The Spanish Republic at War 1936-1939

Description

This is a new and comprehensive analysis of the forces of the Spanish left - interpreted broadly - during the civil war of 1936-9, and the first of its kind for more than thirty years. The book argues two crucial propositions. First, that the wartime responses (and limitations) of the Spanish left - republicans, socialists, communists and anarcho-syndicalists - can be understood only in relation to their pre-war experiences, world views, organisational structures and the wider Spanish context of acute uneven development which had moulded their organisations over previous decades. Second, that the overarching influence that shaped the evolution of the Republic between 1936 and 1939 was the war itself: the book explores the complex, cumulative effects of a civil war fought under the brutally destabilising conditions of an international arms embargo.

Dr Helen Graham is Reader in Spanish History, Royal Holloway, University of London. She has published widely in the Spanish Civil War, and co-produced (with Jo Labanyi) the first volume ever published dedicated to Spanish cultural studies in 1995. Her book Socialism and War: The Spanish Socialist Party in Power and Crisis, 1936-1939 was published by Cambridge University Press in 1991.

'... by some distance the best book I have read in any language on the Spanish Republic during the Civil War. The detailed - and thoroughly analytical - narrative of the politics of the Republic outshines anything that has been written before ... A very major work by a mature historian writing at the height of her powers.' Professor Paul Preston, London School of Economics and Political Science '... a highly detailed and densely argued contribution to the long-running historical debate about the nature of the wartime Spanish republic.' History 'Not the least of the merits of this massively impressive book is its setting of the Spanish Civil War, as seen from the standpoint of an observer of the politics and society of the Republican zone, in contexts that historiography tends to ignore ... Graham brilliantly illuminates the immaturity of Spanish political life ... This book is so rich that one can find nuggets of gold everywhere ...'. War in History '... this work is an absolute must for all who want to look beyond the simple events and varying accounts of the Spanish Civil War. ... Graham is the author of a brilliant analysis that is both highly interesting and highly readable. Even those who already know a great deal about the Spanish Civil War will be able to draw new knowledge from this work.' International Review of Social History 'Helen Graham's study constituted a comprehensive analysis and detailed description of Republican politics during the war period ... her book may well be considered as a kind of updated synthesis, which will be extremely useful for anyone interested in the Civil War.' Contemporary European History