This is a strikingly original account of the role of engineers, scientists, and their laboratories in developing new enterprises and institutions under the early Franco regime—no other recent work on mid-twentieth century Spain quite rivals it.
Stanley G. Payne, Hilldale-Jaume Vicens Vives Professor of History Emeritus, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and author of The Franco Regime, 1936-1975
Camprubí has radically revised our understanding of Spanish science and technology during the dictatorship of Francisco Franco. Heretofore seen as a haphazard collection of projects, Francoist science policy was developed by engineers, whose plans were informed by an ideal of technical rationalism. Policy choices were outcomes of debates among opposing groups of engineers. The result is a coherent narrative that illuminates the engineers' casting of the early Franco regime's notion of autarky in scientific and technological terms, which in turn makes intelligible the transformation of the pristine corporatist state into a regulatory one based on the same presuppositions of technical rationalism.
Thomas F. Glick, Professor of History, Boston University, and author of Einstein in Spain
Lino Camprubí presents an illuminating study on the relationship between Franco's concept of national redemption and the material reconstruction of Spain in the aftermath of the civil war. By using a set of engaging thematic case studies–from cement to genetic rice and hydropower–the author assembles a consistent narrative on the role of technical rationality, as embodied by scientists and engineers, in building up and securing the Francoist dictatorial regime. This book dwells on the shared territories of science, technology, and politics, and encourages the use of historical knowledge as a tool for understanding today's democratic societies.
Maria Paula Diogo, Full Professor, Faculty of Science and Technology, NOVA, Lisbon, Portugal
Camprubí has written a fascinating story about the crucial roles of engineers and scientists in the Franco regime's effort to develop a technological nationalism, which allowed the dictatorship to endure for almost four decades. He gives a vivid account of how civil engineers, often in close collaboration with the Catholic Church, built new towns and constructed dams and other infrastructure transforming the nation's territory while agricultural scientists developed new, more productive seeds contributing to an increasingly autarkic economy.
Arne Kaijser, Professor of History of Technology, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm
By placing dams, rice seeds, irrigation maps, and concrete buildings of worship and research in the center of the study, Camprubí carves out a space for engineering history between cultural and economic history. In this respect this important and well-researched book will serve as an inspiration to historians examining other geographical contexts and periods.
Technology and Culture
