Francisco Ugarte Crist�bal (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, Gram�tica espa�ola de repaso, Panorama de la civilizaci�n espa�ola, and the first… edition of this book, Espa�a y su civilizaci�n (1952).
Kathleen McNerney is an ecclectic scholar whose works include studies of writers from various times and places. She is the author of books on the fifteenth-century poet Ausias March and the novelist Joanot Martorell as well as works on contemporary Catalan women writers. She has also written about Spanish, French, and Latin American authors - both classic and current. McNerney is from New Mexico and teaches literature, humanities, and women's studies at West Virginia University. In 1990, she was awarded the Catalonia Prize for diffusion of Catalan culture, and in 1995 she was designated Benedum Distinguished Scholar by her institution.