Book Review of "Fernando VII. Un rey deseado y detestado"

Abstract

Fernando VII. Un rey deseado y detestado by Emilio La Parra came to our hands through the publishing house Tusquets Editores as the winner of the XXX Comillas Prize for History, Biography and Memoirs; an award refereed by a prestigious group of academics and presided over by the Spanish writer and historian José Álvarez Junco. This is not fortuitous, for let us remember that prior to the publication of this work, La Parra had consecrated his prestige in the biographical genre with the award-winning text on Manuel Godoy.

As the title of this work indicates, the text is centered on one of the most controversial kings in Spain's contemporary history. It is an extensive reading whose architecture is based on an exhaustive and successful biographical exercise divided into three segments covering the monarch's early childhood until his death in 1833.