This work investigates the mechanisms of mass complicity and local participation in the military judicial system established by the Francoist regime following the Spanish Civil War. Peter Anderson, a historian specializing in the political violence of the period, utilizes extensive archival research from military court records to analyze how local actors influenced the selection and prosecution of defeated Republicans. The book argues that the regime's repressive apparatus relied heavily on grassroots denunciations and local power dynamics to sustain its control between 1939 and 1945.

Historians recognize this text as a significant contribution to the study of post-Civil War Spanish repression, specifically for its focus on the intersection of state policy and local agency. Scholars frequently cite the book for its rigorous use of primary source documentation and its nuanced approach to the concept of complicity.