Making Francisco Franco's long life and 38 years of dictatorship enjoyable reading is a daunting challenge. With supple and elegant prose, Giles Tremlett nonetheless succeeds magnificently

Paul Preston, author of THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR and THE SPANISH HOLOCAUST

Mediocrities can rise to great power; just look at Vladimir Putin. But the classic example was Francisco Franco, who – as we learn from this excellent study of the generalísimo and the post-war Spain he forged – never saw an internal enemy he couldn't crush in a style that was at once brutal and blundering

Telegraph, The Greatest Books of 2025

A magisterial, groundbreaking new portrait of Francisco Franco as unique among the European dictators of the twentieth century. Tremlett charts Franco's personal and political evolution from brilliant soldier to ruthless tyrant with unerring clarity, riveting anecdotes and chilling details. Comprehensive and complex, this book lays bare the paradoxical and eye-opening story of a cold, ruthless man in thrall to an ambition and ideology that crippled his country for 36 years. El Generalísimo sets a gold standard in Spanish Civil War history

Elizabeth Drayson, author of CRUCIBLE OF LIGHT

[In] this intriguing new biography… Tremlett has an intimate understanding of Spain's recent history… [and] writes with great clarity about complex topics. Tremlett deserves praise for making him fascinating

Gerard DeGroot, The Times

Given the new world disorder, the resurgence of autocrats in so many places; the crisis and fragility of democracy… it's good to have a new [biography of Franco]. In El Generalísimo, Giles Tremlett delivers an excellent biography – compelling, authoritative, even entertaining – of this highly dislikable creature

Simon Sebag Montefiore, Daily Telegraph

Giles Tremlett gives a rounded portrait of Francisco Franco, whose rise to power was extraordinary by any standards-from the youngest general in Europe since Napoleon, at the age of 33, to victor of the Spanish Civil War, and then dictator for 36 years. Tremlett's vivid book makes judicious use of reports, memoirs, and newspapers of the time for an engaging and penetrating biography

William Chislett, author of SPAIN: WHAT EVERYONE NEEDS TO KNOW