Description
Book SynopsisThis book examines the experience of the British volunteers in the Spanish Civil War and places them in a broad intellectual, political, social, and cultural framework.
Trade Review"In this impressive book James K. Hopkins offers both an innovative new study of the Britishvolunteers in the Spanish Civil War and a penetrating analysis of British radical politics in the 1930s....As a study of the British volunteers, their motivations, and their values, it is unlikely to be bettered. It will be required reading for those who study British involvment in the Civil War and it will surely make a forceful contribution to the wider re-evaluation of the role of the Communist Party in the British left of the 1930s." --
Twentieth Century British History"Chapters of remarkable richness describe and analyse how going to Spain gave many working class autodidacts a sense of their own worth and, despite the defeat of the Spanish Republic, a belief that they were endowed with potential to change things." --
War and History"Hopkins has demonstrated a profound intimacy with his subject. This is an outstanding work, rich indepth and detail, and it deserves to be recognized as a major contribution to the field."
American Historical Review"Hopkins's triumph is successfully to document both [the idealism of the British volunteers and the Communist exploitation of it]...to tremendous effect. The idealism, the disillusion, the courage, the ruthlessness, the self-sacrifice, and the self-seeking are put into perspective....He is relentlessly honest. Without a doubt, he has written the best book on British participation in the International Brigades and it is difficult, at this point in time, to see how it will be surpassed." --
The Historical JournalTable of ContentsIntroduction: myths and memorials Part I. Middle Class Intellectuals in the Thirties: 1. The leaning tower 2. Making allies 3. Exploring the new country Part II. Proletarian Intellectuals in the Thirties: 4. Living and learning 5. Learning and living 6. Citizens of the world Part III. Spain: 7. Setting a course 8. When the world seems on fire 9. the battle of the Jarama 10. Barcelona and the battalion 11. We are not after all alone 12. Political unreliables 13. The true believer Part IV. Legacies 14. The musketry of thought 15. Ideas and politics Notes Bibliography Index.
