David Jiménez Torres is Associate Professor at Universidad Camilo José Cela in Spain. He has taught at the University of Manchester and University of Cambridge, where he obtained his doctorate. He is the author of the monograph Ramiro de Maeztu and England: Imaginaries, Realities and Repercussions of a Cultural Encounter (2016). He is also a novelist and a columnist.

“This volume combines transnational theoretical and philosophical approaches as well as data-driven analyses to provide a number of innovative answers…In conclusion, this volume is a vigorous working through of the question of whether or not Habermas’ theory contributes to our understanding of cultural, social and political life in Spain since the eighteenth century. The answer across the board is a resounding ‘yes’.” • Bulletin of Spanish Studies“A valuable critical analysis that sheds new light on the evolution of a concept at the root of many current social and political debates. A notable book that will be of interest to specialists and non-specialists alike.” • Luisa-Elena Delgado, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign“This book makes a fresh and significant contribution to our informed understanding of the interplay of cultural, political and social forces in the emergence of the modern Spanish public sphere. It tackles a wide range of topics, phenomena and institutions that have determined the configuration and the nature of public debate, providing a comprehensive overview of the most salient features of the modernization process.” • Gregorio Alonso, University of Leeds

• List of FiguresIntroduction: A Spanish Public Sphere?Leticia Villamediana González and David Jiménez TorresPART I: THE 18TH CENTURYChapter 1. Spain and Habermas’s Public Sphere: A Revisionist ViewSally-Ann KittsChapter 2. Benito Jerónimo Feijoo in the Initial Stages of the Spanish Public Sphere: Some ConsiderationsNoelia García DíazChapter 3. ‘Of National Politeness’: Civility and National Character in Spanish Travel Accounts to Great BritainMónica Bolufer PerugaPART II: THE 19TH CENTURYChapter 4. News, Censorship and Propaganda in the Gazeta de Mexico during the Summer of 1808Francisco Eissa-BarrosoChapter 5. The Role of the Military in the Development of a Spanish Liberal Public Sphere, 1820-1823Richard MeyerChapter 6. The Shape of the Public Sphere in Spain (1860-1899): A Dream of GeneralitiesAndrew GingerPART III: THE 20TH CENTURYChapter 7. New Women for the Public Space: Aurora Rodríguez Carballeira and the Eugenic Mother (1879-1956)Alba GonzálezChapter 8. Miguel de Unamuno’s Notion of Public SphereStephen G. H. RobertsChapter 9. Spanish Modern Times: A Cinematographic National Sphere in the First Third of the 20th centuryMarta García CarriónChapter 10. What was Public Opinion in the Francoist ‘New State’? Information, Publics and Rumour in the Spanish Postwar (1939-1945)Francisco SevillanoPART IV: THE 21ST CENTURYChapter 11. The Political Cartoonist as Intellectual: Cultural Hegemony and Consensus in CrisisDaniel MourenzaChapter 12. The Old, the New and the Possible: Challenging Discourses and the Narrative Breach in post-neoliberal crisis SpainFederico López-TerraChapter 13. The 15M Movement: Reinvigorating the Public Sphere in SpainGeorgina BlakeleyConclusionFurther ReadingIndex