Spanish Civil War/Spanish Identity

Several Sociedad Hispana book club members and friends are keenly interested in Spanish history, and in particular the Spanish Civil War.  The Wall Street Journal recently reviewed the book Spain: A Unique History, written by Stanley Payne.  While the reviewer is somewhat critical of parts of the book, the chapters dealing with the Spanish Civil War are favorably reviewed.  While I have not read this book, the reviewer postulates, and I quote:  "Membership in the European Union has drained Spain's historic identity, and rendered national differences meaningless. "  Anyone care to comment?

Another  aficionado of the Spanish Civil War  is Bucks County resident David Baer.  Readers of the Bucks County Herald will recognize his name as the author of the  newspaper's column David Baer: About Books.   Based on his favorable review, I recently read the novel about the Spanish Civil War titled The Wrong Blood, written by Spanish author Manuel de Lope.  The book was originally published in Spanish (2000) under the title La sangre ajena.   The link below provides a review of the book in several languages

http://www.complete-review.com/reviews/espana/lopemd.htm

The English version is available from Amazon, in both hard copy and Kindle editions.