Book Review: "Diccionario onomástico de la guerra civil" by Mateo Madridejos

Diccionario onomástico de la guerra civil (2006)
(Onomastic Dictionary of the Spanish Civil War)
Mateo Madridejos (1932)

417 pages

The origins, events and aftermath of the Spanish Civil War have served as the inspiration for an ever growing number of books on the period, among them both histories and historical fiction. When reading any of these works, the complexity of the political situation during the Second Spanish Republic of the pre-war period, as well as on the Rebel and Republican sides during the conflict, can make the period and its principal figures a challenging one to sort out, particularly for a non-expert. A work such as the classic treatment of the war by Hugh Thomas (The Spanish Civil War which I reviewed here), for example, contains an almost overwhelming cast of political, military and intellectual characters, and, however well written the work may be, it can useful and helpful to have more background information on them.

To the rescue comes a book by Mateo Madridejos, the Diccionario onomástico de la guerra civil (Onomastic Dictionary of the Spanish Civil War). Madridejos’ book contains short biographies on 334 of the principal protagonists of the period. From a few paragraphs to several pages depending on the relative importance of each individual, these biographical sketches give a reader a quick, clear summary of the backgrounds of key figures, their involvement in the events of the period and what became of them after the war.

The book also contains several pages of photographs of some of the more important people Madridejos describes, which I have found helpful as an additional aid in differentiating them when reading histories of the period.

Unfortunately, I’m not aware of an English version of the book. If, however, you know some Spanish, and are willing to lean on a Spanish-English dictionary to fill in the gaps, this “dictionary of names” can prove a tremendously useful reference as you read about this dramatic and tragic period in Spain’s history.

---

Other reviews / information:
 

---

Have you read this book, others by this author, or similar ones by other authors? I’d enjoy hearing your thoughts.

For more reviews of books on Spain and its history, click a link to my bookshelf of:
Spain and Spanish History

or click one of the following links to my complete bookshelves of:
Fiction or Non-Fiction