Book Reviews : The New Meaning of Treason. By REBECCA WEST. (New York: The Viking Press, Inc., 1964. Pp. viii, 374. $6.95.)

• Author: Whitaker T. Deininger
• Published date: 01 March 1966
• Date: 01 March 1966
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/106591296601900165
• Subject Matter: Articles

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while find themselves so circumscribed that they cannot act, only talk to themselves.
Over all of this presides Franco himself. Welles pointedly observes that &dquo;Fran-
co’s system has often been called a one-man dictatorship, but this is not wholly true.
Franco is an umpire rather than a dictator. From the day of his ascension to power
in Burgos in September, 1936, Franco has ruled Spain through meticulously hand-
picked coalitions. His skill has been in knowing how to balance and reconcile the
shifting forces of power.&dquo;
The author paints the almost three decades of Franco’s rule with deft strokes of
fact and interpretation, richly underscoring his treatment with sharp portraits, based
upon personal interviews, of such prominent leaders as the imposing Captain General
and Vice President of Spain, Agustin Munoz Grande; the reactionary chief of censor-
ship, Gabriel Arias Salgado; head of Falange and the Sindicates, jos6 Solis; the old-
fashioned demagogue and principal opposition voice, Gil Robles; the Pretender, Don
Juan; and, of course, Francisco Franco.
Although Welles’ book is primarily based upon the author’s close contact with
Spain and its leaders, and thus is a personal appraisal, it might have been strength-
ened by some supporting documentation. For example, he makes the flat statement
without substantiation that Franco would win at least 65 per cent of the vote in a
free election. Also, one might wonder about his observation that he never heard
&dquo;a word critical of the government,&dquo; for this reviewer remembers many barbed jokes
directed at the regime and even at Franco’s family. Still, this does not really detract
from what is otherwise a penetrating analysis of modern Spain, devoid of a single
dull passage, and which serves as an excellent introduction to a highly enigmatic, but
intriguing society.
BEN G. BURNETT
Whittier College
The New Meaning of Treason. By REBECCA WEST. (New York: The Viking Press,
Inc., 1964. Pp. viii, 374....