RENFE: A History of the Spanish Public Railroad, 1941–2004 This is the second edition of *Renfe (1941–1991): Half a Century of Public Railways* (1995), Miguel Muñoz’s doctoral dissertation, in which—as the result of several decades of research—the author reconstructs the history of Renfe from 1941 to 2005, the year it was split into two other public companies. As noted in theintroduction, the book follows a diachronic structure that explains, through a detailed analysis of its main elements—policies, organization, productive forces, traffic, and economic results— how the Spanish railway system suffered a catastrophic decline during the autarky period, from which it was rescued between 1963 and 1976 through a complete overhaul. Democracy inherited a revamped system, but one that was nevertheless severely damaged by the dramatic loss of market share due to the rise of the highway. It is pointed out that there were even doubts about its very survival, although, in the end, the decision was made to “save” it by creating an institutional framework to adapt it to market competition and by developing a high-speed network to restore its dynamism—all of which called its public nature into question.