Payne, Stanley G. 1934–

(Stanley George Payne)

PERSONAL:

Born September 9, 1934, in Denton, TX; son of George C. (a carpenter) and E. Margaret Payne; married Julia Ann Sherman (a psychologist), June, 1961; children: Michael. Education: Pacific Union College, B.A., 1955; Claremont Graduate School, M.A., 1957; Columbia University, Ph.D., 1960.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Madison, WI. Office—Department of History, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706. E-mail—sgpayne@wisc.edu.

CAREER:

Columbia University, New York, NY lecturer, 1959-60; University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, instructor 1960-62; University of California, Los Angeles, 1962-68, began as assistant professor, became professor of history; University of Wisconsin—Madison, professor of history, 1968—.

Coeditor for the Luso-Brazilian Review, 1986-91, and president of the editorial board, 1996-2004; coeditor for the Journal of Contemporary History, 1999—. Also member of the editorial or advisory board of the American Historical Review, Aportes, Cuenta y Razón, Historia 16, Historical Abstracts, International History Review, Mediterranean Historical Review, Portuguese Studies Review, and Totalitarian Movements and Political Religion.

MEMBER:

International Conference Group on Portugal (cofounder, 1972), American Historical Association, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Historical Society, Real Academia Española de la Historia, Society for Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies.

WRITINGS:

Falange: A History of Spanish Fascism, Stanford University Press (Stanford, CA), 1961.

(With Shepard B. Clough and Otto Pflanze) A History of the Western World, Volume III: Modern Times; 1815 to the Present, Heath (Sutton, Surrey, England), 1964.

Politics and the Military in Modern Spain, Stanford University Press (Stanford, CA), 1967.

Franco's Spain, Crowell, 1967.

The Spanish Revolution, Norton (New York, NY), 1970.

A History of Spain and Portugal, two volumes, University of Wisconsin Press (Madison, WI), 1973.

Basque Nationalism, University of Nevada Press (Reno, NV), 1975.

Fascism: Comparison and Definition, University of Wisconsin Press (Madison, WI), 1980.

Spanish Catholicism: An Historical Overview, University of Wisconsin Press (Madison, WI), 1984.

The Franco Regime, 1936-1975, University of Wisconsin Press (Madison, WI), 1987, 2nd edition, Phoenix Press (London, England), 2000.

Spain's First Democracy: The Second Republic, 1931-1936, University of Wisconsin Press (Madison, WI), 1993.

A History of Fascism, 1914-1945, University of Wisconsin Press (Madison, WI), 1995.

(With Delia Contreras) España y la Segunda Guerra Mundial, Editorial Complutense (Madrid, Spain), 1996.

(With Javier Tusell) La Guerra Civil: Una nueva visión del conflicto que dividió España, Temas de Hoy (Madrid, Spain), 1996.

Franco y José Antonio: El extraño caso del fascismo español: Historia de la Falange y del Movimiento Nacional, 1923-1977 / Stanley G. Payne, Planeta (Barcelona, Spain), 1997.

El Primer Franquismo: Los años de la autarquía, Historia 16/Ediciones Temas de Hoy (Madrid, Spain), 1997.

Fascism in Spain, 1923-1977, University of Wisconsin Press (Madison, WI), 1999.

(With Enrique de Aguinaga) José Antonio Primo de Rivera, Ediciones B (Barcelona, Spain), 2003.

The Spanish Civil War, the Soviet Union, and Communism, Yale University Press (New Haven, CT), 2004.

(Author of Introduction) Las Armas de la Guerra Civil Española: El primer estudio global y sistemático del Armamento Empleado por Ambos Contendientes, Esfera de los Libros (Madrid, Spain), 2006.

The Collapse of the Spanish Republic, 1933-1936: Origins of the Civil War, Yale University Press (New Haven, CT), 2006.

Franco and Hitler: Spain, Germany, and World War II, Yale University Press (New Haven, CT), 2008.

EDITOR

(And author of Introduction) Politics and Society in Twentieth-Century Spain, New Viewpoints (New York, NY), 1976.

Identidad y Nacionalismo en la España Contemporánea: El Carlismo, 1833-1975: Jornadas, Actas Editorial (Madrid, Spain), 1996.

(With David J. Sorkin and John S. Tortorice) What History Tells: George L. Mosse and the Culture of Modern Europe, University of Wisconsin Press (Madison, WI), 2004.

Contributor to history journals and periodicals, including Claremont Quarterly, Tradición, Mid-America, and Journal of Modern History. Contributor to books, including Unamuno: Creator and Creation, 1967; and Crises of Political Development in Europe and the United States, 1978.

SIDELIGHTS:

Stanley G. Payne is a writer and historian, specializing in the history of Spain. A New York Times Book Review writer called his book Politics and the Military in Modern Spain "almost surely the definitive work on how, over the past 150 years, the Spanish Army came to be ‘the ultimate arbiter of public affairs in Spain.’" The reviewer found that Payne is "generally fair in handling a difficult subject. His research is commanding, his prose style serviceable and his bibliography excellent." At the same time, another of his books, The Spanish Revolution, has come to be known as one of the definitive works on that subject. Cecil Eby wrote: "[Payne] appears to have read everything and to have forgotten nothing. His book, with its patient attention to details and its careful documentation, will not be popular among the mythologizing or activist set, for the author wishes to study revolution, not to make it. But given time and a change of tide, The Spanish Revolution ought to work its way close to the head of any five-foot shelf of books about the struggle in Spain. And to be admitted to the company of Orwell, Brenan, and Borkenau is a major achievement."

One of Payne's most widely reviewed works is A History of Fascism, 1914-1945. Payne traces how, following World War I, in the wake of public optimism and the beginnings of liberal government, Eastern and Central Europe were suddenly overtaken by Fascism. According to Payne, the movement first took hold in Hungary, moving to Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, Lithuania, and Yugoslavia before finding its greatest reception in Germany. Payne then investigates how fascism began to grow in Italy. The author gives a thorough explanation of the differences and similarities between German National Socialism and Italian Fascism. Critics were extremely impressed with the work. For instance, Nation reviewer Susan Zuccotti stated: "A History of Fas-cism is an invaluable sourcebook, offering a rare combination of detailed information and thoughtful analysis. It is a masterpiece of comparative history, for the comparisons enhance our understanding of each part of the whole." Zuccotti added that "the term ‘fascist,’ used so freely these days as a pejorative epithet that it has nearly lost its meaning, is precisely defined, carefully applied and skillfully explained. The analysis effectively restores the dimension of evil." Another positive assessment was offered by Historian contributor Mark P. Gingerich, who found that "Payne's work is complex and sophisticated, yet lucid and free of jargon, and it should appeal to the specialist as well as the general reader. This revised study is indispensable for students of modern European history."

Following the publication of A History of Fascism, 1914-1945, Payne published several books, including Fascism in Spain, 1923-1977 and The Spanish Civil War, the Soviet Union, and Communism. The latter is a scholarly overview of the events leading up to the Civil War, including discussion of the friction between Spanish communists and the Soviet agenda. This friction, according to Payne, lies at the heart of the Spanish Civil War, and the bulk of his book is devoted to the myriad aspects surrounding this topic. Reviewers found much of value in the book. Indeed, Victor Rosenberg, writing in History: Review of New Books, stated that "Payne has succeeded in presenting what he describes as ‘the first broadly synthetic account’ of this subject." Rosenberg added that, "with its thorough account of Spanish politics, this work will be welcomed by students and scholars of the Spanish Civil War as well as of Soviet foreign policy." Furthermore, Library Journal critic David Lee Poremba found that The Spanish Civil War, the Soviet Union, and Communism is "likely to become the definitive work on the Soviet Union's active participation … in the Spanish Civil War."

Some of Payne's later publications include The Collapse of the Spanish Republic, 1933-1936: Origins of the Civil War and Franco and Hitler: Spain, Germany, and World War II. The former volume complements Payne's Spain's First Democracy: The Second Republic, 1931-1936 by picking up on the subject and expanding it. Nathanael Greene, critiquing The Collapse of the Spanish Republic, 1933-1936 in History: Review of New Books, felt that the book is "a powerful narrative account and challenging interpretation." Greene concluded that "this is a serious, carefully researched, and very readable account of the onset of the Spanish tragedy. It also offers conclusions that will test cherished assumptions."

In Franco and Hitler, Payne explores dictator of Spain General Francisco Franco's first and only meeting with Adolf Hitler on October 23, 1940. Hitler wanted to send Nazi troops through Spain in order to attack Gibraltar, but as a point of pride, Franco insisted on using Spanish troops for the task. Payne shows that it was this and other such disagreements that ultimately led to the dissolution of the political alliance between Germany and Spain. According to Payne, this is why Spain did not participate in World War II. Times critic Max Hastings concluded his review of Franco and Hitler by stating that "the story that [Payne] tells deserves to be more widely known, not least by ‘useful idiots’ of the right who continue to think well of Franco."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Book World, March 8, 1970, Cecil Eby, review of The Spanish Revolution.

English Historical Review, September 1, 1994, R.A.H. Robinson, review of Spain's First Democracy: The Second Republic, 1931-1936, p. 977.

Foreign Affairs, July 1, 1996, Stanley Hoffmann, review of A History of Fascism, 1914-1945.

Historian, September 22, 1994, Robert H. Whealey, review of Spain's First Democracy, p. 180; September 22, 1998, Mark P. Gingerich, review of A History of Fascism, 1914-1945, p. 209; September 22, 2005, Paul Breines, review of What History Tells: George L. Mosse and the Culture of Modern Europe, p. 592.

History: Review of New Books, March 22, 2000, David Jr. Ortiz, review of Fascism in Spain, 1923-1977, p. 121; September 22, 2004, Victor Rosenberg, review of The Spanish Civil War, the Soviet Union, and Communism, p. 31; June 22, 2006, Nathanael Greene, review of The Collapse of the Spanish Republic, 1933-1936: Origins of the Civil War, p. 129.

Journal of European Studies, December 1, 2004, Jeremy Black, review of What History Tells, p. 350.

Library Journal, May 15, 2004, David Lee Poremba, review of The Spanish Civil War, the Soviet Union, and Communism, p. 99.

Nation, March 18, 1996, Susan Zuccotti, review of A History of Fascism, 1914-1945, p. 31.

New Leader, May 6, 1996, Roger Draper, review of A History of Fascism, 1914-1945, p. 17.

New York Times Book Review, August 10, 1967, review of Politics and the Military in Modern Spain.

Publishers Weekly, January 1, 1996, review of A History of Fascism, 1914-1945, p. 62.

Times (London, England), March 9, 2008, Max Hastings, review of Franco and Hitler: Spain, Germany, and World War II.

ONLINE

Department of History, University of Wisconsin—Madison Web site, http://history.wisc.edu/ (June 5, 2008), author's curriculum vitae.