We discover what civil war, revolution and counter-revolution actually felt like from inside both camps. The contours of the war take shape through the words of the eyewitnesses. The atmosphere of events is vividly recaptured. And though the lived experience of the participants is revealed the uniquely tragic essence of all civil war. 'Fascinating and brilliantly unorthodox. ' Hugh Thomas, author of THE CONQUEST OF MEXICO. (19931202)
Blood Of Spain: An Oral History of the Spanish Civil War
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"Traversing a scarred land that has endured everything and forgotten nothing, historian Ronald Fraser records the memories of survivors in this remarkable oral history... No other volume on the Spanish Civil War can surpass the power of this one." (Time )
"Fascinating and brilliantly unorthodox." (High Thomas )
"Fraser has stunningly captured the feel of the Spanish Civil War. It is as close to the truth as we'll ever get." (Studs Terkel )
"Moving and original...splendid and evocative." (New York Times Book Review )
"Just occasionally a great and important historical work appears that not only affects our understanding of the events it describes and analyses, but also significantly alters our attitude towards the historical process itself... A magnificent, monumental book, that is quite the most valuable addition to the vast library of books on the 1930s that has been published in the last decade." (Richard Gott Guardian )
"Fascinating and brilliantly unorthodox." (High Thomas )
"Fraser has stunningly captured the feel of the Spanish Civil War. It is as close to the truth as we'll ever get." (Studs Terkel )
"Moving and original...splendid and evocative." (New York Times Book Review )
"Just occasionally a great and important historical work appears that not only affects our understanding of the events it describes and analyses, but also significantly alters our attitude towards the historical process itself... A magnificent, monumental book, that is quite the most valuable addition to the vast library of books on the 1930s that has been published in the last decade." (Richard Gott Guardian )
Book Description
Traversing a scarred land that has endured everything and forgotten nothing, historian Ronald Fraser records the memories of survivors in this remarkable oral history. . . No other volume on the Spanish Civil War can surpass the power of this one. ' TIME (19931202)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By MH Lambert
Format:Paperback
I am yet to encounter a single SCW (Spanish Civil War) historian who doesn't put this on their "essential" side of a bibliography. It allows English-speaking students and those interested in the war an irreplaceable gateway into individual stories of the war and revolution. At the time - and to this day - it is landmark in its scope and content.
I can sympathise with the other reviewer a little. The structure is confused and complicated. It is not a book to read cover to cover really; it is one to follow in conjunction with other histories and to pick up where appropriate. For instance, it has encounters and interviews punctuated by Fraser's own take on the war in a piecemeal and sometimes broken format. Frequently, protagonists appear at different times in the book (capitalised helpfully) only in passing and you can easily lose focus. The segmentation of the book is often frustrating.
That said the book is truly magnificent in supplementing general and more local histories of the war. The core of the book is segments of interviews sewn together with Fraser's narrative across a whole scope of stories of participants: from the highest commanders to the lowliest braceros (landless labourers), its breadth is its main feature. You can pick the book up and read about personal experiences from a variety of political viewpoints, areas of Spain and during the whole process of the war, from the demise of the Republic (February 1936) to the capture of Madrid (April 1939) by Franco. The sheer variety of interviews and the "off the beaten track" way in which Fraser constructs a grand narrative of many smaller ones is without match in the historiography of the conflict in English.
This is not a book for all.... Read more ›
I can sympathise with the other reviewer a little. The structure is confused and complicated. It is not a book to read cover to cover really; it is one to follow in conjunction with other histories and to pick up where appropriate. For instance, it has encounters and interviews punctuated by Fraser's own take on the war in a piecemeal and sometimes broken format. Frequently, protagonists appear at different times in the book (capitalised helpfully) only in passing and you can easily lose focus. The segmentation of the book is often frustrating.
That said the book is truly magnificent in supplementing general and more local histories of the war. The core of the book is segments of interviews sewn together with Fraser's narrative across a whole scope of stories of participants: from the highest commanders to the lowliest braceros (landless labourers), its breadth is its main feature. You can pick the book up and read about personal experiences from a variety of political viewpoints, areas of Spain and during the whole process of the war, from the demise of the Republic (February 1936) to the capture of Madrid (April 1939) by Franco. The sheer variety of interviews and the "off the beaten track" way in which Fraser constructs a grand narrative of many smaller ones is without match in the historiography of the conflict in English.
This is not a book for all.... Read more ›
5 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Being an interesting collage of interviews with all kinds of participants who saw what happened with their own eyes (and sometimes could influence to some extent what happened), it is hardly an "oral history" though.
The author collected impressive amount of personal memories. The book is constructed chronologically with (usually quite short) excerpts from these, interspersed with passages of I'm not sure what - interviewees' stories condensed by the author? author's own views and explanations? opinions thought by the author to represent reliably interviewees' views and ideological stances?
This is very confusing and does not justify the "oral history" subtitle. It would be much better if the simplest structure were adopted - full (or shortened for brevity if applicable) individual narratives in separate chapters, with possible addition of something like "points of rupture".
Speech and press citations are a very valuable addition though. I would be happy to see more of them in the book.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
5.0 out of 5 stars
1 review
5.0 out of 5 stars
A "must-read" for...
22 Oct 2012
By J. Lapham
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
A "must-read" for that vanishingly small subset of persons who are interested in the Spanish Civil War (I know you're out there). I first became interested when I read the first edition of Hugh Thomas's history of this conflict back in the Sixties. Seven or eight years ago I read that book again, in the 5th edition, I think, and it all came back. I didn't know that this book even existed until I read Ronald Fraser's obituary a couple of years ago in the New York Times. I immediately did a web search for it; there are hard-cover edition available bu they're quite expensive. One Amazon vendor had a paper-back but it sold while I was thinking about it. But I left the order in my cart and ,lo and behold, a few months later the book showed up again; this time I jumped on it, and I'm glad I did. What a find! The description is a little deceptive: It's not made up entirely of extended 1st person remembrances. There's a lot of history with bits of testimony interspersed. Fraser uses a different font for eye-witness memory, and follows a group of Spaniards throughout the war. He, and some assistants, started interviewing survivors in the early Sixties while most of them were still alive. And what memories they had! You couldn't write this book today. I still get angry thinking about Franco. The fascist who won, killed all his enemies, and lived happily ever after. This book makes a great pair with Thomas's work; throw in Orwell's "Homage to Catalonia" and Franz Borkenau's book and one or two others and you're an expert.This is the most heart-felt review I'll ever write for Amazon and almost certainly no-one will read it. But when I think of all those poor people who died, and the years under Franco...Life in Spain in those times must have been a lot like living under Communism. At least we can honor those peoples' memory by reading about them.
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