General Franco died on 20 November 1975, and with the 50th anniversary just passed, this biography – the first in years – of the man who ruled Spain with an iron fist for nearly four decades is timely, incisive and authoritative. Written by a former Madrid correspondent of the Economist, it’s also an up to date and highly accessible introduction to 20th-century Spanish history.

Born in 1892 into a middle-class family, Francisco Franco shared a bedroom with his younger brother Ramon, who later won international fame as Europe’s ‘equivalent of Charles Lindbergh’. There were few signs, however, that eminence also awaited Francisco. A weedy child, who dutifully got by at school, he had a difficult relationship with his domineering Freemason father. Even when Franco had become the all-powerful head of state, his father could be found in Madrid’s bars fulminating against his son as an inept, boastful cabron (shit).

Entering the military academy in Toledo as a 14-year-old, Franco was bullied mercilessly. He graduated 251st out of 312 cadets. But once he saw action in Spain’s Moroccan protectorate, his cool head, conspicuous courage and tactical flair brought ‘meteoric ascent’. At 33, he became the youngest general in Europe. Meanwhile, he’d acquired a beautiful,........

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