Press, Politics and National Identities in Catal – The Transformation of La Vanguardia, 1881–1931

For more than three generations, the members of the Godo family controlled Barcelona's top-selling newspaper La Vanguardia, navigating it through the country's turbulent 20th century. Whether under the corrupt politics of the Bourbon Restoration, the radical transformations of the Second Republic, or the tragedy of the Spanish Civil War, La Vanguardia remained Barcelona's indisputable journalistic benchmark. Central to this success was the Godo family's extraordinary capacity to meet the changing tastes of a plural audience whilst adjusting to a changing political scenario. In parallel, the ownership of the newspaper allowed family members to expand their interests to other fields, such as politics, business, and colonial rule in Cuba and Morocco. The long-standing reputation of the Godo dynasty, however, is in sharp contrast with the lack of studies about their members and the newspaper they founded. This silence is due, in part, to the influence that La Vanguardia still exerts on public life today. Drawing on hitherto unused archival material, this book is the first account about 'the most renowned publishers and the most important newspaper in Catalonia's history.' In so doing, it also sheds new light on how the media shaped (and conditioned) Europe's birth of mass politics. Published in association with the Canada Blanch Centre for Contemporary Spanish Studies. [Subject: History, Media Studies, Spanish Studies, Politics]