Spanish Civil War

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Any good books on the Spanish Civil War that are interesting to read?

― Moti Bahat, Sunday, 28 March 2004 02:12 (twenty-two years ago)

Homage to Catalonia, George Orwell. It has a stretch in the middle that delves into some of the tangled political threads of the left you might find draggy (I didn't). If you read it, you'll know a lot more - from an insiders POV. Orwell fought in it.

― Aimless (Aimless), Sunday, 28 March 2004 04:14 (twenty-two years ago)

The Literary Spanish Civil War has a page full of broken links, but the books mentioned are still available, if not new, then used.

― SRH (Skrik), Sunday, 28 March 2004 07:44 (twenty-two years ago)

Ian Gibson's biography of Federico Garcia Lorca looks at the period right before the war breaks out.

― marisa (marisa), Sunday, 28 March 2004 12:42 (twenty-two years ago)

I agree with Aimless about "Homage to Catalonia," and the later editions should have the political chapters (5 and 11) moved to the back. If you're looking for more of a general history, though, Hugh Thomas' "The Spanish Civil War" is the standard, both comprehensive and quite readable.

― Mark Klobas, Sunday, 28 March 2004 16:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Laurie Lee wrote some eloquent prose about the Spanish Civil War.

As I Walked Out one Midsummer Morning, A Moment of War and Rose for Winter cover the build up, the war itself (where he fought on the Republican side) and its aftermath, respectively.

― Mikey G (Mikey G), Monday, 29 March 2004 07:39 (twenty-two years ago)

there's an Anthony Beevor book about the Spanish Civil War... don't know if it's any good or not.

the thing to remember about the SCW is that eveyone involved in it told massive porkies after the event, so you need to be a bit careful of first hand accounts.

― DV (dirtyvicar), Monday, 29 March 2004 08:21 (twenty-two years ago)

It's also the most complicated thing in history. Notions of right and left are a blur of factions. Atrocities on every side. If you broadly agree with the Republican's resolve (which I do), how do you justify the butchery of the priesthood? It proved one thing to me, an anarchist government (like in Barcelona) is not good for the people.

― Mikey G (Mikey G), Monday, 29 March 2004 08:42 (twenty-two years ago)

but... but... Anarchism in Barcelona was the BEST thing about the war!

― DV (dirtyvicar), Monday, 29 March 2004 13:19 (twenty-two years ago)

...unless you happened to be living there.

― Mikey G (Mikey G), Monday, 29 March 2004 14:08 (twenty-two years ago)

I must be reading the wrong books, everyone else talks about how great Barcelona was during the Anarchist period.

― DV (dirtyvicar), Wednesday, 31 March 2004 11:22 (twenty-two years ago)

obviously you haven't read the Beever book then, which is very good.

― chris (chris), Wednesday, 31 March 2004 13:49 (twenty-two years ago)

Nerrrr.

do you reckon Beevor has this bookwriting programme where he talks about wars and rapes and horribleness happening, and the programme just randomly changes the name of the city for him - hey presto, a new book!

― DV (dirtyvicar), Thursday, 1 April 2004 08:15 (twenty-two years ago)

sorry DV that wasn't meant as snarky as it came out.

to answer your question - not quite, the spanish civil war one is far more factual and dry than say, the Stalingrad one

― chris (chris), Thursday, 1 April 2004 09:57 (twenty-two years ago)

I didn't think it was that snarky.

it's odd, I am VERY INTERESTED in the Spanish Civil War, but have not read that much about it.

Oh, did anyone see the Garth Ennis / Carlos Ezquerra comic "Condors" about the SCW? It is very good.

― DV (dirtyvicar), Thursday, 1 April 2004 17:21 (twenty-two years ago)

The purported anarchist atrocities, raping and butchering nuns etc, are pure propaganda from Franco's PR machine. The anarcho-syndicalist regime of the Cofederacion Nacional de Trobajadores in Catalonia (1936-39) was extremely humane.

― Dorien Thomas (Dorien Thomas), Saturday, 3 April 2004 11:36 (twenty-two years ago)

That's Confederacion.

― Dorien Thomas (Dorien Thomas), Saturday, 3 April 2004 11:37 (twenty-two years ago)

eh, even my Anarchist friends concede that there was a bit of the old Red Terror in Barcelona under the CNT, with priests and the like being killed.

― DV (dirtyvicar), Wednesday, 7 April 2004 18:51 (twenty-two years ago)

exactly, the propaganda isn't a one-sided thing is it?

― chris (chris), Thursday, 8 April 2004 12:31 (twenty-two years ago)

"The Wall" by Sartre is an excellent short story.

― Baravelli. (Jake Proudlock), Thursday, 8 April 2004 15:22 (twenty-two years ago)

nobody likes hemingway's "for whom the bell tolls"?

― fabio, Friday, 9 April 2004 07:12 (twenty-two years ago)

If you read Spanish, "Luna de Lobos" by (forgot the name - was it Julio Llamazares) is ok to read, although it does not reveal that much about the war itself, as it rather is the background for a story, which is about a group of Republicans hiding in the mountains towards the end of the war. It is fun to read though and the lanuguage is not too difficult.

― Andreas, Saturday, 10 April 2004 14:49 (twenty-two years ago)

If you're after a ripping yarn, go for 'The Day Guernica Died' by Wing-Commander Something or Other (I'm thinking Max Stafford, but that can't be right) and his mate. It's a factual account, but written as a fairly gripping narrative. I hope that description hasn't put anyone off. I think it's out of print. Once you've read it you'll get really annoyed with people who think Guernica is a painting. Not to mention Stone Roses B-side obsessives.

Much more demanding is 'Victims of the Civil War' edited by (I think) Santos Julia. This is about the non-combatant casulaities and is a very rigorous historical study with footnotes 'n' shit. It shows that there were atrocities committed by both sides, it wasn't just a product of Franco's propaganda department. The atrocities are so atrocious and WIDESPREAD I've never managed to finish it. It is in foreign.

I've got a pile of unread civil war books in Spain, I will check them out. There is a lot of work going on about the civil war, I think it's one of the things Spain can be proudest of right now, the prejudices are slowly being eroded and people are starting to (be able to) tell the truth.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 12:30 (twenty-one years ago)

has the Civil War receded to being history for Spanish people, or do people get very het up about it still?

My dad can sometimes get het up about the Irish civil war, which happened nearly twenty years before he was born. So it might take a while for the Spanish, who are, I believe, a rather excitable race.

― DV (dirtyvicar), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 15:57 (twenty-one years ago)

(urgh, stereotyping - now I am as bad as Franco)

― DV (dirtyvicar), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 15:57 (twenty-one years ago)

has anyone ever read "The Heretics" by Humphrey Slater? It's a split narrative, combining stuff about the crusade against the Albigensians and the suppression by the Communists of the POUM and the Anarchists. It's meant to be very good but is out of print.

― DV (dirtyvicar), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 18:54 (twenty-one years ago)

I received some spam today about a new novel set during the Spanish Civil War.

this is truly amazing - for the second time in my life I have received spam for something I might actually buy.

― DV (dirtyvicar), Thursday, 15 April 2004 23:11 (twenty-one years ago)

When they interview young people coming out of cinemas showing Civil War films they say things like, 'the Americans have got Vietnam, we've got the Civil War,' and that's about as far as the average young person's thoughts go, I think. On the other hand, I saw 'Land and Freedom' with an old bloke arguing out loud with the people on screen throughout. You still get people walking around with Franco keyrings and the suchlike. Some people who were around then clam up completely whenever the subject is raised, just in case they say something which might get overheard and reported to the fascist authorities.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 11:39 (twenty-one years ago)

do you get trashy films about Civil War vets having flashbacks and thinking they are back on the Ebro?

― DV (dirtyvicar), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 16:39 (twenty-one years ago)

don't you think the priests deserved what they got considering some of the ass rapery they'd engaged in with franco's blessing and the roll over and shove it hard ding a ling of musollini?

as for books, try leavit's ...while the nation was sleeping, I think it's called. something like that.

― Queen G of the morning after, Thursday, 22 April 2004 11:09 (twenty-one years ago)

three years pass...

obviously you haven't read the Beever book then, which is very good.

I'm reading it now. Eh, he seems quite favourable towards the Anarchists in Catalonia, certainly more so than to anyone else.

― The Real Dirty Vicar, Saturday, 8 March 2008 00:25 (eighteen years ago)

two weeks pass...

"anarchist government"

― _Rockist__Scientist_, Saturday, 22 March 2008 19:23 (eighteen years ago)

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