The Spanish Civil War: Reaction, Revolution, and Revenge (Revised and Expanded Edition) [Paperback]

Paul Preston (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0393329879 | ISBN-13: 978-0393329872 | Publication Date: June 17, 2007 | Edition: Revised and Expanded Edition

The definitive work on the Spanish Civil War, a classic of modern historical scholarship and a masterful narrative.

Paul Preston is the world's foremost historian of Spain. This surging history recounts the struggles of the 1936 war in which more than 3,000 Americans took up arms. Tracking the emergence of Francisco Franco's brutal (and, ultimately, extraordinarily durable) fascist dictatorship, Preston assesses the ways in which the Spanish Civil War presaged the Second World War that ensued so rapidly after it.

The attempted social revolution in Spain awakened progressive hopes during the Depression, but the conflict quickly escalated into a new and horrific form of warfare. As Preston shows, the unprecedented levels of brutality were burned into the American consciousness as never before by the revolutionary war reporting of Ernest Hemingway, John Dos Passos, Herbert Matthews, Vincent Sheean, Louis Fischer, and many others. Completely revised, including previously unseen material on Franco's treatment of women in wartime prisons, The Spanish Civil War is a classic work on this pivotal epoch in the twentieth century.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Paul Preston, author of The Spanish Civil War, Franco and Juan Carlos, and The Spanish Holocaust, is the world's foremost historian on twentieth-century Spain. A professor at the London School of Economics, he lives in London.

Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; Revised and Expanded Edition edition (June 17, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393329879
• ISBN-13: 978-0393329872
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #93,695 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #29 in Books > History > Europe > Portugal

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent But Read Beevor First; 4.5 Stars, July 25, 2009

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R. Albin (Ann Arbor, Michigan United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Spanish Civil War: Reaction, Revolution, and Revenge (Revised and Expanded Edition) (Paperback)

This very well written book is a fine overview and analysis of the Spanish Civil War. Still a controversial subject, despite the passage of decades, this is an evenhanded account. This is not, however, a conventional narrative history. While Preston provides the basic narrative, this is more a chronologically arranged series of essays on crucial aspects of the Civil War. To get the most out of Preston's analysis, it is very useful to know the basic features of the Civil War. I recommend reading Antony Beevor's narrative history first and then follow it with this book. The advantage of Preston's approach is that he explores a series of key issues in considerable depth. The relevant background of Spanish history and the structural features of Spanish society that created the potential for the war are described well. Preston has a very nice chapter on the history of the Second Republic which preceded the war and the specific events that led to the coup attempt that triggered the war. Chapters follow that deal with the international aspects of the war, the complex internal politics of both the Republican and Nationalist sides, the nature of combat, and the aftermath of the war. Particularly important themes are Franco's use of the war as an instrument to consolidate power, his pursuit of a state purged of liberal-leftist elements, the importance of Italian and German interventions, and the disorder of the Republican side.

In addition to the excellent text, the book has a couple of other nice features to ease readibility. It includes a decent list of important figures and a useful glossary of acronyms. Preston includes a very nice annotated bibliography as a guide into the literature.

31 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Love this book, January 20, 2008

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S. Clevenger "Number one fan" (Michigan) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Spanish Civil War: Reaction, Revolution, and Revenge (Revised and Expanded Edition) (Paperback)

I have read several books on the Spanish Civil War. What I enjoy most about this book is that it is engaging and it is more than just a dry recounting of the facts. It gives the background and the causes and shows how the war evolved in a very open objective way, citing some of the problems on both sides that made the confrontation inevitable. I highly recommend this book if you want to understand what this conflict and how it evolved.

20 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's a classic work, August 6, 2007

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Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Spanish Civil War: Reaction, Revolution, and Revenge (Revised and Expanded Edition) (Paperback)

Paul Preston is one of the world's foremost historians of Spanish history, so his focus THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR: REACTION, REVOLUTION, AND REVENGE is an essential acquisition for any military history library, appearing in a revised, expanded paperback to recount the major milestones and struggles of the era. It's a classic work and deserves a place not only in specialty military history collections, but in any general lending library strong in Spanish history and culture.