la Córdoba de Antonio Cruz Conde: El alcalde que cambió ciudad

Antonio Cruz Conde's Córdoba is a respectful and somewhat nostalgic look at the 1950s, focusing on the administration led by the aforementioned councilman at the helm of City Hall, of whom people came to say that "since Cruz Conde became mayor, Córdoba seems like a different place." Using the press of the time--primarily the Córdoba newspaper--as his source, journalist Francisco Solano Márquez recalls the Córdoba of the 1951-1960 decade through the administration of the remembered mayor, organized into thematic chapters covering the restoration of forgotten monuments, such as the Alcázar, La Calahorra, and La Corredera; attention to traditional neighborhoods; improvements to municipal services, including the new water supply system, infrastructure projects, and new access roads; urban planning, which put an end to unregulated construction; the promotion of local festivals; support for culture, and the promotion of new hotel construction to foster tourism development, without overlooking the figure of the mayor himself or the municipal institution. In total, nearly a hundred thematic articles plus an additional epilogue that outlines "The backdrop of Cruzcondista's administration." This is an informative work on Córdoba from half a century ago, whose text, clear and engaging, is complemented by a selection of photographs that explain, better than any description, the transformation of a city awakening from the painful postwar period, bidding farewell to ration cards, dreaming of social housing, and contemplating--with a mix of disbelief and wonder--the modernization undertaken by the City Council under an administrator who, in the words of the chronicler Rey Díaz, whose primary goal was to serve the city. The book also serves as a tribute to the Cordoban journalists of the era, who, despite the limitations imposed by political circumstances, were able to capture the vibrant mosaic of a provincial city that, "shaking off its traditional indolence, ushered in a fruitful era," in the words of one of them, Rafael Gago. Reading it will bring back nostalgic memories of that era for Cordobans who lived through it, but it will also allow later generations to learn about a period of local history in which there are many examples that can shed light on the present.