This is an edited volume in which six authors treat from different yet coordinated perspectives the impact of the war of 1898 on Spain, its dwindling empire, and Spanish society, economy, politics, culture, and national identity. It is a distinguished example of the copious publications in Spain on the occasion of the centennial of the Spanish-American War.
The introduction to the volume by Juan Pan-Montojo reiterates the dominant consensus among Spanish historians who participated in this commemorative event. According to this almost official, revisionist consensus, the war was not a national “disaster.” Recent analyses of the international context place the war of 1898 within a broader historical process. When Spain lost its colonies in the Caribbean and the Pacific, there was no major negative consequence in Spain itself; there was no political revolution, social upheaval, or economic crisis in Spain after 1898. The Spanish intellectuals’ reaction to the war was...
