Paul Preston is the world's foremost historian of Spain. This surging history recounts the struggles of the 1936 war in which more than 3,000 Americans took up arms. Tracking the emergence of Francisco Franco's brutal (and, ultimately, extraordinarily durable) fascist dictatorship, Preston assesses the ways in which the Spanish Civil War presaged the Second World War that ensued so rapidly after it. The attempted social revolution in Spain awakened progressive hopes during the Depression, but the conflict quickly escalated into a new and horrific form of warfare. As Preston shows, the unprecedented levels of brutality were burned into the American consciousness as never before by the revolutionary war reporting of Ernest Hemingway, John Dos Passos, Herbert Matthews, Vincent Sheean, Louis Fischer, and many others. Completely revised, including previously unseen material on Franco's treatment of women in wartime prisons, "The Spanish Civil War "is a classic work on this pivotal epoch in the twentieth century.
The Spanish Civil War: Reaction, Revolution, and Revenge
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Daffy Bibliophile
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Paul Preston's book (first written in 1986 and updated in 1996 and 2006) gives a very good overall picture of the Spanish Civil War. He shines a light on the various actors in this sordid episode of European history: the Spanish military, the Catholic Church, the anarchists, the socialists, the communists, the Falange, Italy, Germany, France, Britain, the USSR and, of course, Franco.
Preston details the political and diplomatic maneuvering that all of the above took part in and he lays the blame for Franco's success as much on the pretence of neutrality by the French and the British as he does on the active involvement of the Nazis and the Italian Fascists. The Spanish Civil War was a foreshadowing of the greater European war that was just around the corner; Hitler and Stalin were cynical, both motivated by realpolitik, not ideological concerns. Everyone was in Spain, but few had the interests of the Spanish at heart. If this book tells readers one thing, that would be it.
Preston details the political and diplomatic maneuvering that all of the above took part in and he lays the blame for Franco's success as much on the pretence of neutrality by the French and the British as he does on the active involvement of the Nazis and the Italian Fascists. The Spanish Civil War was a foreshadowing of the greater European war that was just around the corner; Hitler and Stalin were cynical, both motivated by realpolitik, not ideological concerns. Everyone was in Spain, but few had the interests of the Spanish at heart. If this book tells readers one thing, that would be it.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Frank Rayal
Format:Paperback
The book starts by reviewing the years leading to the war to set the context and goes into great details into the politics of that era. The war itself is discussed at great details including the conditions behind the lines of each party - the Republicans and the Nationalists. The role of the Catholic Church and the major European powers is also discussed. The pace starts slow as background information are presented but picks up considerably through later chapters. The aftermath of the war is covered, but I would have liked to better understand Franco's decisions related to WWII. There is a slight bias which the author admits to the Republican side, but that does not diminish from it being a great scholarly work and a very good and comprehensive book on the Spanish Civil War.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Jak Birse
Format:Paperback
Utterly engrossing work!
Having only a little knowledge of the Spanish Civil War before reading this book, I can only praise the writer for this in-depth, sometimes horrifying tour de force.
Spain the proving ground for all the horrors of the Second World War.
Thank you Paul Preston.
Having only a little knowledge of the Spanish Civil War before reading this book, I can only praise the writer for this in-depth, sometimes horrifying tour de force.
Spain the proving ground for all the horrors of the Second World War.
Thank you Paul Preston.
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