Catalonia's aspiration to cut loose from the Spanish state is often dismissed as the whim of a self-interested merchant class. The truth is more complicated. As Michael Eaude's sharp, engrossing, and comprehensive historical narrative makes clear, the centuries-long push for Catalan independence is closely entwined with the peasant- and working-class struggle for social justice and democratic government'

-- Sebastiaan Faber, author of 'Exhuming Franco'

'This well-written study takes us on a much-needed historical journey from below, eloquently capturing the rebellious traditions of Catalonia's assertive and proudly defiant popular classes from medieval times to today. By combining broad strokes and intricate detail, he establishes crucial connections between past and contemporary struggles to produce a vivid picture of the class war in a fractured and divided society that produced, in many respects, the most far-reaching social revolution in European history'

-- Chris Ealham, author of 'Anarchism And The City'

'This timely and impressive book not only dispels the myths and prejudices about the Catalan people's struggles, so prevalent in Spain and elsewhere, but demonstrates the constant intertwining of the battles for national rights with peasant and working-class revolt "from below". A thoroughly recommended read'

-- Andy Durgan, historian and author of 'Voluntarios por la revolucion'

'Gives a voice to one of the most rebellious people in Europe whose insurgency reached a pinnacle in 1936 with working class revolution in Catalonia and continued through the ending of the Franco dictatorship through to today's fight to gain independence in the face of Spanish repression and nationalism. Michael does the Catalan people proud'

-- Chris Bambery, author of 'Catalonia Reborn' and Public Point of Enquiry for the All Party Parliamentary Group on Catalonia

'Gripping ... Eaude provides an impressive and accessible roller-coaster history'

-- Luke Stobart, Jacobin

Shipping

	Standard Shipping	Express Shipping
Metro postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95
Regional postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95
Rural postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95

How to return your order

At Booktopia, we offer hassle-free returns in accordance with our returns policy. If you wish to return an item, please get in touch with Booktopia Customer Care.

Additional postage charges may be applicable.