Spanish historians and English-speaking scholarship.

HISTORIANS; HISTORIOGRAPHY; SPANISH history; EUROPEAN history; HISTORY publishing; PUBLISHING

In this essay, the author argues that the narrow definition of “Europe” among historians provides much of the explanation for the absence of Spain from the pages of historical journals. Part of the blame also lies on some historians outside Spain who work on its modern history. They have been writing books and articles that are of interest only to other specialists in Spanish history, and not to the broader audience of Europeanists. For their part, historians in Spain have shown little interest in publishing outside Spain, and particularly in English. There exists no particular reason for Spanish historians to internationalize their field in the way historians in Portugal are seeking to do. The essays that focus on Spain in a special issue of “Social History” are evidence of the first-rate history being written in Spain. Praise is given to the journal for its decision to open itself to Spain's history, one of the many ignored histories in Europe.