In this new biography Antonio Cazorla-Sanchez looks at Franco from a fresh perpsective, emphasizing the cultural and social over the political. Explaining how his persona and actions were perceived by Spaniards and others, Cazorla-Sanchez presents a fresh understanding of how the dictator was portrayed by the propaganda machine, how the opposition tried to undermine his prestige, and what kind of opinions, rumors and myths people formed of him.

Introducing an essential international dimension to the man and his regime, Cazorla-Sanchez's Franco exposes for the reader the disorienting collective experience of living without freedom under the long shadow of a dictator.