Manuel Tuñón de Lara (1915–1997) was a Spanish historian.
Life
Born in
Madrid
Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
on 8 September 1915. He earned law degree from the
University of Madrid in 1936. In 1932 he had joined the
Communist Youth Union, in 1937 becoming director of the cadre school of the
Unified Socialist Youth, and earning a place on the central committee. At the end of the
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...
he was interned in a
concentration camp
A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploitati ...
.
In 1946 he fled to
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
to escape persecution for his membership in the Union of Free Intellectuals. In Paris he completed his studies in history and authored numerous articles, which appeared in various Communist-affiliated publications throughout the world.
In 1964 he became a professor and chair of
Spanish history and
Spanish literature at the University of
Pau, where from 1970 to 1980 he organized the ''Colloquiums on the Contemporary History of Spain'', which encouraged the study of
social history
Social history, often called history from below, is a field of history that looks at the lived experience of the past. Historians who write social history are called social historians.
Social history came to prominence in the 1960s, spreading f ...
and served as a focal point of discussion and debate, attracting many visiting scholars from Spanish universities.
After the death of
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco Bahamonde (born Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general and dictator who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces i ...
and the end of the
dictatorship
A dictatorship is an autocratic form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, who hold governmental powers with few to no Limited government, limitations. Politics in a dictatorship are controlled by a dictator, ...
, Tuñón de Lara returned to Spain and continued teaching as a professor of the
University of the Balearic Islands and the
University of the Basque Country
The University of the Basque Country (, ''EHU''; , ''UPV''; officially EHU) is a Spanish public university of the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Autonomous Community.
Heir of the University of Deusto, University of Bilbao, initial ...
.
He had four children : Sergio (1939), Elena (1943) Tuñón de Lara Arrazola,
José Manuel Tunon de Lara (1958) and Paloma (1960) Tuñón de Lara Villanueva. He died in
Leioa on 25 January 1997.
Works
* ''Espagne'' (1955)
* ''From Incas to Indios'' (1956)
* ''El movimiento obrero en la historia de España'' (1962)
* ''Variaciones del nivel de vida en España'' (1965)
* ''Introducción a la historia del movimiento obrero'' (1965)
* ''La España del siglo XX'' (1965)
* ''Antonio Machado, poeta del pueblo'' (1967)
* ''Medio siglo de cultura española'' (1970)
* ''Estudios sobre el siglo XIX español'' (1971)
* ''Metodología de la Historia social de España'' (1973)
* ''La España del siglo XIX'' (1974)
* ''La Segunda República'' (1976)
* ''Luchas obreras y campesinas en la Andalucía del siglo XX : Jaén (1917-1920) : Sevilla (1930-1932)'' (1978)
* ''España bajo la dictadura franquista'' (1980)
* ''Tres claves para la Segunda República'' (1985)
* ''España: la quiebra de 1898'' (1986)
* ''Historia de España'' (editor) (1988)
* ''Comunicación y cultura durante la II República y la Guerra Civil'' (1990)
References
External links
List of works by Manuel Tuñón de Laraon
Dialnet
Número 26 del ''Bulletin d'Histoire Contemporaine de l'Espagne'', dedicated to Manuel Tuñón de Lara
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tunon De Lara, Manuel
1915 births
1997 deaths
20th-century Spanish historians
Spanish people of the Spanish Civil War (Republican faction)
Historians from Madrid
Spanish expatriates in France
Complutense University of Madrid alumni
Academic staff of the University of the Basque Country
Academic staff of the University of the Balearic Islands
École pratique des hautes études alumni
Historians of Spain
Historians of the labour movement in Spain