Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: The Spanish Civil War : Revised Edition by Hugh Thomas ISBN: 0-375-75515-2 Publisher: Modern Library Pub. Date: 04 December, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.88 (8 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Strong narrative / some weak points in analysis
Comment: This book is a 1000+ page-turner. When I picked it up, I knew nothing about the Spanish Civil War. This book definitely remedied that. Hugh Thomas begins shortly before the outbreak of the war and tells the story through to its completion (essentially 1936-1939). It is somewhat long, but the story itself is so compelling and Thomas' writing so good that it sucked me in and moved along nicely.
I have only a couple of gripes. First, if someone wants a short introduction, this may not be the book. I am sure there are other titles out there that will give you the basic facts in less time. As I said, however, reading the book was entertaining enough that I did not mind at all. As an example of an interesting factoid that emerges from this book, it seems that a substantial portion of the treasure from America that Spain won in the 16th century was given to the Soviets for safe-keeping. It is still there.
Second, while the book is strong on narrative, it is a little bit weak in analysis. What is especially lacking is an understanding of the factors that led to the outbreak of war in the first place. The books starts with a short chapter describing Spain in the early 20th century and plunges directly into the events leading up to the war. While the suspense before the outbreak of the war is palpable, the basic question of why a country would degenerate into civil war is hardly touched. In fairness to the author, he may have deliberately chosen to focus on the war itself rather than its causes. On the other hand, the discussion about why the Nationalists defeated the Republicans is fairly good. Two factors stand out. First, the Republicans were crippled by in-fighting amongst the factions, a fact that is admirably discussed. Second, the Nationalists received substantial help from abroad.
Author background: I am not a historian, but have read a handful of books on Spanish history.
Rating: 5
Summary: An excellent history of a complex conflict
Comment: I very much enjoyed reading Hugh Thomas' work. He does and excellent job of sorting out the many and varied groups on both the left and the right who struggled for power during this terrible conflict.
In addition, I learned many things about the war that I never knew previously. For example, I was unaware as the extent of the persecution of the Roman Catholic Church in Spain during the war. Given that Spain is overwhelmingly Catholic I assumed the church passed thru the war relatively unscathed. How wrong I was.
Mr. Thomas paints a factual yet horrifying picture of how the so-called "republicans" who were in fact mostly communists, burned churches, raped nuns and tortured and executed priests. There are accounts of Catholic faithful being forced to swallow rosary beads, thrown down mine shafts and gored to death by bulls in bull fighting rings.
The most awful irony I learned was that the International Brigades, so glorified in the west, were responsible for many of the worst anti-Catholic atrocities. I was especially horrified to learn that these brigades titled themselves after such great men as George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.
Wherever your political sensibilities lie you will very much enjoy reading Mr. Thomas' well researched and well written book.
Rating: 5
Summary: Still the Best One Volume History
Comment: This 1994 edition (a 2nd or 3rd revision of the first edition put out c. 1980 I believe) is apparently not available because a newer revised edition is coming out in November 2001 with updated information no doubt--you should pick up this latest coming edition. Understanding the subject of the Spanish Civil War has been plagued by two major obstacles: 1) The use of the Spanish Civil war as merely a prelude to WWII by historians of the English speaking world, i.e., crudely lumping in Franco and the Nationalists as just a Spanish variation of Facism; this ignores the study of Spanish history in its own right and the unique and tragic facets of Iberian history; 2) The use and abuse of the Spanish Civil War as an ideological forum for anarchists and "Trotskyite" anti-Stalinist communists, again, mostly from the English speaking world. The biased accounts of Anglo/American/Canadian leftists of this period (as well as Hemingway's romanticized fiction) have distorted and confused the event in the eyes of the English-speaking world. Its good to see an English scholar clear up this mess. Thomas' account clearly delineates the various factions and their goals on both sides, pointing out that lack of unity and in-fighting of the various factions of the left-of-center Republican side (if "Republican" is even a proper term to use by the time the Stalinists were done with it) was probably more decisive in leading to its downfall than the outside pressure of the Nationalists (who were by no means unified in ideology, but greatly more cooperative amongst themselves than the Republicans). The "cowardly" stance of the Democratic Western countries is made understandable and must be seen in the context of their own instability and weakness of the time. In retrospect, any aid to Republican Spain would have probably only helped the Stalinist-controlled communists complete their strangle-hold on the Republican coalition government, the other factions--especially the anarchists--being severely and savagely purged by them (my own opinion). In any case, Thomas' outstanding research and balanced account of the event allows each reader to draw their own conclusion without undue ideological bias. If you read only one history of the Spanish Civil War, this is the one to have.
 |
Title: The Spanish Civil War by Antony Beevor ISBN: 0141001488 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: 03 July, 2001 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
 |
Title: Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell ISBN: 0156421178 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: October, 1969 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
 |
Title: Heart of Spain : Robert Capa's Photographs of the Spanish Civil War by Robert Capa ISBN: 0893818313 Publisher: Aperture Pub. Date: 30 March, 1999 List Price(USD): $50.00 |
 |
Title: The Spanish Labyrinth : An Account of the Social and Political Background of the Spanish Civil War by Gerald Brenan ISBN: 0521398274 Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: 13 September, 1990 List Price(USD): $20.00 |
 |
Title: Spanish Republic and the Civil War, 1931-1939 by Gabriel Jackson ISBN: 0691007578 Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr Pub. Date: 01 July, 1987 List Price(USD): $42.50 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
