This paper intends to give a first impression of how XX-century European
totalitarian regimes have been seen and presented by analysing a selection of
Spanish History textbooks used in secondary education (ESO). Nowadays,
both in our country and in the rest of Europe, a study of this type of manuals
demands a reference to the debates which, in the last few decades, have focused
on the didactic rethinking of the teaching of History. And, in the case of Spain,
this issue has been the object of the attention of experts, who, in different ways
and from different perspectives, have analysed the three main ingredients of education:
the official curricula, the books used in schools and the teaching itsel
