In more than 60 years as a professor there has been plenty of time to cover much of the world, many eras and many areas of thought and life, and that is what he attempted to do. Jose Manuel Cuenca ToribioThe historian who died in Cordoba on Monday … At the age of 86, after a life in which he became a reference for the study of many events.
He was a professor Contemporary history He had settled in the city after his birth in Seville in 1939. It was at the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters that he developed a large part of his career and is now mourned by many former students and professors there.
“He was a teacher for teachers and a historian for historians,” sums up the professor from the University of Cordoba, his voice cracking with emotion.Miguel Lopez SerranoWho obtained a doctorate with a thesis he directed. This is why he insists that he “created a school, a way, and a path,” and this is why those who worked with him did so, marked by his character and example.
In his work, he highlights:General history of Andalusia“, a seminal piece that won the National History Award, was groundbreaking in its time, when no one was looking at the future of the region the way he did.
And also “Andalusia in”. War of independence“He was a landmark because of the depth of his vision, and for historians, his book on World War II is a great reference,” recalls Miguel López Serrano.
He analyzes key contemporary issues such as 23-F, and his “conversations with.” Alfonso ArmadaHe always maintained that the general was unable to be the “white elephant” that was missing in the reconfiguration of the 1981 coup attempt.
The person behind a great teacher does not detract from professionalism. This is said by Miguel Lopez Serrano, who pays tribute to having always lived by the example of personal effort. “He belonged to middle classThis kept him at his peak. “He was part of a Spain that believed it could improve, based on merit of hard work,” he sums up. He admits there were “a lot of legends about him”, but he was more of a friend than just a teacher. “He loved Spain and Andalusia,” he reveals.
Contributions
The same idea as the hardworking professional Jose Calvo BoyatoHistorian, writer and ABC columnist, who highlights his “ability to work tirelessly over many years”. The key is his “voluminous volume of the History of Andalusia, which collected the best contributions,” but he also refers to studies on the church and religiosity in modern and contemporary Spain.
“His work was amazing,” says José Calvo, who also remembers his work organizing meetings. Thus he organized it for ten years A goat A few days from History and politics Who got relevant speakers.
“Thanks to his good connections, he brought in the best political figures in Spain at the end of the twentieth century, such as Landelino Lavilla, Alfonso GuerraOr Ramón Tamames or Leopoldo Calvo SoteloEven though they are no longer on the front lines, their experiences have always been useful.”
He also speaks of the “giant” effort made by the First Congress of HHistory of Andalusiain the mid-seventies, which represented a “complete revision” of what was known at all stages, from prehistoric times to the contemporary era, which also passed through Cordoba.
The current Dean of the College of Science remembers the same thing about him. Philosophy and lettersJavier Martín Baraja, who remembers him as one of “the great promoters of the history of Andalusia, when no one did it in Spain.” He was dean and one of the great promoters of the center’s planning in its early years.
He was, according to him, “an old-school humanist.” He did not focus his knowledge on history, but rather turned to other fields and studied the present moment, from Mitterrand to the conflict in France. The Middle East“Whom he knew with terrifying depth.”
In his more than eighty works, he analyzes many periods, but also major currents of political thought.
After retiring in 2009, at the age of 70, he spent some time as professor emeritus and “never stopped researching and researching.” guide For colleagues. And keep writing. His books ‘History of Right in Spain’ or ‘Marx In Spain, they combined their interest in the development of political thought and the way it reached society.
Writing, which he considered his refuge, was also reflected in an interview with ABC in more than 80 works. His last 3rd on ABC It was published in November of this year under the title Three Historians from San Sebastian, but written with some regularity, as in the special issue on the 200 years of the French entry into Córdoba. They all agree that his work will remain a reference.
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