Agustí Nieto-Galan is Professor of History of Science at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), He has written widely on the history of chemistry and natural dyestuffs, the history of science popularization and the urban history of science (eighteenth to twentieth centuries). In 2009 and 2018, he was awarded the 'ICREA-Acadèmia' Research Prize by the Catalan Government.

• List of figures; Preface; Acknowledgments; Chronology; List of abbreviations; Introduction; Biographies of power; A political chemistry; 1. Dreams of Modernity; 1.1 Cosmopolitanism; 1.2 Laboratories and schools; 1.3 Useful chemistry; 2. A republican science; 2.1 A new enlightenment; 2.2 Nobel visitors; 2.3 The Silver Age of industry; 3. War weapons; 3.1 A chemical civil war; 3.2 A damaged community; 3.3 Tortured skills; 4. Totalitarian ambitions; 4.1 Fascist chemistry; 4.2 Chemistry and religion; 5. Autarchic ambiguities; 5.1 'Our' chemicals; 5.2 'Technical' chemistry; 5.3 Chemical diplomacy; 6. Technocratic progress; 6.1 'Neutral' expertise; 6.2 Cold war allies; 6.3 Corporate chemistry; 7. Liberal dissent; 7.1 Chemists in exile; 7.2 Internal refugees; Conclusion: the moral ambiguity of chemistry; Pure-applied chemistry; Modernisation paradoxes; A troubled identity; Chemists as intellectuals; History and memory; Addendum: Juan Julio Bonet Sugrañes (1940–2006); Bibliography; Index.

'Scientists were prominent in building Spain's democratic Republic - two, the chemist José Giral and the physiologist Juan Negrín, became prime ministers. Science under the Franco dictatorship was dominated by one chemist, José María Albareda while another, Manuel Lora-Tamayo, was Minister of Education and Science in the 1960s. This fascinating and totally original work examines the links between chemistry and politics in a way that casts its light far beyond the specifics of Spain.' Paul Preston, London School of Economics and Political Science