The Odyssey of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade: Americans in the Spanish Civil War (Paperback)

by Peter Carroll (Author) "Early one morning during the first week of November 1936, three somber men assembled in a sparsely furnished cubbyhole of an office in lower Manhattan..." (more)
Key Phrases: battalion commissar, fascist advance, brigade leadership, New York, United States, Milton Wolff (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Carroll ( Keeping Time: Memory, Nostalgia, and the Art of History ) skillfully melds the simple brutality of the Spanish Civil War with the human complexity of the 2800 American volunteers who fought in it from 1937 to 1939. Known as the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, most of these Americans were Communists who saw themselves as liberators and antifascists. After portraying their diverse, Depression-era backgrounds, Carroll follows them into battle in Spain where one-third died and nearly all were wounded. Almost half had no previous military experience, and the oral accounts of 200 contemporary survivors tell heartbreaking stories of slaughter. Meanwhile, as the U.S. government stressed nonintervention, observers assessed the fight as a "laboratory for the weapons of the next war." Surviving Lincolns returned as outcasts, facing indictments by the House Un-American Activities Committee, and, only through persistent idealism, did the Lincolns sustain their fight and maintain the right to protest publicly. Not until 1965 was the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade removed from the list of subversive organizations, ending 25 years of harassment. The breadth, depth and humanity Carroll depicts set this engrossing work apart from other juiceless war reports.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist
Drawing on more than 100 oral histories, newly available Spanish civil war archives in Moscow, the major archival collections at Brandeis and Berkeley, and dozens of veterans' private collections, Carroll provides an overview of the experiences of some 2,800 U.S. volunteers during and after the 1930s struggle between Loyalists and Republicans in Spain. Odyssey combines political, military, and intellectual history: It traces the process through which U.S. volunteers were recruited to the cause; offers a vivid narrative of the bloody battles in which fully a third of the U.S. volunteers died; and then pursues the personal and political journeys of the survivors through World War II, McCarthyism, the civil rights and antiwar movements, and up to the present. Carroll analyzes the role of the U.S. Communist Party in organizing and leading the volunteers in Spain, as well as later divisions when some veterans rejected the party's positions. Dozens of portraits of individual veterans demonstrate clearly that the political consciousness and commitment that brought them to Spain in the thirties remained, for most of these men and women, an enduring source of strength and identity. Mary Carroll --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 460 pages
• Publisher: Stanford University Press; 1 edition (April 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0804722773
• ISBN-13: 978-0804722773
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #401,630 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Those who forget history..., April 15, 2004

By	Daniel Friedman "dfja17" (Harrison, NY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I sought this book out because over time, as an amateur historian, I have become fascinated by certain subjects and the Spanish Civil War is definitely one of them, not simply because of the clash of ideologies that were in full force, but because looking at it through the complete prism of the twentieth century one can understand why the SCW was a microcosm of what became the Second World War. It's like Spain was a petrie dish for the major powers to test out new methods of warfare, new technology, and new methods of propaganda.

Since the causes of fascism and communism are equally repellant in this country, with perfect justification, it's interesting to read an account where the tendency is to route for neither side. I guess since the U.S. and U.S.S.R. were allies later on against the Nazis it makes it somewhat of an easier choice, but not when the evidence about the Party in America is revealed.

Not really a complete overview, the book focuses much more on individuals and their personal stories which gives the book much more of a human quality to it. I would have liked a little more of the general history. It's a good read for a seriously overlooked event in modern times.

18 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent look at The Abraham Lincoln Brigade, July 14, 1999

By	Thomas V. Millington "Book Junkie" (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Before reading Mr. Carroll's gripping book about the Abraham Lincoln Brigade I knew nothing about this group of brave individuals. Many right-wingers would like to have the public believe that the Abraham Lincoln Brigade did not exist at all, or rather that their role was minimal at best in the Spanish Civil War. Mr. Carroll presents us with an introduction to the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, its members, their beliefs, and conflicts. In essence, it is a personal look at people who fought in a vicious war. Too often war and the passing of time has allowed certain events and people to be forgotten. Now, thanks to Mr. Carroll, the "Odyssey of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade" will expose the adventures of these brave people to a new generation. It was not easy to make a decision to join the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in the years leading up to World War II. Some of the members faced hostility upon their return to the United States. Mr. Carroll's book is full of informative and detailed explanations on the Brigade. I learned quite a bit from this book and I would like to thank Mr. Carroll for writing this book. It is important that the Abrahma Lincoln Brigade never be forgotten.

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting Individual Stories, December 16, 2000

By	Fred M. Blum (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews

Mr. Carroll's book about the saga of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade is an interesting insight into a part of American history that is lost. What is most interesting is his stories of the men and women who choose to fight and die in Spain and the reasons that they did. As a collection of personnel stories this book excels. These men and women went to Spain notwithstanding the antagonism of their country and the countries surrounding Spain and then returned to a suspicious nation that treated them as part of the red menace.

However, if one is expecting to get a history of the Spanish Civil War, or even an overview of the war, one will be disappointed.