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SPAIN IN OUR HEARTS AMERICANS IN THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR, 1936-1939 1ST EDITION PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Adam Hochschild | 9780547973180 | | | | | Spain in Our Hearts Americans in the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939 1st edition PDF Book The USSR was the Republic's most reliable supporter, and Stalinist commissars held key positions, enacting their own purges against Republican fighters deemed insufficiently loyal to the party line. Pages : Hochschild's book is not so much a history of the war although you will come away with a pretty good idea of its dimensions , but of the people mostly Americans, but some Canadians and Brits, too whose idealism led them take part. Texico comes off very badly for supplying Franco with tons of free oil. The Book Report Network. Spain in Our Hearts is a primer, a meditation, and a story of American adventure abroad. The fir Spain in Our Hearts by Adam Hochschild deals with much more than the Americans who volunteered to serve the Republican cause in the Spanish Civil war The title of the book is from a quote by Albert Camus: "Men of my generation have had Spain in our hearts. I found the stories of these starry-eyed volunteers most interesting. Merriman serves as the central figure and the book begins with his disappearance during battle in April We are introduced to a number of key members of the Lincoln Brigade, as well as the bad guys. The book's final chapter details Merriman's death, with quotes from his widow's letters, and ends with an American woman travelling in to an old battleground site to honor her uncle's death in It's a shame because it sounds amazing: "mansions confiscated from the wealthy had been converted into housing for the homeless; factor Less than a year of Spain "ruled" hehe by anarchists is inspiring enough to keep trudging through the descriptions of battles in this book. It made Ernest Hemmingway look even cooler than he was. Anyway, this book brings a torrent of tears and regret for what might have been; of how the rest of the century could have been better. Both sides routinely killed their prisoners. Matthews, who reported from the Republican zone, raged at the routine bombing of civilians in Madrid and elsewhere. I found this book fascinating. Hochschild's books have been translated into twelve languages. This is fairly common in Spain as not all the Jews were expelled in Although I know all about the sometimes despicable history of the Church, reading the details about behavior in the 20th Century makes it all the more difficult to be a Catholic. The book explains the involvement of foreign leaders including Adolf Hitler , Benito Mussolini and Joseph Stalin , and explains why the Republican faction ultimately lost. To ask other readers questions about Spain in Our Hearts , please sign up. Bob Drogin, a longtime and old-fashioned newspaperman, reviewed the book for the Los Angeles Times , and "few distant conflicts are so burned into our culture and consciousness," he notes. Another important journalist was Louis Fischer, married to a Russian woman, was in the Stalinist camp, even after witnessing the purges in the Soviet Union. While he traveled around Spain, he had his mail forwarded to the German Embassy. Spain in Our Hearts Americans in the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939 1st edition Writer November 19, At least, nothing other than the basic three. Briefly, he cared more about Republican Spain than himself. Journalists with ties to each side, Ernest Hemingway or William Carney , all with their own ambitions. So, while Franco got the latest technology that Hitler could try out before the great battles to come, the Republic got outdated, often useless materiel. The book's final chapter details Merriman's death, with quotes from his widow's letters, and ends with an American woman travelling in to an old battleground site to honor her uncle's death in Here is a passage from pages 99 to of the book: As Gurney's British battalion marched to the front, American volunteers were being rushed into training. While the Republicans received limited aid from Joseph Stalin 's Soviet Union , the arms embargo that the United States, United Kingdom and France had imposed on Spain meant that they could not buy the weapons needed to fight against the Nationalists, who were being armed by Hitler's Germany and Mussolini's Italy. Each story is a testament to the passion and desperation surrounding the war. Subscribe to our Morning Beacon Newsletter. Not to mention the infighting between the communists and anarchists over their conflicting ideals. Nationalists bad, Republicans good, of course. Remember America was still in the Great Depression. Good practice for the axis forces - ever so ready to take on the world a year or two later. Again, without Iran and Russia supporting Assad, that war would not be coming to an end in Assad's favor There were sons of privilege, like James Neugass, an ambulance driver from a wealthy New Orleans family whose grandfather had owned slaves. The interventions of Germany and Italy bad but typical of fascists, the interventions of the Soviet Union semi-bad but typical of communists, and failure of the United States government to intervene maybe worst of all, because it reveals the hypocrisy of American rhetoric about support for democracy. A vivid addition to twentieth-century European history collections. Like most works of history, I learned a lot from this book, the key lesson being how little I know about this period. These things make Spain of the s, a crucial battleground of its time, a resonant for ours as well. Returning to England to recuperate in , only seven months after he left, he wrote a book about the whole sad mess, published in as Homage to Catalonia. And the response, a pouring out of reviews, has been interesting to watch. That democracy, human rights, and rule of law must always be fought for is the lesson learned, and the book puts me in mind of a certain current president who has no regard for democracy and rule of law, and of the general lack of outrage his attitude has engendered. Franco never could have been victorious without the aid of Germany and Italy. We also meet some American fascists, in particular the head of Texaco, Torkield Rieber. Letters, diary entries and memoirs bring the volunteers to life. I didn't. It was a dangerous time for all in Spain. View all 19 comments. Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. At the same time, FDR ignoring Eleanor's pleas refuses to sell arms to the struggling Republic, leaving the Soviet Union as its only ally. Of course, many Americans fought on the side of the Democratically elected Republicans as well. The Guardian. Average rating 4. The Republic got the sweepings of international leftists, men with ideals but little training or discipline. Spain in Our Hearts Americans in the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939 1st edition Reviews Buy Paperback Now. Another important journalist was Louis Fischer, married to a Russian woman, was in the Stalinist camp, even after witnessing the purges in the Soviet Union. While I would always recommend Orwell's Homage to Catalonia, if nothing else as great literature and a passionate first-hand account, Spain in Our Hearts gives the broader picture. The western democracies more or less stayed out, the Fascists all got in on Franco's side So I decided to educate myself a bit and then I remembered that I had this audiobook just sitting in my old Audible library along with I can't tell you how many audiobooks I have yet to listen to so I listened! The Americans who chose to fight as volunteers in Spain were mostly young, left-leaning idealists, and they were mostly fighting on the side of the democratically elected government of the Spanish Republic. The Republicans, aided by Joseph Stalin with communist and anarchist intentions, killed religious figures and wealthy business owners, representations of people they felt had mistreated the Spanish population. Frank Alexander had grown up on a Nebraska Indian reservation speaking both English and Sioux; his father had been a Pony Express rider. The Republic got the sweepings of international leftists, men with ideals but little training or discipline. Email Address. Rieber donated oil to Franco's troops, openly supported his coup, and was a Nazi sympathizer. It was there that they learned. I particularly enjoyed reading about the Americans on the Franco side, both as volunteers and reporters and Texaco , but that was covered quite briefly compared to the International Brigades; I wish it had been more developed. Rating details. But there is more to this book than this. It was there that they learned That left the poor who ended up in the middle and we all know how that ended up. Lois Orr details the main account of revolutionary Barcelona in her diary. In the mids, he was one of the co-founders of Mother Jones. Another startling thing is the raging idealism the International Corps who fought against Franco exuded. Click here for reprint permission. Also available in:. View 1 comment. As Spain in Our Hearts notes, nearly 40, foreigners dodged the international non-intervention regulations and journeyed to Spain to fight on the Republican side. Other editions. As recently as twenty years ago—maybe even just fifteen—you had to know this stuff if you wanted to be a commentator on the American public square. The book's final chapter details Merriman's death, with quotes from his widow's letters, and ends with an American woman travelling in to an old battleground site to honor her uncle's death in Most of Hochschild's archival research on the subject was carried out at the Tamiment Library and Robert F.

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