Class, culture and conflict in Barcelona, 1898-1937
Chris Ealham
"A magnificent, revelatory history of a city of slums and a proletariat of hope. The best book that I've read in the last decade."
—Mike Davis, author of City of Quartz, Planet of Slums, and Buda's Wagon
Between 1898 and 1937, competing interests from the national government, the regional industrialists, and the working class, fought for control of Barcelona. The social realities of Barcelona—as Spain's economic, cultural, social, and political capital—provided a perfect backdrop for battle over the urban future. Chris Ealham explores these complex and often violent relationships, utilizing an innovative blend of history, urbanism, sociology, and cultural studies. No other work digs this deep into the composition of an urban working class movement—and certainly not with such a sympathetic eye for the aspirations of its anarchist denizens.