Francisco Ugarte Cristóbal (1910-1969) immigrated to the United States from Madrid in 1946. Before arriving in the United States, he was in charge of the U.S. embassy in Spain during the Spanish Civil War when the continuation of diplomatic relations between Spain and the U.S. was uncertain. He began his teaching career as an instructor of Spanish at Dartmouth College in 1947, rose through the ranks at Dartmouth, and was ultimately promoted to full professor. He wrote several widely used textbooks for students of Spanish language, literature, and civilization, among which are Beginning Spanish, Gramática española de repaso, Panorama de la civilización española, and the first edition of this book, España y su civilización (1952).