The gratuitous cruelty that it recounts ensured that it would be an extremely painful book to write. It was also methodologically difficult because of the sheer scale of a subject covering the different kinds of repression in both zones during the war and in all of Spain afterwards. In fact, it could not have been written without the pioneering efforts of numerous Spanish historians. Their published work is referred to fully in the Notes.Moreover, in addition to being able to read their books and articles, with many of these historians I had the pleasure and privilege of discussing detailed issues regarding the places and the topics on which they are the experts. Their readiness to share with me ideas and material was one of the most heartening and memorable features of a difficult task. Their names are listed in the Spanish edition of this book.For a historian living in London, keeping up with the avalanche of information in some way or other related to the various aspects of the subject is a particularly difficult problem.
