Remaking Madrid is the first full-length study of Madrid's transformation from the dreary home of the Franco dictatorship into a modern and vibrant city. It argues that this remarkable transformation in the 1980s helped secure Spain's fragile transition to democracy and that the transformation itself was primarily a product of "regionalism"-even though the capital is typically associated with "Spanishness" and with "the nation." The official project to distance Madrid from its dictatorial past included urban renewal and administrative reform; but, above all, it involved greater cultural participation, which led the revival of the capital's public festivals and the development of a modern cultural outpouring known as the movida madrileña. The book also explains the ultimate failure of regionalism in the capital by the end of the 1980s and asks whether or not Madrid's inclusive form of "civic" identity might have served as a model for the country as a whole.

"Stapell offers an important study of post-Franco regime Madrid and its transformation from the dreary, mismanaged political capital of the dictatorship to the dynamic, cultural (and political) center of both the Autonomous Region of Madrid and the Spanish nation by the early 1990s. The book is highly readable, logically organized, and features utile conclusions to every chapter. Highly recommended." - CHOICE

"Hamilton Stapell has written a unique, painstakingly researched, and thought-provoking narrative of the most intense years in the recent history of Madrid. By looking at the city s struggles to become a center for civic engagement, democratic participation, and vibrant cultural life after the death of Franco, this book makes an invaluable contribution to our understanding of Spain s democratic transition." - Jesus Cruz, Professor of History, University of Delaware

"Remaking Madrid is a first-class book that explores both the role of the capital in Spain s democratization and the assertion of Madrid as the region of Spain leading the way towards democratic pluralism. No other work published in any language treats Madrid as an organic entity and leading contributor to the transformation of the Spanish polity. There is nothing else in print quite like this excellent study, and I suspect this book will rapidly make its mark, and become a standard work in the history of modern Spain." - Daniel Kowalsky, Lecturer in Modern European History, Queen s University Belfast, Northern Ireland

"Hamilton Stapell has tapped into the forgotten and at times surprising story of an authoritarian capital in transition to democracy. This book adds a new dimension to the growing historical literature on democratic Spain, and will be of interest both to scholars of postauthoritarian societies and to connoisseurs of Madrid." - Sasha D. Pack, Department of History, University at Buffalo (SUNY)

"By focusing on the seemingly über-Spanish Madrid, Hamilton Stapell makes us rethink our standard conceptions of regional identity in post-Franco Spain, and, in doing so, demonstrates the innovative ways that madrileños created a vibrant regional identity out of the ashes of dictatorship." - Sandie Holguín, Associate Professor of History, University of Oklahoma

Autorentext
HAMILTON STAPELL is an Assistant Professor of History at State University of New York at New Paltz, USA.

Inhalt
Constructing Geographical Identities in Democratic Spain after 1978 Recovering from the Past: The Problem of Remaking Madrid after the Dictatorship From a 'Fortress' to a 'Plaza': The Transformation of Madrid and the Formation of a New Civic Identity Cultural Mobilization and the Civic Identity Project in the Capital Just a 'Teardrop in the Rain'? The movida madrileña and a New Democratic Regional Identity Your Same Old Madrid: The Changing Face of the Capital, 1979-1986 Not Your Same 'New' Madrid: The End of the Regional Identity Project and Changing Forms of Identification in the Capital, 1986-1991 Spain's Democratic Consolidation and Madrid as an Alternative National Model