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Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} The Unlikely Warriors The British in the Spanish Civil War and the Struggle Against Fascism by Richa Read further. Baxell, Richard. Unlikely Warriors: The British in the Spanish Civil War and the Struggle Against Fascism . London: Aurum Press, 2012. Boyd Haycock, David. I am Spain: The Spanish Civil War and the Men and Women who went to Fight Fascism . Brecon: OLd Street Publishing, 2012. The following paperback book is based upon the IBMT's acclaimed travelling exhibition: Baxell, Richard, Jackson Angela & Jump, Jim. Antifascistas: British and Irish Volunteers in the Spanish Civil War . London: Lawrence & Wishart, 2010. Lastly, an academic study, comparing the experiences of British volunteers in the Greek War of Independence of 1821-23, the Spanish Civil War and the war in Finland in 1939: Roberts, Elizabeth. "Freedom, Faction, Fame and Blood". Eastbourne: Sussex Academic Press, 2010. Works specifically on the British Battalion. There are a number of books on the British Battalion. Three are works by members of the battalion, or its supporters: Alexander, Bill. British Volunteers for Liberty. London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1982. Ryan, Frank, ed. The Book of the XVth Brigade: Records of British, American, Canadian and Irish Volunteers in the XV International Brigade in Spain 1936-1938, Madrid: War Commissariat, 1938. reissued by Warren & Pell in 2003. Rust, William. Britons in Spain. London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1939, reissued by Warren & Pell in 2003. There are two academic studies. The first, a rather critical work, draws heavily on the material held in Moscow: Hopkins, James K. Into the Heart of the Fire: The British in the Spanish Civil War. California: Stanford, 1998. The second, also using the Moscow material, forms the basis of much of the information on this website: Baxell, Richard. British Volunteers in the Spanish Civil War: The British Battalion in the International Brigades, 1936-1939. London, Routledge/Cañada Blanch Studies on Contemporary Spain, 2004 and reissued by Warren & Pell in 2007. Lastly, the following is based mainly on the battle of Jarama in February 1937: Hughes, Ben. They Shall Not Pass! The British Battalion at Jarama. Oxford: Osprey, 2011. ISBN 13: 9781781312339. Unlikely Warriors: The Extraordinary Story Of The Britons Who Fought In The Spanish Civil War. Baxell, Richard. This specific ISBN edition is currently not available. On the 17th of July, 1936, a Nationalist military uprising was launched in Spain. In the face of the rebels' bloody march, the Spanish Republic turned to the leaders of Britain and France for assistance - but its pleas fell on deaf ears. Appalled at the prospect of another European democracy succumbing to fascism, volunteers from across the Continent - and beyond - flocked to Spain's aid, many to join the International Brigades. "synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title. Richard Baxell is a research associate at the London School of Economics and a trustee of the International Brigade Memorial Trust. He is the author of a number of books and articles on British volunteers for the International Brigades, during the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939.His previous works include the critically acclaimed British Volunteers in the Spanish Civil War: The British Battalion in the International Brigades, 1936-1939. With Jim Jump and Angela Jackson, he is a co-author of the IBMT's travelling exhibition, Antifascistas and the accompanying book. `Baxell's authoritative book draws on unpublished memoirs as well as personal interviews with a tiny band of survivors who lived their experience, in the poignant words of one volunteer, as "a time of hope, when a man with a rifle had some power to divert the tide of human affairs".' `Examines the motivation of these individuals and recounts their stories in an oral history of remarkable power.' `Most interesting, because previously least known, are Richard Baxell's detailed descriptions of the backgrounds of the individual volunteers, drawn from unpublished diaries and oral histories, and the reception they received on their return home.' 'Well researched and luminously written, Baxell's book shows us what these volunteers were like - their grand heroism and their petty hatreds, the miseries they endured, the awfulness of war.' `Baxell draws painstaking miniatures of the uncontroversial heroism of doomed men. It's beyond history; it's myth.' 'This is a brilliant new book with lots of new material that should appeal to the general reader as well as those who already have a fair knowledge of the subject. I have absolutely no hesitation in recommending it.' `Lively and accessible. Those of us privileged like the author to have met and known a number of the survivors know that Spain always remained in their hearts. The time they spent there was proudly remembered by many as the most important of their lives.' 'This is a colorful, heroic, tragic and deeply troubling tale. War is a horror that can serve a good cause. Baxell provides a full account of mostly working class people who voluntarily went to war for a good cause that they believed in. Based on an extraordinary range of material, it is a splendid thing to have this full and satisfying account.' `Richard Baxell is one of the world's greatest experts on the International Brigades. Unlikely Warriors is not only the definitive work on the British volunteers in terms of its research base and its awareness of the complex British, Spanish and international contexts. It is also a superbly written and deeply moving vision of the inspiring but doomed efforts of men and women to halt Europe's descent into war.' 'A story of astonishing principle and courage. Baxell presents the volunteers unromantically but sensitively: as ordinary people who made an extraordinary choice.' 'A marvellously accessible history of the British volunteers who joined the struggle against Franco in the Spanish Civil War. Richard Baxell sheds new light on the role and achievements of these idealistic men and women. Fascinating.' ' Unlikely Warriors is a well researched, largely balanced, highly readable and accessible narrative of what remains a compelling story. For this, Richard Baxell is to be congratulated.' 'The book is beautifully written and it's a totally absorbing read about incredible people whose like we will probably never see again.'ÿ 'Benefiting from an impressive range of research, this is an extraordinary story of heroism, tragedy and sacrifice.' ‘Richard Baxell is one of the world’s greatest experts on the International Brigades. Unlikely Warriors is not only the definitive work on the British volunteers in terms of its research base and its awareness of the complex British, Spanish and international contexts. It is also a superbly written and deeply moving vision of the inspiring but doomed efforts of men and women to halt Europe’s descent into war.’ ​ ‘Baxell draws painstaking miniatures of the uncontroversial heroism of doomed men. It’s beyond history; it’s myth.’ ​ ‘Examines the motivation of these individuals and recounts their stories in an oral history of remarkable power.’ CAROLINE ANGUS. New Zealand author and historian. Thomas Cromwell and Tudor expert. Spanish history, civil war, and historical memory writer. SPAIN BOOK REVIEW: ‘Unlikely Warriors’ by Richard Baxell. When a Nationalist military uprising was launched in Spain in July 1936, the Spanish Republic’s desperate pleas for assistance from the leaders of Britain and France fell on deaf ears. Appalled at the prospect of another European democracy succumbing to fascism, volunteers from across the Continent and beyond flocked to Spain’s aid, many to join the International Brigades. More than 2,500 of these men and women came from Britain, Ireland and the Commonwealth, and contrary to popular myth theirs was not an army of adventurers, poets and public school idealists. Overwhelmingly they hailed from modest working class backgrounds, leaving behind their livelihoods and their families to fight in a brutal civil war on foreign soil. Some 500 of them never returned home. In this inspiring and moving oral history, Richard Baxell weaves together a diverse array of testimony to tell the remarkable story of the Britons who took up arms against General Franco. Drawing on his own extensive interviews with survivors, research in archives across Britain, Spain and Russia, as well as first-hand accounts by writers both famous and unknown, Unlikely Warriors presents a startling new interpretation of the Spanish Civil War and follows a band of ordinary men and women who made an extraordinary choice. This book caught my eye while I waited in the entry queue at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid last year. Off to see the Dali exhibit, along with a trip to see Guernica and the civil war exhibition for a second time, I spotted this book in the gift shop as I shivered in the cold. Me – war book – sold. Talk about finding a gem. Unlikely Warriors is a remarkable accomplishment, with solid five-star reviews for excellent reason. Baxell has taken research to a new level, and used archives and interviews in the UK and the Abraham Lincoln files in New York, and material not yet published. Interviews from the Imperial War Museum in London have been accessed to give a rich account of those who went to Spain to fight the righteous fight. The International Brigades have been fleshed out like never before, along with those who went to fight for various other factions, including those who went to serve Franco’s side. The book starts off with the realities of life in the UK for those who heard the calling to Spain. While the stereotypes stated that volunteers were ‘radical romantics or middle-class Marxists’, the reality was far different. A large majority were working class, and no doubt imagined they understood the battle that Spaniards faced.

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