2371 The Spanish Revolution, by Stanley G. Payne (read 24 Mar 1991) This 1970 book is described as a study of the social and political tensions that culminated in the Civil War in Spain. As far as I am concerned, Payne takes the correct view of the war. In fact, his conclusion is almost unanswerable: if Franco had not won the course of events in Spain would have been like the events in eastern Europe after World War II and Spain would have been a Communist country. There is no doubt that the right lost the 1936 elections in Spain, but there is good reason to believe that if the left had lost they would also have plunged Spain into civil war. And there can be little doubt that the Communists were increasingly running the "loyalist" side during the Civil War. This was a good book and has the right view of the Civil War. ( )