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Spain in Our Hearts: Americans in the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Best History & Biography (2016)From the acclaimed, best-selling author Adam Hochschild, a sweeping history of the Spanish Civil War, told through a dozen characters, including Ernest Hemingway and George Orwell: a tale of idealism, heartbreaking suffering, and a noble cause that failed
For three crucial years in the 1930s, the Spanish Civil War dominated headlines in America and around the world, as volunteers flooded to Spain to help its democratic government fight off a fascist uprising led by Francisco Franco and aided by Hitler and Mussolini. Today we're accustomed to remembering the war through Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls and Robert Capa’s photographs. But Adam Hochschild has discovered some less familiar yet far more compelling characters who reveal the full tragedy and importance of the war: a fiery nineteen-year-old Kentucky woman who went to wartime Spain on her honeymoon, a Swarthmore College senior who was the first American casualty in the battle for Madrid, a pair of fiercely partisan, rivalrous New York Times reporters who covered the war from opposites sides, and a swashbuckling Texas oilman with Nazi sympathies who sold Franco almost all his oil — at reduced prices, and on credit. It was in many ways the opening battle of World War II, and we still have much to learn from it. Spain in Our Hearts is Adam Hochschild at his very best.
For three crucial years in the 1930s, the Spanish Civil War dominated headlines in America and around the world, as volunteers flooded to Spain to help its democratic government fight off a fascist uprising led by Francisco Franco and aided by Hitler and Mussolini. Today we're accustomed to remembering the war through Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls and Robert Capa’s photographs. But Adam Hochschild has discovered some less familiar yet far more compelling characters who reveal the full tragedy and importance of the war: a fiery nineteen-year-old Kentucky woman who went to wartime Spain on her honeymoon, a Swarthmore College senior who was the first American casualty in the battle for Madrid, a pair of fiercely partisan, rivalrous New York Times reporters who covered the war from opposites sides, and a swashbuckling Texas oilman with Nazi sympathies who sold Franco almost all his oil — at reduced prices, and on credit. It was in many ways the opening battle of World War II, and we still have much to learn from it. Spain in Our Hearts is Adam Hochschild at his very best.
485 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 29, 2016
About the author
Adam Hochschild
30 books1,050 followersHochschild was born in New York City. As a college student, he spent a summer working on an anti-government newspaper in South Africa and subsequently worked briefly as a civil rights worker in Mississippi in 1964. Both were politically pivotal experiences about which he would later write in his book Finding the Trapdoor. He later was part of the movement against the Vietnam War, and, after several years as a daily newspaper reporter, worked as a writer and editor for the leftwing Ramparts magazine. In the mid-1970s, he was one of the co-founders of Mother Jones.
Hochschild's first book was a memoir, Half the Way Home: a Memoir of Father and Son (1986), in which he described the difficult relationship he had with his father. His later books include The Mirror at Midnight: a South African Journey (1990; new edition, 2007), The Unquiet Ghost: Russians Remember Stalin (1994; new edition, 2003), Finding the Trapdoor: Essays, Portraits, Travels (1997), which collects his personal essays and reportage, and King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa (1998; new edition, 2006), a history of the conquest and colonization of the Congo by Belgium's King Léopold II. His Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire's Slaves, published in 2005, is about the antislavery movement in the British Empire.
Hochschild has also written for The New Yorker, Harper's Magazine, The New York Review of Books, The New York Times Magazine, and The Nation. He was also a commentator on National Public Radio's All Things Considered. Hochschild's books have been translated into twelve languages.
A frequent lecturer at Harvard's annual Nieman Narrative Journalism Conference and similar venues, Hochschild lives in San Francisco and teaches writing at the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley. He is married to sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild.
Taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Hoc...
Hochschild's first book was a memoir, Half the Way Home: a Memoir of Father and Son (1986), in which he described the difficult relationship he had with his father. His later books include The Mirror at Midnight: a South African Journey (1990; new edition, 2007), The Unquiet Ghost: Russians Remember Stalin (1994; new edition, 2003), Finding the Trapdoor: Essays, Portraits, Travels (1997), which collects his personal essays and reportage, and King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa (1998; new edition, 2006), a history of the conquest and colonization of the Congo by Belgium's King Léopold II. His Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire's Slaves, published in 2005, is about the antislavery movement in the British Empire.
Hochschild has also written for The New Yorker, Harper's Magazine, The New York Review of Books, The New York Times Magazine, and The Nation. He was also a commentator on National Public Radio's All Things Considered. Hochschild's books have been translated into twelve languages.
A frequent lecturer at Harvard's annual Nieman Narrative Journalism Conference and similar venues, Hochschild lives in San Francisco and teaches writing at the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley. He is married to sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild.
Taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Hoc...
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July 5, 2021
Hochschild follows the experiences of Americans drawn to the Spanish Civil War 1936-39. In a world still in throws of deep depression, extreme income inequality and rising fascism, Spain was a place where liberal idealists could make a stand. Many felt capitalism had completely failed and were enamored with the Soviet Union not seeing its underlying brutal reality. In Spain it was class warfare. Winning a national election, peasants and workers living in extreme poverty organized a new Republic and took over land and factories from the wealthy. Responding, General Franco took control of Spain’s military with the support of the Catholic hierarchy formed the fascist Nationalist front and went on the attack with heavy support from Hitler and Mussolini. The Republic was backed less effectively by Stalin. The fighting was fierce. Mass executions were common on both sides. The fascist side was especially cruel with widespread use of rape and torture. Volunteers from all over Europe and North America flocked to Spain to form the International Brigades to fight the fascists. Reporters also came in this first war where wire photography allowed images to be sent immediately from the front around the world. Hochschild points out that during the war years the NY Times ran over a thousand page one headlines about the war, more than those about FDR, Hitler, the depression or any other topic.
Franco’s army relied on Spanish Foreign Legionnaires and Moors recruited from the Spanish enclave in Morocco. They were supplemented by tens of thousands of Italian troops along with tanks and guns supplied by Mussolini. The Italian Navy controlled the nearby Mediterranean waters. Hitler supplied the latest aircraft flown by German pilots who controlled the skies. Facing the fascists were peasants and workers recruited into armies loyal to the factions supporting the Republic, the anarchists and the socialists. The Republic became heavily reliant on the Soviet Union, the only country that would sell it weapons. The Soviets also supplied trainers and advisors and formed international brigades in Spain recruiting Party members and labor unionists from America and Europe to fill their ranks. Like their Spanish counterparts these idealists and working men were unprepared for battle, their weapons were old and unreliable, their commanders had no experience, and the Spanish put them right up front. Hochschild describes the American Lincoln brigade and British brigade in their first battle helping to defend Madrid at Jarama. Both brigades were decimated losing many hundreds of men. Medical resources were rudimentary and many wounded were left on the field to die.
Hochschild presents the war through the eyes of the Americans and Brits there. He relates their personal experiences and frequently quotes them. Some came to fight like American doctoral student Robert (Bob) Merriman, who was given command of the Lincoln brigade because he had ROTC training at school. Others came as writers such as Ernest Hemingway who held court in Madrid at the Hotel Florida with other journalists including his glamorous girlfriend and eventual third wife Martha Gellhorn. A few came to do both such as George Orwell, then better known as Eric Blair. Orwell among others accurately saw the Spanish Civil War as a prelude to a European wide war against fascism. Many Jews joined the international brigades to fight Hitler. Hochschild profiles many individuals including woman who joined their husbands such as Marion Merriman and Lois Orr who with her husband Charles supported the Workers Party (POUM) in Barcelona which the Soviet’s attacked as Trotskyist. Better to be a heathen than a heretic. Orwell was joined by his wife Eileen who became Charles Orr’s secretary. Orwell initially fought in POUM brigades and the Soviet suppression of POUM informed his anti-Soviet writing. When the Soviets cracked down on POUM Orwell was fortunate to escape with Eileen to France. The Soviets put Charles and Lois Orr and other Orwell friends in prison.
Some women came to Spain alone such as journalist and author Virginia Cowles, a headstrong American from a prominent Boston family. She frequented Hemingway’s court amid the constant shelling in Madrid. Young and attractive, she would navigate the rubble strewn streets in her high heels and jewelry. She uniquely would leave the Republican front and use her prominent social connections back home to get admitted as a reporter from the Nationalist front. Her dispatches were tightly controlled by Franco’s men. Only after leaving Spain was she able to write what she really saw including the truth about Guernica which she visited interviewing survivors. Guernica was obliterated by massive German bombardment which the Nationalists denied and many of their supporters believed. Disinformation is nothing new. The New York Times had one reporter for the Nationalist side which tightly controlled what was written and another for the Republican side. Reporters in Republican controlled territory were much freer to write what they saw. The Times would receive conflicting reports from its two reporters and had its own internal war about what to publish. The Catholic pro-Franco editors often cut out stories about Nationalist atrocities.
The year after he left Spain Orwell wrote his book Homage to Catalonia describing his experiencthates there. He was seriously wounded. The book discusses Soviet repression of those that did not follow the Party line, which made Orwell deeply anti-Soviet, but he was still at this time an idealist who believed in the promise of the workers revolution. The book published in the UK in 1938 only sold 683 copies. It was published in the US in 1952 and gained recognition in the 1950s amidst the rise of cold war tensions and anti-communism. Hemingway said “Homage to Catalonia is a first rate book.” Orwell likewise highly regarded For Whom the Bell Tolls. Hemingway derived the For Whom the Bell Tolls plot from his research in the war. He got himself inserted into a guerilla mission by the Republicans to blow up a bridge and train supplying Franco’s troops. The mission was successful, but it was very dangerous. When the mission leader, Antoni Chrost, told Hemingway he was Polish, Hemingway replied, “But in my book you’ll be an American.” The book’s protagonist, Robert Jordan, strongly resembles Robert Merriman who commanded the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. Both were tall and fair-haired men from the American West. Both had been university instructors. Both died fighting for their beliefs in Spain. Hemingway proclaimed the book “the best goddamn book I have ever written.” Of the three Hemingway’s I have read, this is my favorite. Now I have to read it again.
Hemingway also produced and narrated a movie with his girlfriend Martha Gellhorn, The Spanish Earth. It wasn’t lost on Hemingway’s second wife, Pauline, that Martha and he were making more than a movie. Gellhorn was friends with Elenore Roosevelt who was sympathetic to the Republicans. Gellhorn believed deeply in the Republican cause and they were able to show it to FDR and Elenore at the White House. The film was not as well done as it could have been. Hemingway insisted on narrating, casting aside first choice Orson Welles. Still FDR paid deference, offering advice to make it better. However, he did not change U.S. policy which was strictly neutral with an arms and supply embargo to both sides. The Republic was shunned by all the democratic countries and had to rely solely on the Soviets. Yet despite the U. S. embargo, the U.S. oil company Texaco was not only supplying oil to Franco on credit, it was delivering the oil in its own tankers free of charge. FDR invited Texaco chairman Torkid Reiber to the White House to ask him to stop, but nothing changed and FDR did not follow up. Reiber also used his international network to help the Nationalists identify ships bound for the Republic so the Italians cold sink or capture them. The Norwegian born Reiber, a Hitler aficionado and fascist sympathizer continued to trade oil to Germany even after WWII started and was forced to resign from Texaco after this became public.
In April 1938, Franco’s forces divided Spain in half separating Barcelona from Madrid. The Republic’s days were numbered. Hitler’s aircraft and pilots were everywhere in the skies. Mussolini’s troops were fighting alongside Franco’s. Texaco supplied Franco’s oil at no charge. Many powerful men in Britain supported Franco and Britain was anxious to appease Hitler. The Vatican and American Catholic Bishops went all out in their support for Franco and FDR didn’t want to take on the Catholic Church. France was concerned by a fascist takeover of Spain but was afraid to be the only democracy to support The Republic and afraid to alienate Britain. The Soviet’s had no way to get their supplies through. In May 1938 Hitler made his triumphant visit to Rome. Hitler had annexed Austria in February and in September at Munich Chamberlain gave him Czechoslovakia. Hitler decided it was time to finish the Spanish war so he could get on with his next war and began sending in even more massive amounts of supplies and armaments. In return Franco gave Hitler generous concessions to Spain’s many important mines. Stalin now was sure the West would never help The Republic and it would soon be finished. He realized he would have to make his own deal with Hitler. In November Hitler alerted the world to what it could expect with Kristallnacht torching Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues and sending thirty thousand Jews to Dachau and Buchenwald. Hochschild does a great job of showing how the Spanish Civil War emboldened Hitler and Mussolini and served as a stepping stone to WWII.
In October 1938 the remaining 2500 troops of the International Brigades marched through Barcelona to the cheers of hundreds of thousands on their way home. The Spanish Prime Minister praised their efforts. But thousands more never left, their bodies to lie forever in Spain. Never had so many come as individuals on their own volition from so many different places to fight for a foreign country for an idea, for the poor and downtrodden and against their exploiters. Prime Minister Negrin’s final impassioned plea was to the League of Nations in Geneva to ask that Italian and German forces leave his country now that foreigners would no longer be fighting for The Republic. In January 1939 Barcelona fell. In March the war ended. In Madrid German and Italian units marched alongside Franco’s troops in a victory parade. The fascist takeover of Spain was completed as the Nazi’s entered Prague completing their annexation of Czechoslovakia. In August Stalin made his pact with Hitler dividing Poland between them. A month later WWII was underway. Franco opened his ports to fuel and supply German submarines that hunted allied ships. He supplied the Nazis with tungsten and other metals from Spanish mines. He authorized 45,000 Spanish volunteers to go to fight alongside Nazi forces in Russia. Franco did not join the Axis since Hitler wouldn’t accede to his demands for territory in Southern France and North Africa.
When Spain fell to Franco, a half million refugees fled to the French border. Franco declared all who had supported The Republic were guilty of military rebellion. Over 20,000 were executed in retribution including family members. Torture was routinely used to force confessions. Over 270,000 were put in prison including many women where they were raped and their babies taken away. Another 100,000 were jailed awaiting trial. Another 90,000 were put into penal colonies to perform forced labor. Franco made speaking Catalan or Basque in public a crime. Orwell’s take was that Franco’s rule was “an attempt not so much to impose Fascism as to restore feudalism.” The Catholic Church was very powerful. Woman were made their husbands’ dependents. They could not own property, take a job or travel from home without his permission. Torture and executions by garrote continued until 1974, a year before Franco died.
German Chancellor (1969-74) Willy Brandt, who was a journalist in Spain during the Civil War, thought a Republican victory “…maybe prevented World War II.” Hochschild thinks otherwise, but it would have saved the Spanish from 36 years of ruthless dictatorship. It would have denied Hitler Spanish naval bases, important metals and 45,000 soldiers. It might have shortened the amount of training and arms testing Germany was able to conduct. Over 27 different German aircraft were deployed to Spain. This is where the Stuka dive bomber was first used and new models developed, its tactics refined, and its crews trained. Spanish towns with no military or industrial presence were bombed by the Germans so they could see how well their equipment and tactics worked. Goring noted at Nuremburg that he used the Spanish war “to test my young Luftwaffe…. In order that the personnel too, might gather a certain amount of experience, I saw to it that...new people were constantly being sent and others recalled.” The Germans learned about managing military supply lines, the need for fighter escorts for bombers and that their tanks had to be improved. In January 1939 FDR acknowledged in a cabinet meeting that the U.S. arms embargo on The Republic had been “a grave mistake”.
Franco’s army relied on Spanish Foreign Legionnaires and Moors recruited from the Spanish enclave in Morocco. They were supplemented by tens of thousands of Italian troops along with tanks and guns supplied by Mussolini. The Italian Navy controlled the nearby Mediterranean waters. Hitler supplied the latest aircraft flown by German pilots who controlled the skies. Facing the fascists were peasants and workers recruited into armies loyal to the factions supporting the Republic, the anarchists and the socialists. The Republic became heavily reliant on the Soviet Union, the only country that would sell it weapons. The Soviets also supplied trainers and advisors and formed international brigades in Spain recruiting Party members and labor unionists from America and Europe to fill their ranks. Like their Spanish counterparts these idealists and working men were unprepared for battle, their weapons were old and unreliable, their commanders had no experience, and the Spanish put them right up front. Hochschild describes the American Lincoln brigade and British brigade in their first battle helping to defend Madrid at Jarama. Both brigades were decimated losing many hundreds of men. Medical resources were rudimentary and many wounded were left on the field to die.
Hochschild presents the war through the eyes of the Americans and Brits there. He relates their personal experiences and frequently quotes them. Some came to fight like American doctoral student Robert (Bob) Merriman, who was given command of the Lincoln brigade because he had ROTC training at school. Others came as writers such as Ernest Hemingway who held court in Madrid at the Hotel Florida with other journalists including his glamorous girlfriend and eventual third wife Martha Gellhorn. A few came to do both such as George Orwell, then better known as Eric Blair. Orwell among others accurately saw the Spanish Civil War as a prelude to a European wide war against fascism. Many Jews joined the international brigades to fight Hitler. Hochschild profiles many individuals including woman who joined their husbands such as Marion Merriman and Lois Orr who with her husband Charles supported the Workers Party (POUM) in Barcelona which the Soviet’s attacked as Trotskyist. Better to be a heathen than a heretic. Orwell was joined by his wife Eileen who became Charles Orr’s secretary. Orwell initially fought in POUM brigades and the Soviet suppression of POUM informed his anti-Soviet writing. When the Soviets cracked down on POUM Orwell was fortunate to escape with Eileen to France. The Soviets put Charles and Lois Orr and other Orwell friends in prison.
Some women came to Spain alone such as journalist and author Virginia Cowles, a headstrong American from a prominent Boston family. She frequented Hemingway’s court amid the constant shelling in Madrid. Young and attractive, she would navigate the rubble strewn streets in her high heels and jewelry. She uniquely would leave the Republican front and use her prominent social connections back home to get admitted as a reporter from the Nationalist front. Her dispatches were tightly controlled by Franco’s men. Only after leaving Spain was she able to write what she really saw including the truth about Guernica which she visited interviewing survivors. Guernica was obliterated by massive German bombardment which the Nationalists denied and many of their supporters believed. Disinformation is nothing new. The New York Times had one reporter for the Nationalist side which tightly controlled what was written and another for the Republican side. Reporters in Republican controlled territory were much freer to write what they saw. The Times would receive conflicting reports from its two reporters and had its own internal war about what to publish. The Catholic pro-Franco editors often cut out stories about Nationalist atrocities.
The year after he left Spain Orwell wrote his book Homage to Catalonia describing his experiencthates there. He was seriously wounded. The book discusses Soviet repression of those that did not follow the Party line, which made Orwell deeply anti-Soviet, but he was still at this time an idealist who believed in the promise of the workers revolution. The book published in the UK in 1938 only sold 683 copies. It was published in the US in 1952 and gained recognition in the 1950s amidst the rise of cold war tensions and anti-communism. Hemingway said “Homage to Catalonia is a first rate book.” Orwell likewise highly regarded For Whom the Bell Tolls. Hemingway derived the For Whom the Bell Tolls plot from his research in the war. He got himself inserted into a guerilla mission by the Republicans to blow up a bridge and train supplying Franco’s troops. The mission was successful, but it was very dangerous. When the mission leader, Antoni Chrost, told Hemingway he was Polish, Hemingway replied, “But in my book you’ll be an American.” The book’s protagonist, Robert Jordan, strongly resembles Robert Merriman who commanded the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. Both were tall and fair-haired men from the American West. Both had been university instructors. Both died fighting for their beliefs in Spain. Hemingway proclaimed the book “the best goddamn book I have ever written.” Of the three Hemingway’s I have read, this is my favorite. Now I have to read it again.
Hemingway also produced and narrated a movie with his girlfriend Martha Gellhorn, The Spanish Earth. It wasn’t lost on Hemingway’s second wife, Pauline, that Martha and he were making more than a movie. Gellhorn was friends with Elenore Roosevelt who was sympathetic to the Republicans. Gellhorn believed deeply in the Republican cause and they were able to show it to FDR and Elenore at the White House. The film was not as well done as it could have been. Hemingway insisted on narrating, casting aside first choice Orson Welles. Still FDR paid deference, offering advice to make it better. However, he did not change U.S. policy which was strictly neutral with an arms and supply embargo to both sides. The Republic was shunned by all the democratic countries and had to rely solely on the Soviets. Yet despite the U. S. embargo, the U.S. oil company Texaco was not only supplying oil to Franco on credit, it was delivering the oil in its own tankers free of charge. FDR invited Texaco chairman Torkid Reiber to the White House to ask him to stop, but nothing changed and FDR did not follow up. Reiber also used his international network to help the Nationalists identify ships bound for the Republic so the Italians cold sink or capture them. The Norwegian born Reiber, a Hitler aficionado and fascist sympathizer continued to trade oil to Germany even after WWII started and was forced to resign from Texaco after this became public.
In April 1938, Franco’s forces divided Spain in half separating Barcelona from Madrid. The Republic’s days were numbered. Hitler’s aircraft and pilots were everywhere in the skies. Mussolini’s troops were fighting alongside Franco’s. Texaco supplied Franco’s oil at no charge. Many powerful men in Britain supported Franco and Britain was anxious to appease Hitler. The Vatican and American Catholic Bishops went all out in their support for Franco and FDR didn’t want to take on the Catholic Church. France was concerned by a fascist takeover of Spain but was afraid to be the only democracy to support The Republic and afraid to alienate Britain. The Soviet’s had no way to get their supplies through. In May 1938 Hitler made his triumphant visit to Rome. Hitler had annexed Austria in February and in September at Munich Chamberlain gave him Czechoslovakia. Hitler decided it was time to finish the Spanish war so he could get on with his next war and began sending in even more massive amounts of supplies and armaments. In return Franco gave Hitler generous concessions to Spain’s many important mines. Stalin now was sure the West would never help The Republic and it would soon be finished. He realized he would have to make his own deal with Hitler. In November Hitler alerted the world to what it could expect with Kristallnacht torching Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues and sending thirty thousand Jews to Dachau and Buchenwald. Hochschild does a great job of showing how the Spanish Civil War emboldened Hitler and Mussolini and served as a stepping stone to WWII.
In October 1938 the remaining 2500 troops of the International Brigades marched through Barcelona to the cheers of hundreds of thousands on their way home. The Spanish Prime Minister praised their efforts. But thousands more never left, their bodies to lie forever in Spain. Never had so many come as individuals on their own volition from so many different places to fight for a foreign country for an idea, for the poor and downtrodden and against their exploiters. Prime Minister Negrin’s final impassioned plea was to the League of Nations in Geneva to ask that Italian and German forces leave his country now that foreigners would no longer be fighting for The Republic. In January 1939 Barcelona fell. In March the war ended. In Madrid German and Italian units marched alongside Franco’s troops in a victory parade. The fascist takeover of Spain was completed as the Nazi’s entered Prague completing their annexation of Czechoslovakia. In August Stalin made his pact with Hitler dividing Poland between them. A month later WWII was underway. Franco opened his ports to fuel and supply German submarines that hunted allied ships. He supplied the Nazis with tungsten and other metals from Spanish mines. He authorized 45,000 Spanish volunteers to go to fight alongside Nazi forces in Russia. Franco did not join the Axis since Hitler wouldn’t accede to his demands for territory in Southern France and North Africa.
When Spain fell to Franco, a half million refugees fled to the French border. Franco declared all who had supported The Republic were guilty of military rebellion. Over 20,000 were executed in retribution including family members. Torture was routinely used to force confessions. Over 270,000 were put in prison including many women where they were raped and their babies taken away. Another 100,000 were jailed awaiting trial. Another 90,000 were put into penal colonies to perform forced labor. Franco made speaking Catalan or Basque in public a crime. Orwell’s take was that Franco’s rule was “an attempt not so much to impose Fascism as to restore feudalism.” The Catholic Church was very powerful. Woman were made their husbands’ dependents. They could not own property, take a job or travel from home without his permission. Torture and executions by garrote continued until 1974, a year before Franco died.
German Chancellor (1969-74) Willy Brandt, who was a journalist in Spain during the Civil War, thought a Republican victory “…maybe prevented World War II.” Hochschild thinks otherwise, but it would have saved the Spanish from 36 years of ruthless dictatorship. It would have denied Hitler Spanish naval bases, important metals and 45,000 soldiers. It might have shortened the amount of training and arms testing Germany was able to conduct. Over 27 different German aircraft were deployed to Spain. This is where the Stuka dive bomber was first used and new models developed, its tactics refined, and its crews trained. Spanish towns with no military or industrial presence were bombed by the Germans so they could see how well their equipment and tactics worked. Goring noted at Nuremburg that he used the Spanish war “to test my young Luftwaffe…. In order that the personnel too, might gather a certain amount of experience, I saw to it that...new people were constantly being sent and others recalled.” The Germans learned about managing military supply lines, the need for fighter escorts for bombers and that their tanks had to be improved. In January 1939 FDR acknowledged in a cabinet meeting that the U.S. arms embargo on The Republic had been “a grave mistake”.
April 19, 2016
Years ago I saw the film, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie about a teacher in a Scottish girl’s school who strayed from the school curriculum by praising Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini while romanticizing the Spanish Civil War. The arguments she used in her classroom reappear in Adam Hochschild’s new book SPAIN IN OUR HEARTS: AMERICANS IN THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR, 1936-1939 as the author presents the positions of multiple sides engaged in the fight for Republican Spain. The title leads one to believe that the books main focus is on the American experience, but in reality Hochschild paints a much wider canvas that includes Spaniards, French, Italian, German, Russian, in addition to American actors. Hochschild is a prolific author whose work includes KING LEOPOLD’S GHOST, BURY THE CHAINS, and the award winning TO END ALL WARS. He begins his latest effort in striking style as two naked American volunteers fighting for the Spanish Republic against the fascists emerge from the Ebro River as they flee Francisco Franco’s forces. Fortunately for them, they run into Herbert Matthews, a New York Times reporter and Ernest Hemingway, who at the time is a free-lance writer for a newspaper syndicate covering the civil war. The reader is immediately hooked as Hochschild begins to narrate a conflict that many historians describe as the precursor of World War II as Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy allied with Franco’s forces as a testing ground for new weapons and allowing their soldiers to gain significant combat experience. It became very difficult for the Republican government to gain support outside of Spain. England and France were in the midst of appeasement after allowing Hitler’s troops to seize the Rhineland. In the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt facing reelection refused to provide aid as not to anger isolationist forces who preached neutrality. This left only Stalin’s Soviet Union as a source of weapons and soldiers which for the Republican government became a “devil’s bargain” with the Russian dictator.
Hochschild does a superb job describing all the major aspects of the war. He details the ideological conflicts that exited in Republican ranks; those who supported the Comintern, better described as the Communist Party of the Soviet Union; anarchists who were to the left of the communists; and the Partido Obrero de Unificacion Marxista, or Spanish communists. The conflicts between these groups greatly hindered creating a united front against Franco’s forces. Aside from the ideological battle on the left, another existed among the journalists who covered the war. Among New York Times reporters was William P. Carney who admired Franco and his reports from the front mirrored fascist propaganda. Herbert Matthews a Times colleague sparred with Carney repeatedly as he refused to give up on the Republican cause. 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. Literary figures abound in the narrative as we encounter George Orwell, who would be wounded fighting for the British Battalion, in addition to Virginia Cowles, Ernest Hemingway and others. The actual fighting is covered in detail as Hochschild describes the enormity of the conflict. The amount of aid and troops poured in by Hitler and Mussolini is staggering and as a portent for the future the author describes the new weaponry that is tested that will be staples for the Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy during World War II. Franco never could have been victorious without the aid of Germany and Italy.
The title of the book intimates the role of Americans in the war and here Hochschild does not disappoint. We meet a number of Americans, married couples and single individuals who played a prominent role in the war and provided new sources of material for the author. The story that Hochschild narrates from the battle front and operations in the rear and the efforts to end American neutrality come from Charles and Lois Orr, economics instructors in California who as socialists believed that democracy could be attained peacefully, not like in the Soviet Union. They will arrive in Barcelona in September, 1939 and help describe the disaster that will eventually evolve in that Catalonian city. Bob and Marion Merriman, had lived in the Soviet Union, and witnessed the disaster of collectivization and would have a major impact on the International Brigade, particularly the Lincoln-Washington Brigade of American soldiers. The intensity of the fighting is often told through the eyes of Bob Merriman who became one of the commanders of the International Brigade. One of the most important documents that turned up at least fifty years after the fighting was a diary kept by James Neugass, an American ambulance driver for Dr. Edward Barsky, an American surgeon who seemed to operate twenty-four hours a day. Neugass’ diary depicts the paucity of medical supplies and physicians that attended to American volunteers. The diary also describes the International Brigades’ retreat as Franco’s forces split the Republicans in two as they reached the Mediterranean Sea. Another important aspect of the war that Hochschild presents his description of the fighting in and around Madrid that will end up as a siege of the Spanish capitol. Hochschild places the reader inside the city and is witness to the horrors that ensued.
Perhaps the most disturbing part of the book aside from the horrors of war was the role played by Texaco and the blinders that the Roosevelt administration employed in order to not make political waves that could endanger elections. Texaco was headed by the Norwegian born Torkid Rieber who rose from very little to become the top executive of the oil company. Rieber was an admirer of Hitler and early on in the fighting switched supplying oil from the Republican government to Franco’s armies. Further, Rieber allowed Franco to purchase the oil on credit. This violated American law and if Roosevelt had wanted to he could have almost stopped the fighting by enforcing US statutes. Roosevelt, fearing a catholic backlash in the 1936 election refused to do so. Not only did Texaco supply the oil for Franco’s victory, they also supplied over 12,000 trucks and Firestone tires that were extremely scarce as well as providing important shipping intelligence to Franco pertaining to oil deliveries to Republican forces. All told Texaco provided over $200 million worth of oil in over 300 deliveries. (343) the role of the papacy in the war gains Hochschild’s attention as Spanish priests with the approval of the Pope supported Franco’s war to the hilt. Many Spanish priests supported the execution of their brethren who did not support Franco in addition to the execution of Republican soldiers. Further, they were apoplectic when the Republican government implemented land reform and church properties were given to peasants, a major reason for their support of the Spanish dictator.
The civil war itself exhibited the Spanish class struggle and Hochschild delves into the economic and moral implications of Spanish land policies. One of the most important points the author puts forth is that “while much [the civil war] of that feels distant now, other aspects of the 1930s Spain still seem all too similar to many countries today; the great gap between rich and poor, and the struggle between an authoritarian dictatorship and millions of powerless people long denied their fair share of land, education, and so much more. These things make Spain of the 1930s, a crucial battleground of its time, a resonant for ours as well.” (xix-xx) Hochschild has written an important book that revisits the Spanish Civil War integrating a number of new sources that previous authors had not uncovered. For those interested in the topic, you will not find a better read.
Hochschild does a superb job describing all the major aspects of the war. He details the ideological conflicts that exited in Republican ranks; those who supported the Comintern, better described as the Communist Party of the Soviet Union; anarchists who were to the left of the communists; and the Partido Obrero de Unificacion Marxista, or Spanish communists. The conflicts between these groups greatly hindered creating a united front against Franco’s forces. Aside from the ideological battle on the left, another existed among the journalists who covered the war. Among New York Times reporters was William P. Carney who admired Franco and his reports from the front mirrored fascist propaganda. Herbert Matthews a Times colleague sparred with Carney repeatedly as he refused to give up on the Republican cause. 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. Literary figures abound in the narrative as we encounter George Orwell, who would be wounded fighting for the British Battalion, in addition to Virginia Cowles, Ernest Hemingway and others. The actual fighting is covered in detail as Hochschild describes the enormity of the conflict. The amount of aid and troops poured in by Hitler and Mussolini is staggering and as a portent for the future the author describes the new weaponry that is tested that will be staples for the Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy during World War II. Franco never could have been victorious without the aid of Germany and Italy.
The title of the book intimates the role of Americans in the war and here Hochschild does not disappoint. We meet a number of Americans, married couples and single individuals who played a prominent role in the war and provided new sources of material for the author. The story that Hochschild narrates from the battle front and operations in the rear and the efforts to end American neutrality come from Charles and Lois Orr, economics instructors in California who as socialists believed that democracy could be attained peacefully, not like in the Soviet Union. They will arrive in Barcelona in September, 1939 and help describe the disaster that will eventually evolve in that Catalonian city. Bob and Marion Merriman, had lived in the Soviet Union, and witnessed the disaster of collectivization and would have a major impact on the International Brigade, particularly the Lincoln-Washington Brigade of American soldiers. The intensity of the fighting is often told through the eyes of Bob Merriman who became one of the commanders of the International Brigade. One of the most important documents that turned up at least fifty years after the fighting was a diary kept by James Neugass, an American ambulance driver for Dr. Edward Barsky, an American surgeon who seemed to operate twenty-four hours a day. Neugass’ diary depicts the paucity of medical supplies and physicians that attended to American volunteers. The diary also describes the International Brigades’ retreat as Franco’s forces split the Republicans in two as they reached the Mediterranean Sea. Another important aspect of the war that Hochschild presents his description of the fighting in and around Madrid that will end up as a siege of the Spanish capitol. Hochschild places the reader inside the city and is witness to the horrors that ensued.
Perhaps the most disturbing part of the book aside from the horrors of war was the role played by Texaco and the blinders that the Roosevelt administration employed in order to not make political waves that could endanger elections. Texaco was headed by the Norwegian born Torkid Rieber who rose from very little to become the top executive of the oil company. Rieber was an admirer of Hitler and early on in the fighting switched supplying oil from the Republican government to Franco’s armies. Further, Rieber allowed Franco to purchase the oil on credit. This violated American law and if Roosevelt had wanted to he could have almost stopped the fighting by enforcing US statutes. Roosevelt, fearing a catholic backlash in the 1936 election refused to do so. Not only did Texaco supply the oil for Franco’s victory, they also supplied over 12,000 trucks and Firestone tires that were extremely scarce as well as providing important shipping intelligence to Franco pertaining to oil deliveries to Republican forces. All told Texaco provided over $200 million worth of oil in over 300 deliveries. (343) the role of the papacy in the war gains Hochschild’s attention as Spanish priests with the approval of the Pope supported Franco’s war to the hilt. Many Spanish priests supported the execution of their brethren who did not support Franco in addition to the execution of Republican soldiers. Further, they were apoplectic when the Republican government implemented land reform and church properties were given to peasants, a major reason for their support of the Spanish dictator.
The civil war itself exhibited the Spanish class struggle and Hochschild delves into the economic and moral implications of Spanish land policies. One of the most important points the author puts forth is that “while much [the civil war] of that feels distant now, other aspects of the 1930s Spain still seem all too similar to many countries today; the great gap between rich and poor, and the struggle between an authoritarian dictatorship and millions of powerless people long denied their fair share of land, education, and so much more. These things make Spain of the 1930s, a crucial battleground of its time, a resonant for ours as well.” (xix-xx) Hochschild has written an important book that revisits the Spanish Civil War integrating a number of new sources that previous authors had not uncovered. For those interested in the topic, you will not find a better read.
April 15, 2016
This was provocative......
....in that I was angered or annoyed at:
--- Texaco, which gave Franco all the oil he wanted, on credit, in contravention of United States Law; and played footsies with Hitler, without remorse; and suffered nothing but continued and increased wealth. Torkild Rieber, Texaco's chairman, was unabashed and unrepentant in his friendship with Göring. Years after this war and the one to follow, Bob Hope, Cary Grant, Alfred Hitchcock and Cecil B. DeMille were all happy to meet with Rieber and Franco's daughter and her husband.
--- Virtually every journalist covering the war, whose agenda trumped truth. This revelation within was shocking even to a cynic like me. The only exceptions seem to be Virginia Cowles, a true hero of this book (for me), and George Orwell, then simply Eric Blair, who, although not technically a journalist, nevertheless was not afraid to write what he really saw, and to amend his views when confronted with revealed facts.
--- Marion Merriman (Bob's wife), whose curious, but not unexpected 'logic' went like this: the United States sucks; the Soviet Union is Utopia; let's not let the show trials and planned famine shake our faith in the great Stalin; hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to Spain we go, flaunting the United States' plea not to go; let's kill Nationalists; let's kill Republican soldiers who are not Communists; Bob goes out on a mission, doesn't come back; the United States government does nothing to find out what happened to Bob; see, the United States sucks.
--- The author, who has written the brilliant Bury the Chains and the searing King Leopold's Ghost. His attempt to make Bob Merriman a larger than life figure failed me. He could not relate any act of Merriman without noting his height and striking good looks.* But as Rieber served Franco and Hitler, in spite of what he surely knew, Merriman served Stalin, with as much purchase on his evil. A pox on both of them. He notes how Franklin Roosevelt could not have been more disingenuous about wanting to help the Spanish Republicans, how every impulse of Roosevelt was driven by the next election. Yet, he swallows whole a throwaway line by FDR years later that he regretted not doing more. He concedes that "Republicans, too, were carrying out a reign of terror" but saves the vivid details for Nationalist crimes. Some, like branding a Nationalist symbol on the breasts of Republican women, are apparently so juicy he has to tell it twice.
Yet I was provoked in other ways as well, more thought-provoking and less anger-inducing. Hochschild asks a dialectic of sorts: Can you have a revolution and fight a war at the same time? And he concedes that "Defenders of the Republic were, in short, fighting for one of the finest of causes beside one of the nastiest of allies." He asks, in his Prologue, whether he would have gone. He doesn't answer that, doesn't say whether he would have liked to have been Merriman or one of the propagandists. Walter Mitty as historian.
Hochschild asks this question: Are there times when military involvement in a distant conflict is justified? In other words, should America have joined the fight in Vietnam, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Iraq, or almost anywhere else? He's being rhetorical, obvious. Yet he suggests that the Spanish Civil War was somehow different.
All very provocative, but not convincing in the least.
_______________________
*Physically fearless, he inspired such loyalty that at least two Lincoln veterans would name their children after him. Yet even his private diary reveals no thoughts that deviate from the Party line, speaking, for instance, of the need "to openly fight Troskyite and bad elements." Just before he went into action for the first time at Jarama, he wrote in it, "Long Live Communism! Long Live the Soviet Union!" And this after living there for two years in the aftermath of the great famine and at the beginning of the Great Purge.
....in that I was angered or annoyed at:
--- Texaco, which gave Franco all the oil he wanted, on credit, in contravention of United States Law; and played footsies with Hitler, without remorse; and suffered nothing but continued and increased wealth. Torkild Rieber, Texaco's chairman, was unabashed and unrepentant in his friendship with Göring. Years after this war and the one to follow, Bob Hope, Cary Grant, Alfred Hitchcock and Cecil B. DeMille were all happy to meet with Rieber and Franco's daughter and her husband.
--- Virtually every journalist covering the war, whose agenda trumped truth. This revelation within was shocking even to a cynic like me. The only exceptions seem to be Virginia Cowles, a true hero of this book (for me), and George Orwell, then simply Eric Blair, who, although not technically a journalist, nevertheless was not afraid to write what he really saw, and to amend his views when confronted with revealed facts.
--- Marion Merriman (Bob's wife), whose curious, but not unexpected 'logic' went like this: the United States sucks; the Soviet Union is Utopia; let's not let the show trials and planned famine shake our faith in the great Stalin; hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to Spain we go, flaunting the United States' plea not to go; let's kill Nationalists; let's kill Republican soldiers who are not Communists; Bob goes out on a mission, doesn't come back; the United States government does nothing to find out what happened to Bob; see, the United States sucks.
--- The author, who has written the brilliant Bury the Chains and the searing King Leopold's Ghost. His attempt to make Bob Merriman a larger than life figure failed me. He could not relate any act of Merriman without noting his height and striking good looks.* But as Rieber served Franco and Hitler, in spite of what he surely knew, Merriman served Stalin, with as much purchase on his evil. A pox on both of them. He notes how Franklin Roosevelt could not have been more disingenuous about wanting to help the Spanish Republicans, how every impulse of Roosevelt was driven by the next election. Yet, he swallows whole a throwaway line by FDR years later that he regretted not doing more. He concedes that "Republicans, too, were carrying out a reign of terror" but saves the vivid details for Nationalist crimes. Some, like branding a Nationalist symbol on the breasts of Republican women, are apparently so juicy he has to tell it twice.
Yet I was provoked in other ways as well, more thought-provoking and less anger-inducing. Hochschild asks a dialectic of sorts: Can you have a revolution and fight a war at the same time? And he concedes that "Defenders of the Republic were, in short, fighting for one of the finest of causes beside one of the nastiest of allies." He asks, in his Prologue, whether he would have gone. He doesn't answer that, doesn't say whether he would have liked to have been Merriman or one of the propagandists. Walter Mitty as historian.
Hochschild asks this question: Are there times when military involvement in a distant conflict is justified? In other words, should America have joined the fight in Vietnam, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Iraq, or almost anywhere else? He's being rhetorical, obvious. Yet he suggests that the Spanish Civil War was somehow different.
All very provocative, but not convincing in the least.
_______________________
*Physically fearless, he inspired such loyalty that at least two Lincoln veterans would name their children after him. Yet even his private diary reveals no thoughts that deviate from the Party line, speaking, for instance, of the need "to openly fight Troskyite and bad elements." Just before he went into action for the first time at Jarama, he wrote in it, "Long Live Communism! Long Live the Soviet Union!" And this after living there for two years in the aftermath of the great famine and at the beginning of the Great Purge.
August 19, 2022
"Men of my generation had Spain in our hearts. It was there that they learned one can be right and yet beaten, that force can vanquish spirit and there are times when courage is not rewarded." - Albert Camus
************
Adam Hochschild tells the story of foreign Spanish Civil War volunteers who helped defend the Republic against a military coup led by Nationalist Francisco Franco in 1936. There was widespread economic depression, with Mussolini and Hitler in Europe, FDR in the US and Stalin in the USSR. Spain had been neutral in WWI and was better off but the vast majority of Spaniards were indigent serfs. Two percent of landowners owned two thirds of the land. A coalition of socialist parties known as the Popular Front were elected and began labor and land reforms. Spanish army officers based in North Africa were aligned with the aristocracy and given arms, aircraft and troops by the German and Italian dictators.
At the outset of the war the Nationalists seized the western half of the country while the Republic controlled Madrid and Barcelona in the east. Franco began executions of civilians as a terror tactic against the Front. The Republic had gold in the bank and expected to buy arms from France, Britain and the US. With depression at home, FDR refused involvement in an overseas conflict. France was split by economic and social upheavals, the right wing and military in favor of Franco. British firms mined Spain's minerals, aiding Nationalists in Gibraltar. As the western democracies failed to confront fascism, Soviets and Mexico armed the Republic. Stalin disguised the communist role as international brigades.
The volunteers included two American couples, traveling abroad when war broke out. The Merriman's were studying the Soviet regime in Moscow and met Louis Fischer, a US journalist. The Orr's were on honeymoon surveying the Nazi regime. Stalin called on the Comintern to recruit fighters and they went to Barcelona, center of the anarchist front. Farms and factories had been seized, hospitals and canteens run by collectives. Churches were burned or converted to civic uses. Nationalist Spain embraced Catholicism while the clergy condoned executions of 150,000 civilians during the war. Ironically Franco's initial invasion army was largely Muslim Moors told they would fight against Christian infidels.
Republican Spain executed 50,000 civilians in retribution. Soon Franco's army was on the outskirts of Madrid, saved only by Soviet fighter planes. Louis Fischer covered the siege for America by wire. He and a youthful George Orwell were among the first to enlist in the International Brigade. Over the course of the war 60,000 joined and 15,000 died. Most were French and British, with leftist refugees from Germany and Italy. 3,000 came from America in the Lincoln Battalion, three quarters communist, half Jewish and one third New Yorkers. African Americans came to fight with Italians over Ethiopia and Jews with Nazis. It was a multicultural affair, and for fascists a testing ground of WWII weaponry.
Republican communists and liberals argued for a central government, clashing with anarchists from Catalonia and Basque who sought independence from Spain. It was a loose coalition, poorly armed and trained. As Bob Merriman joined the troops no one had rifles until the night before the fight. He rose to command the Lincoln Battalion, but was killed at the age of 29. Ernest Hemingway, a correspondent during the war, based a character in 'For Whom the Bell Tolls' on him. Charles and Lois Orr were arrested in Barcelona by Soviet controlled intelligence agents for supporting the Marxist-Trotskyist party but were released. They left for Mexico City where Trotsky was killed three years later.
Hochschild strikes a balance between stories of idealists who risked their lives for the cause and a general outline of the war. It is not strictly biography or history. His work has been focused on human rights advocates such as abolitionists in England and activists in the Congo. Franco kept out of WWII and remained in power for 35 years until 1975. The author recreates a time when fascism and economic upheaval made communism seem a viable alternative. Louis Fischer was a leftist ideologue until he became disillusioned with Soviet repression, contributing with Arthur Koestler to 'The God that Failed' in 1949. Many believed stopping fascists in Spain was a way to avoid another world war. We will never know.
************
Adam Hochschild tells the story of foreign Spanish Civil War volunteers who helped defend the Republic against a military coup led by Nationalist Francisco Franco in 1936. There was widespread economic depression, with Mussolini and Hitler in Europe, FDR in the US and Stalin in the USSR. Spain had been neutral in WWI and was better off but the vast majority of Spaniards were indigent serfs. Two percent of landowners owned two thirds of the land. A coalition of socialist parties known as the Popular Front were elected and began labor and land reforms. Spanish army officers based in North Africa were aligned with the aristocracy and given arms, aircraft and troops by the German and Italian dictators.
At the outset of the war the Nationalists seized the western half of the country while the Republic controlled Madrid and Barcelona in the east. Franco began executions of civilians as a terror tactic against the Front. The Republic had gold in the bank and expected to buy arms from France, Britain and the US. With depression at home, FDR refused involvement in an overseas conflict. France was split by economic and social upheavals, the right wing and military in favor of Franco. British firms mined Spain's minerals, aiding Nationalists in Gibraltar. As the western democracies failed to confront fascism, Soviets and Mexico armed the Republic. Stalin disguised the communist role as international brigades.
The volunteers included two American couples, traveling abroad when war broke out. The Merriman's were studying the Soviet regime in Moscow and met Louis Fischer, a US journalist. The Orr's were on honeymoon surveying the Nazi regime. Stalin called on the Comintern to recruit fighters and they went to Barcelona, center of the anarchist front. Farms and factories had been seized, hospitals and canteens run by collectives. Churches were burned or converted to civic uses. Nationalist Spain embraced Catholicism while the clergy condoned executions of 150,000 civilians during the war. Ironically Franco's initial invasion army was largely Muslim Moors told they would fight against Christian infidels.
Republican Spain executed 50,000 civilians in retribution. Soon Franco's army was on the outskirts of Madrid, saved only by Soviet fighter planes. Louis Fischer covered the siege for America by wire. He and a youthful George Orwell were among the first to enlist in the International Brigade. Over the course of the war 60,000 joined and 15,000 died. Most were French and British, with leftist refugees from Germany and Italy. 3,000 came from America in the Lincoln Battalion, three quarters communist, half Jewish and one third New Yorkers. African Americans came to fight with Italians over Ethiopia and Jews with Nazis. It was a multicultural affair, and for fascists a testing ground of WWII weaponry.
Republican communists and liberals argued for a central government, clashing with anarchists from Catalonia and Basque who sought independence from Spain. It was a loose coalition, poorly armed and trained. As Bob Merriman joined the troops no one had rifles until the night before the fight. He rose to command the Lincoln Battalion, but was killed at the age of 29. Ernest Hemingway, a correspondent during the war, based a character in 'For Whom the Bell Tolls' on him. Charles and Lois Orr were arrested in Barcelona by Soviet controlled intelligence agents for supporting the Marxist-Trotskyist party but were released. They left for Mexico City where Trotsky was killed three years later.
Hochschild strikes a balance between stories of idealists who risked their lives for the cause and a general outline of the war. It is not strictly biography or history. His work has been focused on human rights advocates such as abolitionists in England and activists in the Congo. Franco kept out of WWII and remained in power for 35 years until 1975. The author recreates a time when fascism and economic upheaval made communism seem a viable alternative. Louis Fischer was a leftist ideologue until he became disillusioned with Soviet repression, contributing with Arthur Koestler to 'The God that Failed' in 1949. Many believed stopping fascists in Spain was a way to avoid another world war. We will never know.
June 30, 2018
Excellent history of the Spanish Civil War, which raged from 1936-38, told through the lens of the experiences of multiple Americans who were involved in the war. The Lincoln Brigade of brave American volunteers is foremost in the story, but the author brings in the stories of the journalists, famous (Hemingway, Gelhorn), and unknown, as well as George Orwell, whose Homage to Catalonia is a wonderful piece of literature about the war. My opinion of Hemingway improved after reading this book; Gelhorn said of him, it was the only time in his life when Hemingway did not come first in Hemingway's priorities. Briefly, he cared more about Republican Spain than himself. As compared to Homage to Catalonia, Hochschild has the benefit of 80 years of perspective, and he does a better job than Orwell did (or could have done, so close in time to the event) explaining the factions involved, the external players from Hitler to Texaco, and the American and European politics that were in play.
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. Hochschild reminds me of Lynne Olsen in style and readability, which is high praise. It is still shocking, 80 years on, how the Western democracies abandoned legitimately elected governments in Spain, Czechoslovakia, and Austria to their fates at the hands of Hitler, and by the way, America was absolutely complicit in that abandonment. 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. But I am in danger of running afoul of Godwin's law, so I'll stop there.
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. Hochschild reminds me of Lynne Olsen in style and readability, which is high praise. It is still shocking, 80 years on, how the Western democracies abandoned legitimately elected governments in Spain, Czechoslovakia, and Austria to their fates at the hands of Hitler, and by the way, America was absolutely complicit in that abandonment. 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. But I am in danger of running afoul of Godwin's law, so I'll stop there.
July 7, 2022
I'm afraid I exceeded the character-limit this time; so if you're interested, please check out my review here:
https://miked1b.substack.com/p/book-r...
October 31, 2022
"Men of my generation have had Spain in our hearts... It was there that they learned... that one can be right and yet be beaten, that force can vanquish spirit, and that there are times when courage is not rewarded."
~~ Albert Camus
With Spain in Our Hearts, Adam Hochschild provides a view of the Spanish Civil War through the experiences of American volunteers who fought that doomed fight against Francisco Franco's Nationalists. This includes, but is not limited to, volunteers who comprised the famous Lincoln Battalion which, Hochschild writes, suffered particularly heavy losses in the fight to save a country. Like Hochschild's excellent King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa , Spain in Our Hearts doesn't shy away from the heinous acts of violence that the war inspired on both sides, nor is the author all that shy about his bias: this is a pro-Republican book that nonetheless doesn't shy away from that side's shortcomings or deficiencies.
With the action largely filtered through an American lens, the book ultimately doesn't offer an all-encompassing look at the war, but a popular account that probably has more Ernest Hemingway than Francisco Franco. So if you're after a more detailed, academic account of what occurred over three years in late 1930s Spain -- and indeed the decades of Franco's oppressive rule -- you might wish to look elsewhere. If you're not averse to something more easily digestible, with a core of inspiring historical figures to guide you, then this a book well worth checking out. I thought it was excellent.
April 16, 2021
Spain in Our Hearts: Americans in the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939 was a deeply researched and well-written history of the Spanish Civil War as told in the experiences of ten Americans, including the likes of Ernest Hemingway, George Orwell, and Martha Gelhorn. Adam Hochschild spins a sweeping history of the Spanish Civil War from the perspective of many individual perspectives as the war was dominating the headlines in America. Those individuals whose stories gave this book life will remain in my memory for a long time. In many ways, the Spanish Civil War was the beginning of World War II. So many correspondents enlisted their services on the frontlines to bring the news of the war to America in an effort to enlist support.
"Despite the hyperbole, Hemingway and other correspondents did have a tale to tell, of the civil war within the civil war, of Italians versus Italians. Among the journalists, however, there was a civil war of a different sort. It was within America's most influential newspaper, the 'New York Times.'"
What Adam Hochschild accomplished with his narrative was to bring individuals to the conflict along with their visions and dreams as they went to foreign soil to fight in a Civil War. There were a lot of idealistic young people such as newlyweds Marion and Bob Merriman from Berkley; Lois and Charles Orr from Kentucky were in Europe on their honeymoon. There was the young Freshman at Swarthmore, Joseph Selligman, Jr. from Louisville, Kentucky who went to join the British volunteers. There were the stories of the many physicians and nurses as an integral part of the conflict. It was a riveting book as the details of the war lived by these individuals unfold before us. There is Pablo Picasso and the raid of Guernica that has become iconic of the Spanish Civil War:
"The attack, of course, also inspired the century's most famous painting. Pablo Picasso, already deeply angered by the bombing of Madrid, had been commissioned to do a mural for the Republic's pavilion at a world's fair in Paris that summer. After the raid on Guernica he dropped his original plan and instead worked on his knees, standing, and on a ladder to cover a canvas 11 feet high and more than 25 feet wide with images of the bombing, including its animal victims. Other expressions of outrage came from all over the world."
At war's end, Spain's greatest orator, Dolores Ibarruri, La Pasionaria, took the podium:
"Comrades of the International Brigades! Political reasons, reasons of state. . . . are sending you back, some of you to your own countries and others forced to exile. You can go proudly. You are history. You are legend. You are the heroic example of democracy's solidarity and universality. We shall not forget you, and when the olive tree of peace puts forth its leaves again, mingled with the Spanish Republic's victory--come back!"
"Despite the hyperbole, Hemingway and other correspondents did have a tale to tell, of the civil war within the civil war, of Italians versus Italians. Among the journalists, however, there was a civil war of a different sort. It was within America's most influential newspaper, the 'New York Times.'"
What Adam Hochschild accomplished with his narrative was to bring individuals to the conflict along with their visions and dreams as they went to foreign soil to fight in a Civil War. There were a lot of idealistic young people such as newlyweds Marion and Bob Merriman from Berkley; Lois and Charles Orr from Kentucky were in Europe on their honeymoon. There was the young Freshman at Swarthmore, Joseph Selligman, Jr. from Louisville, Kentucky who went to join the British volunteers. There were the stories of the many physicians and nurses as an integral part of the conflict. It was a riveting book as the details of the war lived by these individuals unfold before us. There is Pablo Picasso and the raid of Guernica that has become iconic of the Spanish Civil War:
"The attack, of course, also inspired the century's most famous painting. Pablo Picasso, already deeply angered by the bombing of Madrid, had been commissioned to do a mural for the Republic's pavilion at a world's fair in Paris that summer. After the raid on Guernica he dropped his original plan and instead worked on his knees, standing, and on a ladder to cover a canvas 11 feet high and more than 25 feet wide with images of the bombing, including its animal victims. Other expressions of outrage came from all over the world."
At war's end, Spain's greatest orator, Dolores Ibarruri, La Pasionaria, took the podium:
"Comrades of the International Brigades! Political reasons, reasons of state. . . . are sending you back, some of you to your own countries and others forced to exile. You can go proudly. You are history. You are legend. You are the heroic example of democracy's solidarity and universality. We shall not forget you, and when the olive tree of peace puts forth its leaves again, mingled with the Spanish Republic's victory--come back!"
May 6, 2020
The books written by Adam Hochschild, in my opinion, are some of the best written and researched books on the shelves today. Previous to reading this book, my knowledge of the Spanish Civil War was minimal but this book has provided a great deal of knowledge about the war and yet again, makes me ashamed of the role America played. The CEO of Texaco should have been prosecuted and jailed, and prevented from selling as much oil to Franco as the dictator wished- and all on credit. FDR later lamented his decision not to get rid of the arms embargo against Spain. The Republican side was much stronger than I had realized. Sorry that this 'review' seems to be all over the place.
Hochschild relates how the social revolution occurring in Spain began at the same time as the war. For all the journalists covering the war, none mentioned the revolution or the oil coming from Texas. It makes me look at Hemingway differently. Him, and the rest of the journalists should have known better. 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. For Hitler, it was an opportunity to test out his newest war "toys", for Mussolini, an opportunity to grab land. For the Soviets, who fought on the Republican side, it was an opportunity to try to control the country. This is one of those books that makes you see and feel the great hope of humanity as well as the bitter disappointment of reading how many people supported Franco- including, of course, Pope Pius. Although there have been attempts to justify the pope's position during WWII, there can be no justification for his support for Franco. There are tales of a bishop who had two of his parish priests shot because he thought they were too fond of the republic. 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.
Hochschild relates how the social revolution occurring in Spain began at the same time as the war. For all the journalists covering the war, none mentioned the revolution or the oil coming from Texas. It makes me look at Hemingway differently. Him, and the rest of the journalists should have known better. 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. For Hitler, it was an opportunity to test out his newest war "toys", for Mussolini, an opportunity to grab land. For the Soviets, who fought on the Republican side, it was an opportunity to try to control the country. This is one of those books that makes you see and feel the great hope of humanity as well as the bitter disappointment of reading how many people supported Franco- including, of course, Pope Pius. Although there have been attempts to justify the pope's position during WWII, there can be no justification for his support for Franco. There are tales of a bishop who had two of his parish priests shot because he thought they were too fond of the republic. 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.
October 2, 2016
Spain in Our Hearts is a well-researched book about American volunteers who fought in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade on the side of the Republic during the Spanish Civil War. Hochschild relies upon published and unpublished memoirs and the correspondence of soldiers, behind-the-lines spouses, journalists and celebrities to shape his book. But for me it seemed disjointed, jumping too frequently between the many personal narratives. It felt as if Hochschild was unsure whether he was writing a history of the war or telling the personal stories of these American sympathizers for the Republican cause. Despite his fine prose and compassionate outlook, the cliffhanger chapter breaks and heavy foreshadowing seemed contrived, especially for anyone who has read anything about the war. And ultimately the book lacked much insight into the people he writes about. Yes, these idealistic Americans believed they were fighting the good fight. But weren’t they really just Moscow’s dupes? Yes, the war was a crucible between fascism and communism, between democracy and tyranny, and portended the world war soon to come, but that is hardly a new revelation. Hochschild is unable to explain why these Americans felt compelled to fight for a country they had no ties to. Nor does he delve much into the stories of the volunteers on the Nationalist side. Yes, there were some of those, too, and I suspect they believed they were fighting the good fight as well. Still, this is a thought-provoking book about the fates of courageous individuals who were willing to risk their lives in a distant war for a political ideal.
September 2, 2023
In 1983, I traveled in Spain, including Madrid and Barcelona, but still knew virtually nothing about the Spanish Civil War. Now, finally, I got the story. George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia was a good start, but that book was only about his own short experience in the war. Spain in Our Hearts is a much more comprehensive overview of the history. For example, I learned that many of Franco's Nationalist soldiers were pulled from Spanish Morocco. And that the war in Spain was a training ground for Hitler and Mussolini as they tested machines and pilots for the bigger war that was looming.
The Spanish Civil War seemed like the lead-in to WWII. The western countries should have stopped it there but they refused to get involved. Roosevelt waffled till it was too late. The international volunteers who fought against Franco came from many countries, but as individuals with no support from their governments.
As with all ebooks, the maps were small and hard to reference, so Google maps kept me oriented.
Highly recommended!
The Spanish Civil War seemed like the lead-in to WWII. The western countries should have stopped it there but they refused to get involved. Roosevelt waffled till it was too late. The international volunteers who fought against Franco came from many countries, but as individuals with no support from their governments.
As with all ebooks, the maps were small and hard to reference, so Google maps kept me oriented.
Highly recommended!
July 12, 2016
In a time when upwards of 20% of Americans are functional fascists (and a much higher percentage of white males), this book is a necessary corrective. Once upon a time common Americans fought fascism, some before the Second World War made it safe to do so - the Americans who volunteered to fight in Spain risked having their passports revoked and many would face persecution during the McCarthy era. Hochschild, who worked among reporters who had covered the Spanish Civil War, has written a deeply moving account focusing on the Americans who went to fight in and support the International Brigades, some well known - Robert Merriman who lost his life leading the shattered remnants of the Lincoln/Washington battalion, Dr Edward Barsky who headed a crack medical team that saved hundreds of lives and made important advances in trauma treatment - and others less so, making wonderful use of primary sources, some only recently discovered. Of course it's probably impossible to write a book about this conflict without bringing in George Orwell, but in this case we have new and interesting details about how he came to volunteer for the POUM militia rather than, as he'd intended, the International Brigade, as well as a rare and appealing portrait of his wife Eileen. Ernest Hemingway too puts in several appearances, handled deftly. There were no saints in the Spanish Civil War, but I had no clue that not only was Texaco gasoline in the tanks of the German bombers that destroyed Guernica, but Texaco was literally running an intelligence service for the Nationalists informing on competing ships serving the other side. The Catholic Church in Spain comes off exceptionally poorly, and there are a number of "revered saints" who need to be exhumed and burned. An excellent book, well written, and vital, vital reading at time when the forces of evil seem to be winning and we apparently need to be forcibly reminded of what the enemies of the common man intend.
February 2, 2018
This is an outstanding history of the Spanish Civil War. Hochschild weaves the stories of volunteers, reporters and others in a way the personalizes the conflict and brings it home. I was unaware of the role that Texaco oil and its CEO played in Franco's victory. This book was an eye-opener on many fronts!
December 15, 2016
This author is a superb historian and storyteller - weaving enough personal stories to keep us connected on a human level, while still making sure the numbers, dates, battles are covered. I learned a tremendous amount, especially about the conflict within the Republican side - between the Soviets and the Anarchists, and other self-defeating divisions. And, although i knew that the western “democracies” refused to help the elected (i.e. democratic) Republican government by refusing to sell them arms, or aircraft, or anything useful, i didn’t realize that since the USSR was the only country willing to provide help - they also then became overly powerful in internecine battles on the left, often weakening an already weak force with summary (Stalin-like) executions of accused Trotsky-ites, and other non-negotiable dumb decisions.
We are introduced to a number of key members of the Lincoln Brigade, as well as the bad guys.
There is the evil slut Torkild Rieber (with apologies to evil sluts) who, as the American head of Texaco, and in direct conflict with existing law, GAVE Franco’s forces all the fuel they needed, which placed inside the aircraft provided by Germany and Italy, made wiping out the elected government only a matter of time. Good practice for the axis forces - ever so ready to take on the world a year or two later.
It is interesting, on lots of levels that Torkild spent his youth working on what was, for all intents and purposes, a slave ship, bringing indentured Calcuttans to work on sugar plantations in the British West Indies. Perhaps that was where he learned that human life is worthless?
Just as in Nazi Germany a few years later, the Catholic Church was whole heartedly (this presumes a heart - i know, i know - that was outsized snark, even for me) supportive of the regime. They supported Hitler and they LOVED Franco. There is a priceless photo in the book of hundreds of clergy in their vestments (long dresses and funny hats) with their right arms raised in the Fascist salute, full on Sieg Heil - many with deeply serene, dreamy smiles. Clergy often traveled with the Fascist Nationalist troops encouraging more executions.
Pre-Republic, Spain had been a deeply divided country with concretely established classes. The depth of the chasm between the haves and the have nots was deeper, perhaps, than our current state. Maybe. The peasants were kept scared and illiterate, where we are just diverted by bread and circuses, Springer and Trump, er, Drumpf. Nonetheless they eventually voted the Haves out of office. Examples of the class division were stark:
Pp 37 - (Nationalist of course) “Captain Gonzalo de Aguilera y Munro, Count of Alba de Yeltes, a press officer with a handlebar mustache. ‘You know what’s wrong with Spain? Modern plumbing!! In healthier times - I mean healthier times spiritually, you understand - plague and pestilence could be counted on to thin down the Spanish masses...Now with modern sewage disposal and the like they multiply too fast. The masses are no better than animals, you understand, and you can’t expect them not to become infected with the virus of bolshevism. After all, rats and lice carry the plague.’ The count, a cavalryman and an ardent polo player, claimed that when the coup began, he lined up the workers on his estate and shot half a dozen of them just to show who was boss.”
- -
“Sons of landowners organized peasant hunts on horseback” (yes - hunting down and killing peasants) “This sort of activity was jokingly referred to as the ‘reforma agraria’ whereby the landless bracero was finally to get a piece of ground for himself.” (get it? The grave)
Indeed Franco wanted to take Spain way back, long before the Gilded Age, he wanted to take it back to feudalism. And did.
“Men of my generation” wrote the French novelist Albert Camus, “have had Spain in our hearts….It was there that they learned...that one can be right and yet be beaten, that force can vanquish spirit, and that there are times when courage is not rewarded.”
We are introduced to a number of key members of the Lincoln Brigade, as well as the bad guys.
There is the evil slut Torkild Rieber (with apologies to evil sluts) who, as the American head of Texaco, and in direct conflict with existing law, GAVE Franco’s forces all the fuel they needed, which placed inside the aircraft provided by Germany and Italy, made wiping out the elected government only a matter of time. Good practice for the axis forces - ever so ready to take on the world a year or two later.
It is interesting, on lots of levels that Torkild spent his youth working on what was, for all intents and purposes, a slave ship, bringing indentured Calcuttans to work on sugar plantations in the British West Indies. Perhaps that was where he learned that human life is worthless?
Just as in Nazi Germany a few years later, the Catholic Church was whole heartedly (this presumes a heart - i know, i know - that was outsized snark, even for me) supportive of the regime. They supported Hitler and they LOVED Franco. There is a priceless photo in the book of hundreds of clergy in their vestments (long dresses and funny hats) with their right arms raised in the Fascist salute, full on Sieg Heil - many with deeply serene, dreamy smiles. Clergy often traveled with the Fascist Nationalist troops encouraging more executions.
Pre-Republic, Spain had been a deeply divided country with concretely established classes. The depth of the chasm between the haves and the have nots was deeper, perhaps, than our current state. Maybe. The peasants were kept scared and illiterate, where we are just diverted by bread and circuses, Springer and Trump, er, Drumpf. Nonetheless they eventually voted the Haves out of office. Examples of the class division were stark:
Pp 37 - (Nationalist of course) “Captain Gonzalo de Aguilera y Munro, Count of Alba de Yeltes, a press officer with a handlebar mustache. ‘You know what’s wrong with Spain? Modern plumbing!! In healthier times - I mean healthier times spiritually, you understand - plague and pestilence could be counted on to thin down the Spanish masses...Now with modern sewage disposal and the like they multiply too fast. The masses are no better than animals, you understand, and you can’t expect them not to become infected with the virus of bolshevism. After all, rats and lice carry the plague.’ The count, a cavalryman and an ardent polo player, claimed that when the coup began, he lined up the workers on his estate and shot half a dozen of them just to show who was boss.”
- -
“Sons of landowners organized peasant hunts on horseback” (yes - hunting down and killing peasants) “This sort of activity was jokingly referred to as the ‘reforma agraria’ whereby the landless bracero was finally to get a piece of ground for himself.” (get it? The grave)
Indeed Franco wanted to take Spain way back, long before the Gilded Age, he wanted to take it back to feudalism. And did.
“Men of my generation” wrote the French novelist Albert Camus, “have had Spain in our hearts….It was there that they learned...that one can be right and yet be beaten, that force can vanquish spirit, and that there are times when courage is not rewarded.”
August 13, 2018
For anyone with an interest in the Spanish Civil War, Hoschild’s book is a must. I would recommend it highly for a first-time approach to the subject. It is written with the usual Hoschild flair for combining history with storytelling: as it is told through the perspective of a number of American and English men and women who traveled or fought in Spain during the war, an otherwise chronological and rather complete history of the conflict becomes very accessible to readers, especially non-Spanish ones. Very well supported with end notes and an extensive bibliography. One could delve much deeper thanks to Hoschild’s presentation.
September 26, 2017
An exploration of the Spanish Civil War that highlights the horrors authoritarian regimes bring in their wake. Funny thing is, horrific things happened whether that authoritarian regime is Stalinist — Stalin 'purged' millions of dissenters in Russia during the War's timeframe and his commissars suppressed independence in Republican Spain — or from fascist Franco. And while the fascist Spanish Nationalists' acts seem more horrendous than those carried out by backers of the democratic Spanish Republic, it's all of a piece.
Another startling thing is the raging idealism the International Corps who fought against Franco exuded. They truly believed in the brotherhood of all people. They came to Spain to fight for those ideals. Skin in the game, for real.
And yet, they were played by Stalin. Abandoned by Western "democracies," like Britain, France, and the US, who placed arms and fuel embargos on Republican Spain. While on the other side, Germany and Italy treated the war as a testing ground for its new weapons and tactics which would become the blitzkrieg they used to shatter Europe in WW2.
I found the stories of these starry-eyed volunteers most interesting. Most of all Bob Merriman, who volunteered, became a tireless leader... leading, unlike Franco and the Republican generals, from the front-lines. Though part of me wonders if this was in part a romanticization of his legend...
Oh well. We all need heroes.
Four-stars.
Another startling thing is the raging idealism the International Corps who fought against Franco exuded. They truly believed in the brotherhood of all people. They came to Spain to fight for those ideals. Skin in the game, for real.
And yet, they were played by Stalin. Abandoned by Western "democracies," like Britain, France, and the US, who placed arms and fuel embargos on Republican Spain. While on the other side, Germany and Italy treated the war as a testing ground for its new weapons and tactics which would become the blitzkrieg they used to shatter Europe in WW2.
I found the stories of these starry-eyed volunteers most interesting. Most of all Bob Merriman, who volunteered, became a tireless leader... leading, unlike Franco and the Republican generals, from the front-lines. Though part of me wonders if this was in part a romanticization of his legend...
Oh well. We all need heroes.
Four-stars.
October 1, 2017
A fascinating description of the participation of idealistic American (and other international) volunteers in the Spanish Civil War. This book concentrates on the American volunteers, but also some general history of the Spanish Civil War and some other volunteers from other countries. I think Franco's victory is widely understood to be because of the enormous aid he received from Hitler and Mussolini, but very few realize how much he really won the war due to Texaco, and to a lesser extent the US and UK policies of "non-intervention" which really meant letting everyone else aid Franco and ignoring the Republic. I'd love to read more about the Texaco connection, but this book did cover it several times for short periods.
I've already been fascinated by the Spanish Civil War for many years, but and have read many book about it, but this book has an unusual perspective. 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.
I ended with the feeling that these volunteers would have been far more effective in their support for the Republic if they had stayed home and lobbied their governments to enforce their own laws, support the Republic, or counter the fascist supporters that were prevalent in government and influential parts of the private sector, rather than going to fight as completely untrained and largely ineffective soldiers who, nevertheless, were used as shock troops by the Republican government.
I've already been fascinated by the Spanish Civil War for many years, but and have read many book about it, but this book has an unusual perspective. 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.
I ended with the feeling that these volunteers would have been far more effective in their support for the Republic if they had stayed home and lobbied their governments to enforce their own laws, support the Republic, or counter the fascist supporters that were prevalent in government and influential parts of the private sector, rather than going to fight as completely untrained and largely ineffective soldiers who, nevertheless, were used as shock troops by the Republican government.
June 11, 2020
After King Leopold's Ghost, I'm willing to give anything by Hochschild a spin. Spain in Our Hearts is not quite worth it. The Spanish Civil War, and in particular the involvement of the International Brigades, is a subject where the moral issues seem to overwhelm historical objectivity. This was the first fight against fascism! And yet the Republicans were abandoned by the Western Democracies. 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. The war was gloriously fought, gloriously doomed, and gloriously recorded by Frank Capa and Ernest Hemingway.
Hochschild knew several veterans of the Lincoln Brigades as a young reporter in San Francisco, and a kind of sappy nostalgia suffuses the whole book. When General Franco and a handful of officers attempted a coup in 1936, they captured roughly a third of the Republic. But Franco got key strategic support, high-tech airplanes and tanks from Nazi Germany, thousands of soldiers from Fascist Italy, and oil on credit from Texaco.
The Republic got the sweepings of international leftists, men with ideals but little training or discipline. The Republic's gold reserves were sent to Russia, where they were spent by Stalin on Soviet arms for the Republic, starting with the dregs of Tsarist arms warehouses. Other equipment was blockaded by France or sunk at sea by Nationalist submarines. The International Brigades fought like shock troops, suffering three times the casualty rate of Republican Spanish units, but they were forced back repeatedly, as Franco's arms isolated and blockaded various regions, before finally crushing the Republic. Deemed 'premature anti-fascists' by the House Unamerican Activities Committee, veterans faced lifelong suspicion.
Hoschchild blends together recently published diaries from soldiers, but most readers would be better served by either the primary sources, Hemingway's novel For Whom the Bell Tolls, or from a military history angle, possible Beevor's The Battle for Spain
Hochschild knew several veterans of the Lincoln Brigades as a young reporter in San Francisco, and a kind of sappy nostalgia suffuses the whole book. When General Franco and a handful of officers attempted a coup in 1936, they captured roughly a third of the Republic. But Franco got key strategic support, high-tech airplanes and tanks from Nazi Germany, thousands of soldiers from Fascist Italy, and oil on credit from Texaco.
The Republic got the sweepings of international leftists, men with ideals but little training or discipline. The Republic's gold reserves were sent to Russia, where they were spent by Stalin on Soviet arms for the Republic, starting with the dregs of Tsarist arms warehouses. Other equipment was blockaded by France or sunk at sea by Nationalist submarines. The International Brigades fought like shock troops, suffering three times the casualty rate of Republican Spanish units, but they were forced back repeatedly, as Franco's arms isolated and blockaded various regions, before finally crushing the Republic. Deemed 'premature anti-fascists' by the House Unamerican Activities Committee, veterans faced lifelong suspicion.
Hoschchild blends together recently published diaries from soldiers, but most readers would be better served by either the primary sources, Hemingway's novel For Whom the Bell Tolls, or from a military history angle, possible Beevor's The Battle for Spain
October 17, 2017
This is the first non-fiction book that I've read about the Spanish Civil War. I found this book fascinating. As a result, I decided to order THE BATTLE FOR SPAIN, HOMAGE TO CATALONIA, and THE SPANISH HOLOCAUST.
December 12, 2022
Many, if not most of the characters shown throughout the story were idealistic intellectuals - journalists, authors, novelists with many different forms of communicators each with a story to tell—while others told their stories through letters to home.
One of the most famous of all was Ernest Hemingway whose novel For Whom the Bell Tolls is set during this conflict. He is not painted in the brightest of colors by many people who encountered him, yet in spite of the brash, boastful, and demanding personality he displayed, Hemingway exhibited “an almost proprietary love for Spain . . . He was enraged by the Nationalist coup, which he saw "as an act of great violence against a culture he loved.” This love drove him to some reckless activities in attempts to save volunteers who took more visible actions against Franco than Hemingway did himself. And of course, George Orwell, who then wrote his seminal book, "Homage to Catalunya" and his disappointment with some of the Republican side allying themselves with Stalin.
While Hochschild does an excellent job of developing characters that believed in their cause for good and their desire to help the Republicans even to their death, there were also unsavory characters that rose to the top to assist Franco in his war, mainly the head of Texaco at the time supplying Franco and his cronies with much needed oil and arms.
Although the story unfolds through the many characters involved in the war, Hochschild builds the story’s foundation upon the horrific events of the war, the prelude and "testing" ground, if you will, for WWII. THE bloodiest Civil War in history. Very well researched and explains the main battle of Jarama and the fall of Madrid to the natonalistas quite well. Worth a read. 4.5 stars
One of the most famous of all was Ernest Hemingway whose novel For Whom the Bell Tolls is set during this conflict. He is not painted in the brightest of colors by many people who encountered him, yet in spite of the brash, boastful, and demanding personality he displayed, Hemingway exhibited “an almost proprietary love for Spain . . . He was enraged by the Nationalist coup, which he saw "as an act of great violence against a culture he loved.” This love drove him to some reckless activities in attempts to save volunteers who took more visible actions against Franco than Hemingway did himself. And of course, George Orwell, who then wrote his seminal book, "Homage to Catalunya" and his disappointment with some of the Republican side allying themselves with Stalin.
While Hochschild does an excellent job of developing characters that believed in their cause for good and their desire to help the Republicans even to their death, there were also unsavory characters that rose to the top to assist Franco in his war, mainly the head of Texaco at the time supplying Franco and his cronies with much needed oil and arms.
Although the story unfolds through the many characters involved in the war, Hochschild builds the story’s foundation upon the horrific events of the war, the prelude and "testing" ground, if you will, for WWII. THE bloodiest Civil War in history. Very well researched and explains the main battle of Jarama and the fall of Madrid to the natonalistas quite well. Worth a read. 4.5 stars
March 25, 2017
It is in writing Spain in Our Hearts that author Adam Hochschild asks a fundamental and strongly contemporary question: When is it appropriate for a superpower like the United States to intervene in a conflict on foreign land for a justifiable cause or set of values? In asking this question, alongside Hochschilds strong narrative of the Spanish Civil War, gave this reader long pauses for thought. American intervention in countries post WWII has shown to be dramatically consequential (i.e. Vietnam or Iraq). However, as black and white as those consequences have illuminated such conflicts, Hochschild has brought the topic back to a philosophical "shades of grey" intent. It would have been easy to simply interpret the Republicans as pure hearted saviours to the Spanish people in face of such strong Nationalist aggression and violence, but Hochschild appropriately delves into the problems each side created. The Nationalists under Francesco Franco had sided with Hitler and Mussolini unleashing hell on earth in Spain, with the latter two countries using the war as practice for their own chaotic ambitions. Catholic priests siding with the Nationalists murdered fellow civilians who had Republican ideals. Women faced unimaginable horror at the face of Franco's troops. 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. Not to mention the infighting between the communists and anarchists over their conflicting ideals. It was a dangerous time for all in Spain.
Americans from all walks of life went on to participate in the Spanish Civil War, from university intellectuals, to African Americans in protest to Italian imperialism, to working class Jews, many of each with strong communist ideals in an era that had recently witnessed the economic depression of the late 1920s to early 1930's. Communism was suppose to be a shining light in continually dark world of economic hardship. Hochschild appropriately sheds light on the jaded hope these people had at the time, especially in the light of Stalin's Soviet Union. We laugh at communism today in the US after the effects became apparent under the Soviet Union, but at that time it arguably made sense as a model to believe in. Spain has to be a representation of that new hopeful economic world, and that's why they travelled to risk their own lives against the Nationalists. Men like Bob Merriman from California, George Orwell from England, and various volunteers from as far as Poland and Hungary. Journalists with ties to each side, (Ernest Hemingway or William Carney), all with their own ambitions. Texaco under Torkild Rieber, supplying oil and maritime intelligence to the Nationalists on credit against the neutrality laws set by the US. President Franklin Roosevelt, under pressure to remain neutral in an increasingly important conflict. This book delves into so many people from both sides, helping to shape the conflict as well roundly opinionated. Spain in Our Hearts is such an appropriate book asking all the right questions and illuminating just how strongly our beliefs shape our own world and how easily tangled it can then become afterwards.
Americans from all walks of life went on to participate in the Spanish Civil War, from university intellectuals, to African Americans in protest to Italian imperialism, to working class Jews, many of each with strong communist ideals in an era that had recently witnessed the economic depression of the late 1920s to early 1930's. Communism was suppose to be a shining light in continually dark world of economic hardship. Hochschild appropriately sheds light on the jaded hope these people had at the time, especially in the light of Stalin's Soviet Union. We laugh at communism today in the US after the effects became apparent under the Soviet Union, but at that time it arguably made sense as a model to believe in. Spain has to be a representation of that new hopeful economic world, and that's why they travelled to risk their own lives against the Nationalists. Men like Bob Merriman from California, George Orwell from England, and various volunteers from as far as Poland and Hungary. Journalists with ties to each side, (Ernest Hemingway or William Carney), all with their own ambitions. Texaco under Torkild Rieber, supplying oil and maritime intelligence to the Nationalists on credit against the neutrality laws set by the US. President Franklin Roosevelt, under pressure to remain neutral in an increasingly important conflict. This book delves into so many people from both sides, helping to shape the conflict as well roundly opinionated. Spain in Our Hearts is such an appropriate book asking all the right questions and illuminating just how strongly our beliefs shape our own world and how easily tangled it can then become afterwards.
July 1, 2017
This book put together a detailed picture of world events in the 1930s, and I only wish my parents were still alive so I could interview them on their own experiences during those difficult times. The book is so very well researched and presented, I can only share just a few quotes:
"Roughly 2,800 Americans fought in the Spanish Civil War, an estimated 750 of them dying there--a far higher death rate than the US military suffered in any of its twentieth-century wars."
"While the fighting lasted, from mid- 1936 to early 1939, the New York Times ran more than 1,000 front-page headlines about the war in Spain--outnumbering those on any other single topic, including President Roosevelt, the rise of Nazi Germany, or the calamitous toll of the Great Depression."
"In other countries as well, many felt the Spanish war to be the era's testing ground. 'Men of my generation,' wrote the French novelist Albert Camus, 'have had Spain in our hearts...It was there that they learned...that one can be right and yet be beaten, that force can vanquish spirit, and that there are times when courage is not rewarded.'"
"While much of that feels distant now, other aspects of 1930s Spain still seem all too similar to many countries today: the great gap between rich and poor, and the struggle between an authoritarian dictatorship and millions of powerless people long denied their fair share of land, education, and so much more. These things make Spain of the 1930s, a crucial battleground of its time, a resonant one for ours as well."
"Roughly 2,800 Americans fought in the Spanish Civil War, an estimated 750 of them dying there--a far higher death rate than the US military suffered in any of its twentieth-century wars."
"While the fighting lasted, from mid- 1936 to early 1939, the New York Times ran more than 1,000 front-page headlines about the war in Spain--outnumbering those on any other single topic, including President Roosevelt, the rise of Nazi Germany, or the calamitous toll of the Great Depression."
"In other countries as well, many felt the Spanish war to be the era's testing ground. 'Men of my generation,' wrote the French novelist Albert Camus, 'have had Spain in our hearts...It was there that they learned...that one can be right and yet be beaten, that force can vanquish spirit, and that there are times when courage is not rewarded.'"
"While much of that feels distant now, other aspects of 1930s Spain still seem all too similar to many countries today: the great gap between rich and poor, and the struggle between an authoritarian dictatorship and millions of powerless people long denied their fair share of land, education, and so much more. These things make Spain of the 1930s, a crucial battleground of its time, a resonant one for ours as well."
July 31, 2020
Ten stars
If you ever thought the Spanish Civil War was too hard to understand, a mishmosh of factions and personalities, this is the book you should read. Hochschild lays the war out very simply amidst the story of Spain's fight for freedom.
This is the story of the Americans who went to Spain to fight against fascism right before World War II. The U.S. government told them not to go, but American idealists --Communists, anarchists, newspaper reporters, medical personnel and others who loved freedom -- went anyway. We also meet some American fascists, in particular the head of Texaco, Torkield Rieber. An early supporter of Hitler, he sells Franco the oil he needs to run his military machine -- and the U.S. government does very little to stop him. 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.
Mostly, Hochschild gives us a riveting account of a terrible war from the point of view of the "foreigners" who helped the Spanish Republic on the ground. In all there were 2800 Americans who fought in Spain between 1936 and 1939. Not many came back, and the last of them died in 2016, too late to join in his own country's new fight against fascism. But I feel these men and women are with us every step of the way as we participate in a new resistance movement against someone, similar to Franco, who wants to be our leader, but who doesn't have America or its people in his heart.
If you ever thought the Spanish Civil War was too hard to understand, a mishmosh of factions and personalities, this is the book you should read. Hochschild lays the war out very simply amidst the story of Spain's fight for freedom.
This is the story of the Americans who went to Spain to fight against fascism right before World War II. The U.S. government told them not to go, but American idealists --Communists, anarchists, newspaper reporters, medical personnel and others who loved freedom -- went anyway. We also meet some American fascists, in particular the head of Texaco, Torkield Rieber. An early supporter of Hitler, he sells Franco the oil he needs to run his military machine -- and the U.S. government does very little to stop him. 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.
Mostly, Hochschild gives us a riveting account of a terrible war from the point of view of the "foreigners" who helped the Spanish Republic on the ground. In all there were 2800 Americans who fought in Spain between 1936 and 1939. Not many came back, and the last of them died in 2016, too late to join in his own country's new fight against fascism. But I feel these men and women are with us every step of the way as we participate in a new resistance movement against someone, similar to Franco, who wants to be our leader, but who doesn't have America or its people in his heart.
March 31, 2020
I recently completed a short story collection set during the Spanish Civil War, called Treasure of the Spanish Civil War, and while reading it I realized that I didn't actually know anything about the Spanish Civil War.
At least, nothing other than the basic three.
1. Hemingway participated (as a sort of glorified war correspondent) and famously wrote about it
2. George Orwell participated (like, actually fought in it) and famously wrote about it
3. 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!
And now I know a bit more.
As the title suggests, this really is focused pretty largely on Americans in the war (though Orwell and other Brits do get mentioned here and there as well).
Unfortunately, as for my third point of what I thought I knew, it turns out that by not getting involved, the western democracies very much got involved. Worse yet, American oil company Texaco was firmly on the side of the Franco and the Nationalists, and it is mentioned at numerous points throughout that without American oil, the Nationalists wouldn't have managed to win the war.
Texaco's chairman, Torkild Rieber, is about as villainous here as Franco, Mussolini, or Hitler. We learn that Rieber was himself something of a Hitler devotee and could not wait for National Socialism to come to the US. Despite his pretty open feelings on the matter, Rieber hobnobbed for years after World War II with the Hollywood and American political elite and seems to have made everyone forget that his friendship with Franco ensured a fascist foothold in Europe that lasted until the dictator's death in 1975.
Sigh. Yes, this is another one of those books that makes you just want to throw up your hands and say, "WTF America???" I did, on more than one occasion. Of course, many Americans fought on the side of the Democratically elected Republicans as well. In fact, this wasn't stated here, but I have to think that this was the most recent war that actually saw Americans fighting one another (some Americans went and fought on the Nationalist side too). Americans being killed with American oil and munitions, American war correspondents reporting on both sides, barely attempting to conceal their sympathies ... quite the thing!
Of course any book that deals with the Spanish American War is going to deal with Hemingway. He's pretty much the swaggering uber macho man here that he's shown as being in every biography and film adaptation he's depicted in. Passionate, something of an asshole, and prone to loud outbursts and arguments, he's the larger than life figure you expect him to be.
Unfortunately, Hemingway's muse, and third wife, Martha Gellhorn, a fantastic war reporter and writer in her own right, gets short shrift here and is only ever mentioned in regard to where she is in proximity to Hemingway, as well as some letters she writes to Eleanor Roosevelt.
"Spain in Our Hearts" takes the really interesting what-ifs — what would Spain have looked like if the Spanish Republicans had won? What would Europe have looked like? Would the USSR have come to dominate Republican Spain? — and quickly disregards them.
That the Republicans had villains on their side as well is clear, but Hochschild's sympathies are clearly with them. It would have been nice if perhaps more time could have been spent on some of the atrocities perpetrated on their side as well.
I also must say, listening to this, I am again left absolutely astounded that anyone can legitimately feel good about being Catholic with how many times — and I'm not just talking about the inquisition — the Catholic Church has been on the side of absolute villainy. We already knew they backed Hitler, albeit perhaps somewhat covertly, but their chutzpah here in assisting Franco and the cause of fascism is just nauseating and puts me in mind of some of Christopher Hitchens' excellent writings.
All said and done, "Spain in Our Hearts" is an educational experience, albeit perhaps only a partial one. It also frequently suffers from bouts of mundanity in its reporting of these events, in my opinion.
How different might the world look today if the West had thrown their support to Republican Spain?
We can only wonder.
At least, nothing other than the basic three.
1. Hemingway participated (as a sort of glorified war correspondent) and famously wrote about it
2. George Orwell participated (like, actually fought in it) and famously wrote about it
3. 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!
And now I know a bit more.
As the title suggests, this really is focused pretty largely on Americans in the war (though Orwell and other Brits do get mentioned here and there as well).
Unfortunately, as for my third point of what I thought I knew, it turns out that by not getting involved, the western democracies very much got involved. Worse yet, American oil company Texaco was firmly on the side of the Franco and the Nationalists, and it is mentioned at numerous points throughout that without American oil, the Nationalists wouldn't have managed to win the war.
Texaco's chairman, Torkild Rieber, is about as villainous here as Franco, Mussolini, or Hitler. We learn that Rieber was himself something of a Hitler devotee and could not wait for National Socialism to come to the US. Despite his pretty open feelings on the matter, Rieber hobnobbed for years after World War II with the Hollywood and American political elite and seems to have made everyone forget that his friendship with Franco ensured a fascist foothold in Europe that lasted until the dictator's death in 1975.
Sigh. Yes, this is another one of those books that makes you just want to throw up your hands and say, "WTF America???" I did, on more than one occasion. Of course, many Americans fought on the side of the Democratically elected Republicans as well. In fact, this wasn't stated here, but I have to think that this was the most recent war that actually saw Americans fighting one another (some Americans went and fought on the Nationalist side too). Americans being killed with American oil and munitions, American war correspondents reporting on both sides, barely attempting to conceal their sympathies ... quite the thing!
Of course any book that deals with the Spanish American War is going to deal with Hemingway. He's pretty much the swaggering uber macho man here that he's shown as being in every biography and film adaptation he's depicted in. Passionate, something of an asshole, and prone to loud outbursts and arguments, he's the larger than life figure you expect him to be.
Unfortunately, Hemingway's muse, and third wife, Martha Gellhorn, a fantastic war reporter and writer in her own right, gets short shrift here and is only ever mentioned in regard to where she is in proximity to Hemingway, as well as some letters she writes to Eleanor Roosevelt.
"Spain in Our Hearts" takes the really interesting what-ifs — what would Spain have looked like if the Spanish Republicans had won? What would Europe have looked like? Would the USSR have come to dominate Republican Spain? — and quickly disregards them.
That the Republicans had villains on their side as well is clear, but Hochschild's sympathies are clearly with them. It would have been nice if perhaps more time could have been spent on some of the atrocities perpetrated on their side as well.
I also must say, listening to this, I am again left absolutely astounded that anyone can legitimately feel good about being Catholic with how many times — and I'm not just talking about the inquisition — the Catholic Church has been on the side of absolute villainy. We already knew they backed Hitler, albeit perhaps somewhat covertly, but their chutzpah here in assisting Franco and the cause of fascism is just nauseating and puts me in mind of some of Christopher Hitchens' excellent writings.
All said and done, "Spain in Our Hearts" is an educational experience, albeit perhaps only a partial one. It also frequently suffers from bouts of mundanity in its reporting of these events, in my opinion.
How different might the world look today if the West had thrown their support to Republican Spain?
We can only wonder.
August 21, 2016
“’Pain’ in our Hearts.” Hochschild teaches at Cal and co-founded Mother Jones so his world-view is ascertainable before cracking this one open. He asks himself if he would have hero-ed up to join the Republican International Brigade fighting very grim odds against fascism (but never really FOR communism or anarchy) in Spain. Hochschild also asks if you can have a revolution while fighting a war. He is overly sympathetic with the Republicans. Franco and the Nationalists were indeed nefarious but the civil war is yet again romanticized in this book. A lot was knowable about Stalinism (from the public purges inside the USSR and the quieter executions within Spain and against those “heroes” returning to the USSR from Spain to famine and collectivization) at this point. The Republican true believers get the kid-glove treatment when it comes to atrocities. Things were not black and white despite Hochschild’s claim that people thought of the world more that way. Americans fighting on the Nationalist side get very little ink. Did it make sense for untrained, uninformed US civilians to sneak over to the killing fields of Spain to be handled by Stalin’s Comintern commissars? I know the US was going through very tough times and some people thought the end of capitalism was nigh. I know WWI and the Depression traumatized then knocked the sense out of people all over the place. I do get the appeal of democratic socialism. But inquiring minds, or even somnambulists, should note the difference. Canary in the coal mine fear for humanity: Then, as today with the rise of the proto-fascists (comparable in vileness to the rise of the useful idiots fighting for Stalin) Putins, Trumps and LePenns: eyes wide open people!
The Spanish Civil war was certainly a brutal battlefield where Stalin, Hitler and Mussolini perfected their art and science of warfare. It laid bare the myth of appeasing dictators and showed what can happen when you bargain with the devil cuz you think you need him for the moment. It made Ernest Hemmingway look even cooler than he was.
On ‘what-if’ the Republicans had won, Hochschild insists the Soviets could not dominate a post-war Spain due to physical distance and the difficulty of getting boots on the ground. Hmmm…. Never underestimate Stalin. Plus warm water ports.
Texico comes off very badly for supplying Franco with tons of free oil. From Franco’s post-war foreign ministry: “Without American petroleum and American trucks and American credits, … we could never have won the civil war.” Had Republic sympathizers in the US (especially the not-so-investigative journalists) had the wherewithal to go after them publicly for flouting the intent of US neutrality, the Nationalists could’ve been in dire straits.
I do agree with Hochschild about journalist remiss. He claims that the foreign press were surrounded by stories of a Spanish social revolution but failed to pick up on it. “Reporters easily fall into the conforts of herd behavior.” Like Bosnia, Iraq, etc. They also failed to report on Texaco and other US companies doing business with Franco.
Jim Nuegass (a US volunteer) on the real power to hasten a resolution to the Spanish Civil War: “Washington, London and Paris are the real battlefields, not Teruel [Spain].”
Louis Fischer (US journalist on the ground): “We take sides by doing nothing.”
An American volunteer: “If France don’t come in now, we’re fucked ducks.” How do you say “fucked ducks” in Ukrainian?
The Spanish Civil war was certainly a brutal battlefield where Stalin, Hitler and Mussolini perfected their art and science of warfare. It laid bare the myth of appeasing dictators and showed what can happen when you bargain with the devil cuz you think you need him for the moment. It made Ernest Hemmingway look even cooler than he was.
On ‘what-if’ the Republicans had won, Hochschild insists the Soviets could not dominate a post-war Spain due to physical distance and the difficulty of getting boots on the ground. Hmmm…. Never underestimate Stalin. Plus warm water ports.
Texico comes off very badly for supplying Franco with tons of free oil. From Franco’s post-war foreign ministry: “Without American petroleum and American trucks and American credits, … we could never have won the civil war.” Had Republic sympathizers in the US (especially the not-so-investigative journalists) had the wherewithal to go after them publicly for flouting the intent of US neutrality, the Nationalists could’ve been in dire straits.
I do agree with Hochschild about journalist remiss. He claims that the foreign press were surrounded by stories of a Spanish social revolution but failed to pick up on it. “Reporters easily fall into the conforts of herd behavior.” Like Bosnia, Iraq, etc. They also failed to report on Texaco and other US companies doing business with Franco.
Jim Nuegass (a US volunteer) on the real power to hasten a resolution to the Spanish Civil War: “Washington, London and Paris are the real battlefields, not Teruel [Spain].”
Louis Fischer (US journalist on the ground): “We take sides by doing nothing.”
An American volunteer: “If France don’t come in now, we’re fucked ducks.” How do you say “fucked ducks” in Ukrainian?
November 16, 2019
“Men of my generation have had Spain in our hearts,” Albert Camus wrote. “It was there that they learned … that one can be right and yet be beaten, that force can vanquish spirit and that there are times when courage is not rewarded.”
Camus' quote serves as the title inspiration for Hochschild's history of the Spanish Civil War, specifically told through the eyes of the American (and some British) members of the International Brigades. The book is a collective biography both with the well-known names: George Orwell, Ernest Hemingway, Martha Gellhorn, and Bob Merriman, but also the others who volunteered to fight the growing fascism in Spain. In a coup, Francisco Franco (with the backing of Hitler and Mussolini), toppled the democratically-elected Republic. Franco had the support of the Roman Catholic church, and the rising powers and technology of Germany and Italy, and many countries' leaders - notably Franklin Roosevelt in the US - were reluctant to formally stand against them. This did not stop the hundreds of American (and several other nationalities) from joining the Republicans to fight the fascists.
Hochschild spends time noting how the War was covered by large newspapers, and the various journalists and their alliances with the warring factions. He details the combat and the writings of both Orwell and Hemingway, and introduces other writers like Virginia Cowles, who had the journalistic distinction of reporting the War from both sides.
While the book included a succint overview of the War, it focused more on the personalities involved. Hochschild saves his harshest criticism for the American CEO of Texaco oil company, Torkild Rieber. Rieber donated oil to Franco's troops, openly supported his coup, and was a Nazi sympathizer.
Like most works of history, I learned a lot from this book, the key lesson being how little I know about this period. Luckily, this book includes a detailed notes and bibliography section for more 'deep diving'. My small project continues, reading Orwell's accounts and memoir Homage to Catalonia, other essays and histories, and contemporary literature and art of the time.
Camus' quote serves as the title inspiration for Hochschild's history of the Spanish Civil War, specifically told through the eyes of the American (and some British) members of the International Brigades. The book is a collective biography both with the well-known names: George Orwell, Ernest Hemingway, Martha Gellhorn, and Bob Merriman, but also the others who volunteered to fight the growing fascism in Spain. In a coup, Francisco Franco (with the backing of Hitler and Mussolini), toppled the democratically-elected Republic. Franco had the support of the Roman Catholic church, and the rising powers and technology of Germany and Italy, and many countries' leaders - notably Franklin Roosevelt in the US - were reluctant to formally stand against them. This did not stop the hundreds of American (and several other nationalities) from joining the Republicans to fight the fascists.
Hochschild spends time noting how the War was covered by large newspapers, and the various journalists and their alliances with the warring factions. He details the combat and the writings of both Orwell and Hemingway, and introduces other writers like Virginia Cowles, who had the journalistic distinction of reporting the War from both sides.
While the book included a succint overview of the War, it focused more on the personalities involved. Hochschild saves his harshest criticism for the American CEO of Texaco oil company, Torkild Rieber. Rieber donated oil to Franco's troops, openly supported his coup, and was a Nazi sympathizer.
Like most works of history, I learned a lot from this book, the key lesson being how little I know about this period. Luckily, this book includes a detailed notes and bibliography section for more 'deep diving'. My small project continues, reading Orwell's accounts and memoir Homage to Catalonia, other essays and histories, and contemporary literature and art of the time.
March 28, 2018
Adam Hochschild's Spain in Our Hearts views the Spanish Civil War through the lens of American participants - an approach which is much more fruitful than one might expect. While the book isn't terribly detailed on the war's political and cultural background, it does an excellent job covering the war's appeal to a generation of progressives. While Hochschild does show the contrad Participants profiled include well-known writers (Ernest Hemingway, George Orwell) and journalists (Louis Fischer, Herbert Matthew) along with lesser-known Americans, Britons and others caught up in the fighting...along with the distressing number of Americans, from conservative politicians and writers to corporate bigwigs (not least Texaco's Torkild Rieber, who provided the Nationalists oil at cut-rate prices), who aided and abetted Franco's victory. Hochschild betters some other accounts by showing the fraught factionalism within the Republican forces, arguing that despite Soviet support and a blind spot for Communism, charges that they were mere tools of the Commintern are decidedly overblown. More interesting still are Hochschild's accounts of the fighting and suffering endured by the Internationalist Brigades, who went into battle with antiquated rifles, inadequate provisions and no clear plan of victory...yet still fought on any way. A story inspiring and depressing in equal measure, crisply told by a game author.
November 27, 2021
What a thoroughly researched book. Hochschild weaves the story of several people into his narrative, including Ernest Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn. I can really appreciate what one of the survivors of the Spanish Civil War said about 50 years later, "Life is never as easy and as black and white as what one thinks." It is so true. In youth, one thinks that they know everything. Only later, does one learn to appreciate the nuances.
My husband's niece's husband's grandmother is mentioned in the book, Lini Fehr, as she was a nurse in the Lincoln Brigade. Unlike most of the others who returned after the Civil War, she was found to be a traitor to her country, and her citizenship was revoked. She moved to Mexico, and made a new life for herself.
My husband's niece's husband's grandmother is mentioned in the book, Lini Fehr, as she was a nurse in the Lincoln Brigade. Unlike most of the others who returned after the Civil War, she was found to be a traitor to her country, and her citizenship was revoked. She moved to Mexico, and made a new life for herself.
August 12, 2018
Important topic, but a weird angle on it and boring. Why not just read Orwell's book?
You'll have time left over to listen to Spanish Bombs by the Clash and look at Guernica by Picasso.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-qcy...
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&r...
You'll have time left over to listen to Spanish Bombs by the Clash and look at Guernica by Picasso.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-qcy...
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&r...
April 23, 2016
I read this book purely based on the author's reputation, having read some of his other books. I didn't think I really had any interest in the Spanish Civil War, but I knew this author could take any topic and draw me in. I was not disappointed. Mr. 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. At the war's start, in 1936, the Great Depression was still stubbornly resisting efforts to overcome it, FDR was President, and it was a time of labor unrest and a questing for alternate economic ideals. 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 opposing side was the military-led coup of Francisco Franco, called the Nationalists, heavily supported by the Fascist governments of Hitler and Mussolini. The Republic had plenty of gold with which to buy arms (not having used up their wealth fighting in World War I), but the western nations (France, Britain, the USA) wouldn't sell Spain any weapons, hoping to maintain their neutrality. The only nations who would send help---both arms and advisors---were Mexico and the Soviet Union, and the Soviet Union took advantage of Spain by selling them all of the oldest, most outdated, mismatched weaponry in their warehouses. 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 really absorbing stories in the book are of the people who took part. I was very startled to learn of two Kentucky connections. One was a young newly-wed couple, Charles and Lois Orr, who were spending their honeymoon hitch-hiking through Europe. The nineteen-year-old bride, Lois, had been a student at the University of Louisville before dropping out to marry thirty-year-old Charles Orr, an economist. When they heard of the coup in Spain, they abandoned their travels and headed to Spain to offer their services to the government, working with a radio station and propaganda department in Barcelona. Lois wrote many letters home to her family in Kentucky, detailing their life and the progress of the war. (These letters have only fairly recently been gathered into a book, "Letters from Barcelona: An American Woman in Revolution and Civil War" , edited by Gerd-Rainer Horn.) While working there, they came to know a tall, awkward Brit, Eric Blair, and his wife. Recognize that name? I didn't. His pen name was George Orwell and after being wounded and returning to Britain, he wrote "Homage to Catalonia" about his experiences in the war. The second Kentucky connection was a senior at Swarthmore College, Joseph Selligman Jr., from Louisville , Kentucky, whose father was a former chairman of the Republican Party of Kentucky, a lawyer with connections to prominent politicians. Joe secretly left to fight in Spain. When his parents found out, it was too late to stop him and they couldn't convince him to abandon the idea. He was one of the first Americans killed in battle, his body never recovered. It's hard to realize now, with World War II having overshadowed this prequel, but the War in Spain was big news in the 1930s, with lots of journalists covering the story. One prominent writer who sent home news dispatches was Ernest Hemingway, who later wrote a novel about the conflict, "For Whom the Bell Tolls". The intertwining stories of these people are fascinating. Here is a passage from pages 99 to 100 of the book:
As Gurney's British battalion marched to the front, American volunteers were being rushed into training. The Communist Party had begun quietly enlisting men in late 1936, and the recruits came from across the social spectrum. James Yates's grandmother had been a slave. A fifteen-year-old when blue-uniformed Yankee troops arrived at her Mississippi plantation, she would die in her eighties while her grandson drove supply trucks in Spain. Of the roughly 90 other black American volunteers, some had hoped to fight against Mussolini's seizure of Ethiopia, and one coined the phrase "This ain't Ethiopia, but it'll do". The faces and hands of other volunteers bore telltale blue marks where carbon dust was embedded in a healed cut or scratch---the sign of a coal miner. Frank Alexander had grown up on a Nebraska Indian reservation speaking both English and Sioux; his father had been a Pony Express rider. Irving Goff was a vaudeville acrobat. Len Levenson and Bob Colver had both been fingerprint technicians for the FBI (and secret Communists). Hyman Katz was a rabbi. David McKelvey White's father had just finished a term as governor of Ohio.....None of the Americans came from illustrious lineages like John Cornford, the descendant of Charles Darwin killed at Madrid, or fellow Briton Julian Bell, a nephew of Virginia Woolf, who would be fatally wounded on another Spanish battlefield, or Lewis Clive, who could claim as an ancestor Clive of India, the eighteenth-century general who helped bring the wealth of the subcontinent under British control. None had the political perspicacity of someone like George Orwell, and the future writers among them were not the equals of volunteers like him or Andre Malraux. The Americans in Spain win a place in history not for who they were or what they wrote but for what they did. By the end there would be men from 46 states and all walks of life fighting there.....
In the last chapter, Mr. Hochschild wonders whether the course of history would have been altered had the West come to the aid of the Republic. Might Hitler have been stopped before his empire grew? He thinks probably not, but he makes clear that the West, by not coming to the aid of the government of Spain, only put off the inevitable showdown with the European fascists. Franco had the support of the Catholic Church and FDR didn't want to risk the ire of that bloc of voters in the USA. Even though there was an embargo on any material being sent to either side in the war, the CEO of Texaco, Torkild Rieber, secretly supplied Hitler with oil and gas, a necessity with all of the airplanes and vehicles in use. He continued to secretly help Hitler on into World War II and was never really punished.
The title of the book is from a quote by Albert Camus: "Men of my generation have had Spain in our hearts. It was there that they learned...that one can be right and yet be beaten, that force can vanquish spirit and that there are times when courage is not rewarded."
This is engrossing, fascinating reading. Interested to learn more, I discovered a six-part series about the Spanish Civil War on Youtube. I think it was probably produced in the 1980s (just guessing there), but is still quite good: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81Rhe...
Here is an interview with the author on "Fresh Air": http://www.npr.org/2016/03/28/4721355...
As Gurney's British battalion marched to the front, American volunteers were being rushed into training. The Communist Party had begun quietly enlisting men in late 1936, and the recruits came from across the social spectrum. James Yates's grandmother had been a slave. A fifteen-year-old when blue-uniformed Yankee troops arrived at her Mississippi plantation, she would die in her eighties while her grandson drove supply trucks in Spain. Of the roughly 90 other black American volunteers, some had hoped to fight against Mussolini's seizure of Ethiopia, and one coined the phrase "This ain't Ethiopia, but it'll do". The faces and hands of other volunteers bore telltale blue marks where carbon dust was embedded in a healed cut or scratch---the sign of a coal miner. Frank Alexander had grown up on a Nebraska Indian reservation speaking both English and Sioux; his father had been a Pony Express rider. Irving Goff was a vaudeville acrobat. Len Levenson and Bob Colver had both been fingerprint technicians for the FBI (and secret Communists). Hyman Katz was a rabbi. David McKelvey White's father had just finished a term as governor of Ohio.....None of the Americans came from illustrious lineages like John Cornford, the descendant of Charles Darwin killed at Madrid, or fellow Briton Julian Bell, a nephew of Virginia Woolf, who would be fatally wounded on another Spanish battlefield, or Lewis Clive, who could claim as an ancestor Clive of India, the eighteenth-century general who helped bring the wealth of the subcontinent under British control. None had the political perspicacity of someone like George Orwell, and the future writers among them were not the equals of volunteers like him or Andre Malraux. The Americans in Spain win a place in history not for who they were or what they wrote but for what they did. By the end there would be men from 46 states and all walks of life fighting there.....
In the last chapter, Mr. Hochschild wonders whether the course of history would have been altered had the West come to the aid of the Republic. Might Hitler have been stopped before his empire grew? He thinks probably not, but he makes clear that the West, by not coming to the aid of the government of Spain, only put off the inevitable showdown with the European fascists. Franco had the support of the Catholic Church and FDR didn't want to risk the ire of that bloc of voters in the USA. Even though there was an embargo on any material being sent to either side in the war, the CEO of Texaco, Torkild Rieber, secretly supplied Hitler with oil and gas, a necessity with all of the airplanes and vehicles in use. He continued to secretly help Hitler on into World War II and was never really punished.
The title of the book is from a quote by Albert Camus: "Men of my generation have had Spain in our hearts. It was there that they learned...that one can be right and yet be beaten, that force can vanquish spirit and that there are times when courage is not rewarded."
This is engrossing, fascinating reading. Interested to learn more, I discovered a six-part series about the Spanish Civil War on Youtube. I think it was probably produced in the 1980s (just guessing there), but is still quite good: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81Rhe...
Here is an interview with the author on "Fresh Air": http://www.npr.org/2016/03/28/4721355...
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