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Hell and Good Company: The Spanish Civil War and the World it Made
From the Pulitzer Prize–winning and bestselling author of The Making of the Atomic Bomb—the remarkable story of the Spanish Civil War through the eyes of the reporters, writers, artists, doctors, and nurses who witnessed it.
The Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) inspired and haunted an extraordinary number of exceptional artists and writers, including Pablo Picasso, Joan Miro, Martha Gellhorn, Ernest Hemingway, George Orwell, and John Dos Passos. The idealism of the cause—defending democracy from fascism at a time when Europe was darkening toward another world war—and the brutality of the conflict drew from them some of their best Guernica, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Homage to Catalonia, The Spanish Earth.
The war spurred breakthroughs in military and medical technology as well. New aircraft, new weapons, new tactics and strategy all emerged in the intense Spanish conflict. Indiscriminate destruction raining from the sky became a dreaded reality for the first time. Progress also arose from the the doctors and nurses who volunteered to serve with the Spanish defenders devised major advances in battlefield surgery and front-line blood transfusion. In those ways, and in many others, the Spanish Civil War served as a test bed for World War II, and for the entire twentieth century.
From the life of John James Audubon to the invention of the atomic bomb, readers have long relied on Richard Rhodes to explain, distill, and dramatize crucial moments in history. Now, he takes us into battlefields and bomb shelters, into the studios of artists, into the crowded wards of war hospitals, and into the hearts and minds of a rich cast of characters to show how the ideological, aesthetic, and technological developments that emerged in Spain changed the world forever.
The Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) inspired and haunted an extraordinary number of exceptional artists and writers, including Pablo Picasso, Joan Miro, Martha Gellhorn, Ernest Hemingway, George Orwell, and John Dos Passos. The idealism of the cause—defending democracy from fascism at a time when Europe was darkening toward another world war—and the brutality of the conflict drew from them some of their best Guernica, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Homage to Catalonia, The Spanish Earth.
The war spurred breakthroughs in military and medical technology as well. New aircraft, new weapons, new tactics and strategy all emerged in the intense Spanish conflict. Indiscriminate destruction raining from the sky became a dreaded reality for the first time. Progress also arose from the the doctors and nurses who volunteered to serve with the Spanish defenders devised major advances in battlefield surgery and front-line blood transfusion. In those ways, and in many others, the Spanish Civil War served as a test bed for World War II, and for the entire twentieth century.
From the life of John James Audubon to the invention of the atomic bomb, readers have long relied on Richard Rhodes to explain, distill, and dramatize crucial moments in history. Now, he takes us into battlefields and bomb shelters, into the studios of artists, into the crowded wards of war hospitals, and into the hearts and minds of a rich cast of characters to show how the ideological, aesthetic, and technological developments that emerged in Spain changed the world forever.
337 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 3, 2015
70 people are currently reading
1354 people want to read
About the author
Richard Rhodes
114 books617 followersRichard Lee Rhodes is an American journalist, historian, and author of both fiction and non-fiction (which he prefers to call "verity"), including the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Making of the Atomic Bomb (1986), and most recently, Arsenals of Folly: The Making of the Nuclear Arms Race (2007). He has been awarded grants from the Ford Foundation, the Guggenheim Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation among others.
He is an affiliate of the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University. He also frequently gives lectures and talks on a broad range of subjects to various audiences, including testifying before the U.S. Senate on nuclear energy.
He is an affiliate of the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University. He also frequently gives lectures and talks on a broad range of subjects to various audiences, including testifying before the U.S. Senate on nuclear energy.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 146 reviews
January 31, 2015
Human stories during the Spanish Civil War woven into a compelling book.
In the initial section Rhodes details in a readily understandable form the build up to the Spanish Civil War and how General Francisco Franco led a military revolt against the republic aided by Mussolini and Hitler. The republican side was aided by Stalin for a time, whilst the other western powers stood aside. Despite the non-intervention of the western powers, 40,000 foreign volunteers came to the republic’s aid.
The author tells the stories of some of those who travelled to Spain to support the republican cause. There’s some obvious characters here, Ernest Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn, a brief appearance by George Orwell as well as lesser known characters such as Norman Bethune, a Canadian surgeon, Edward Barsky, an American doctor and Patience Darton, a British nurse.
Robert Merriman, a Communist from California also features prominently. He was the commander of the Abraham Lincoln Battalion of US volunteers on which the hero of Hemingway's war novel, For Whom the Bell Tolls was based.
The book does concentrate quite significantly on the medical aspects of the Spanish Civil War as well as the processes that went into the creation of the major modern art pieces the war produced namely Picasso’s “Guernica”, and the lesser known “The Reaper” by Joan Miró for the 1937 Paris World Fair both commissioned by the Republican Government. The book would have benefited from images of these art works, however I was reading an ebook review copy so the final versions may well have photos.
The book focuses on the characters and their personal stories and is therefore not a military history, however it’s better for that. Personal stories have much more impact and I found the story of Patience Darton particularly moving. If you are at all interested in the Spanish Civil War then well worth a read.
In the initial section Rhodes details in a readily understandable form the build up to the Spanish Civil War and how General Francisco Franco led a military revolt against the republic aided by Mussolini and Hitler. The republican side was aided by Stalin for a time, whilst the other western powers stood aside. Despite the non-intervention of the western powers, 40,000 foreign volunteers came to the republic’s aid.
The author tells the stories of some of those who travelled to Spain to support the republican cause. There’s some obvious characters here, Ernest Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn, a brief appearance by George Orwell as well as lesser known characters such as Norman Bethune, a Canadian surgeon, Edward Barsky, an American doctor and Patience Darton, a British nurse.
Robert Merriman, a Communist from California also features prominently. He was the commander of the Abraham Lincoln Battalion of US volunteers on which the hero of Hemingway's war novel, For Whom the Bell Tolls was based.
The book does concentrate quite significantly on the medical aspects of the Spanish Civil War as well as the processes that went into the creation of the major modern art pieces the war produced namely Picasso’s “Guernica”, and the lesser known “The Reaper” by Joan Miró for the 1937 Paris World Fair both commissioned by the Republican Government. The book would have benefited from images of these art works, however I was reading an ebook review copy so the final versions may well have photos.
The book focuses on the characters and their personal stories and is therefore not a military history, however it’s better for that. Personal stories have much more impact and I found the story of Patience Darton particularly moving. If you are at all interested in the Spanish Civil War then well worth a read.
October 20, 2020
Hell and Good Company: The Spanish Civil War and the World It Made by Richard Rhodes was a riveting look at the Spanish Civil War from a lot of perspectives but what an intense chronological look at this war as it raged from 1936 to 1939, a harrowing harbinger of World War II. This was an intense study of this conflict from its inception to the end as it told of the story of this travesty from the beginning of the Spanish Civil War to the end. There were such pioneers in medicine that developed breakthroughs in blood transfusions, the packing of wounds and battlefield surgery. The casualties were many but their progress was humbling in spite of the rising deaths. There were volunteers that came from all over the world to be part of this civil war and assist in the cause against Franco and fascism and the imposing presence of Nazi Germany.
There was an influx of artists and writers that were inspired to be there during the Spanish Civil War, most notably Ernest Hemingway, George Orwell, Pablo Picasso, Joan Miro, Martha Gelhorn, and John Dos Passos. In addition to all of the commentary that was sent to many publications by the news correspondents like Hemingway and Gelhorn, there were also many books that emerged from this time. We have classics like For Whom The Bell Tolls, Homage to Catalonia, The Spanish Earth. There were also the artists Pablo Picasso and Joan Miro. Their art work is legendary at this time. Picasso's response to the atrocity, his mural Guernica. The counterpart by Joan Miro, a Catalonian artist, was Catalan Peasant in Revolt, both in tribute to the attacks on the Basques in Spain. As an aside, many years ago when I was in nursing school there were two students whose families emigrated to America from the French and Spanish Basque countries. To all of our delight, from two different ends of our dormitory floor, there would be the Basque yodel echoing down the halls as was used to herd their sheep in the Basque mountains. Such a beautiful part of our world and I am hoping to take a long planned trip to Spain and Portugal.
"A number of books and articles have described the process Picasso followed in painting Guernica. Less well known are the many visual references to other paintings that Picasso layered into the work. He did so, I think, to anchor and extend Guernica into history, to deepen it with the visual equivalent of allusion and metaphor. Almost every image in the painting has its double and triple in previous works by a range of well- and little-known masters, adding meaning much as the previous uses of a word add meaning to its present sense."
There was an influx of artists and writers that were inspired to be there during the Spanish Civil War, most notably Ernest Hemingway, George Orwell, Pablo Picasso, Joan Miro, Martha Gelhorn, and John Dos Passos. In addition to all of the commentary that was sent to many publications by the news correspondents like Hemingway and Gelhorn, there were also many books that emerged from this time. We have classics like For Whom The Bell Tolls, Homage to Catalonia, The Spanish Earth. There were also the artists Pablo Picasso and Joan Miro. Their art work is legendary at this time. Picasso's response to the atrocity, his mural Guernica. The counterpart by Joan Miro, a Catalonian artist, was Catalan Peasant in Revolt, both in tribute to the attacks on the Basques in Spain. As an aside, many years ago when I was in nursing school there were two students whose families emigrated to America from the French and Spanish Basque countries. To all of our delight, from two different ends of our dormitory floor, there would be the Basque yodel echoing down the halls as was used to herd their sheep in the Basque mountains. Such a beautiful part of our world and I am hoping to take a long planned trip to Spain and Portugal.
"A number of books and articles have described the process Picasso followed in painting Guernica. Less well known are the many visual references to other paintings that Picasso layered into the work. He did so, I think, to anchor and extend Guernica into history, to deepen it with the visual equivalent of allusion and metaphor. Almost every image in the painting has its double and triple in previous works by a range of well- and little-known masters, adding meaning much as the previous uses of a word add meaning to its present sense."
April 9, 2015
Sadly, only 2 Stars for this TMZ version of Spanish Civil War history. If you are interested in the celebs of the day, Picasso, Hemingway, Gelhorn, etc, then this could be a good read for you. I don't give a fig for any of them. Slightly better discussion on the medical aspects of the conflict, which paid benefits in the coming WWII. Rhodes' reputation encouraged me to read this but it does not measure up to my expectation at all. Frankly it was boring. You can find a much better account in War Is Beautiful: An American Ambulance Driver in the Spanish Civil War. Much better writing there too.
October 20, 2021
The Spanish Civil War has long been considered a dress rehearsal for World War Two, which it missed overlapping by only five months. But beyond terror bombing, most people don't know exactly what that means unless they're well-read on the war. "What that means" is the reason given for this book -- to focus on the experiences of several people who were involved in this rehearsal and how the things they did reverberated in the much larger cataclysm that's so much more famous.
When a faction of reactionary Spanish Army officers, in league with fascist political parties and the Catholic Church's Spanish hierarchy, staged a revolt against the popularly elected Socialist government in July 1936, most of Western Europe turned its collective back on the government. There was far more fellow-feeling for the Nationalists (as the rebels called themselves) among the largely rightist governments of Spain's neighbors and a general fear and loathing for leftists of whatever stripe, whether or not they had the backing of their populace. While Hitler's Germany and Mussolini's Italy poured troops and weapons into Francisco Franco's forces, the Republicans (as the outside world called the Spanish government forces) had to scrounge for basic supplies to keep its remaining loyal forces in the field. The only European nation that supported the Republicans in any significant way was Stalin's Soviet Union, which entered the conflict mostly for its own benefit (as did Germany and Italy) and eventually abandoned the cause in 1937.
Popular opinion in the West tended to side with the Republicans, especially as Franco's scorched-earth campaign reached its bloody stride. The concrete manifestation of this emotional support was the International Brigade, a loosely organized umbrella under which 60,000 men and women from around the world gathered to lend whatever aid they could to the cause. The primary characters in Hell and Good Company are drawn from this collection of romantic amateurs, opportunists, adventurers, true believers, and political activists who fought and died in their thousands for the losing side.
Because Guernica and Hemingway are about all most people now know about the Spanish Civil War, learning just how bloody an affair it was may come as a surprise: around half a million people died during thirty-two months of fighting, half of them civilians. (Another six figure's worth of the latter were killed after the Nationalists took over Spain and expended their surplus ammunition on their many internal enemies, real and imagined.) It's no wonder, then, that combat and emergency medicine became so important during the war and that this book pays so much attention to it. A number of American, Canadian, French, and Swiss doctors and nurses, freed from their hidebound medical establishments back home, made great strides in blood typing, mobile transfusion stations, triage, blood banking, wound care, and near-battlefield surgery. The author depicts these advancements, which saved countless hundreds of thousands of lives in WWII and beyond, as being seat-of-the-pants responses by overwhelmed medical volunteers trying to cope with the massive number of casualties each battle spun off. The details of operating mobile blood banks don't seem like the makings of great drama, but the author makes you feel it with his clear and confident prose.
WWI was the first war to be extensively documented in full motion. By the time the '30s rolled around, movie cameras were robust and portable enough that film crews could handily travel and shoot on the battlefield, and their film could be sent via cargo and passenger aircraft to far-flung audiences in record time. Likewise, foreign correspondents could now telegraph or phone their stories to home offices in New York or New Zealand at the end of the day and see their stories in print the next morning. Brand-name authors and artists were drawn by the scope and romance of the cause, using the written and visual arts to swing public opinion in ways not quite possible during the Great War. The author gives some attention to this, name-checking the usual suspects (Hemingway, Martha Gellhorn, John Dos Passos, George Orwell, and of course Picasso and Joan Miro) and the most familiar products (The Spanish Earth, Guernica, For Whom the Bell Tolls). Information warfare (as it eventually came to be known) entered its adolescence during WWI, but the Spanish Civil War became a training ground for the authors, reporters, filmmakers, and propagandists who in WWII would fully make the home front the fourth theater of war.
This is an interesting way of looking at a well-reported though oddly obscure conflict. However, the author's limited scope hobbles his thesis and knocks a couple stars off my rating. This isn't a story of battles and campaigns; the action rumbles on mostly in the background, providing something for our intrepid doctors and authors to do between drinks. This also means that we don't hear much about the advancements in tactics and weapons that the Spanish Civil War also enabled. This was where combined-arms warfare and close air support came fully of age, and where the rapid development of radios and radio direction finding began to revolutionize battlefield command and control and aerial navigation.
There's a reason for this general failing: Hell and Good Company doesn't feature the Spanish experience of the Spanish Civil War. The locals, when they appear at all, are extras in their own epic film. Also, the author never follows anyone on the Nationalist side, where most of the military experimentation was happening. Since the author's focus is entirely on the romantic International Brigade volunteers and there were hardly any true volunteers in Franco's forces (the Germans and Italians who fought in Spain were "voluntold" to go, as were the far-less-numerous Soviet pilots and technicians on the Republican side), we miss not only the half the conflict but also the other innovations that would bear bitter fruit in WWII.
Hell and Good Company is an engaging, well-written, blinkered, and incomplete telling of one small aspect of a war that would be so much more well-known had its big brother not stolen all its thunder soon after its end. If you go into this knowing its limitations, you'll be satisfied with what you get, but the dust jacket doesn't go out of its way to let you know what you're getting into. You may be better off reading a more comprehensive history of the war first so you know the big picture before you read this one. The dramatic detail from Guernica on this edition's front cover may be your best warning: this is just a small part of a huge story, though a compelling one.
When a faction of reactionary Spanish Army officers, in league with fascist political parties and the Catholic Church's Spanish hierarchy, staged a revolt against the popularly elected Socialist government in July 1936, most of Western Europe turned its collective back on the government. There was far more fellow-feeling for the Nationalists (as the rebels called themselves) among the largely rightist governments of Spain's neighbors and a general fear and loathing for leftists of whatever stripe, whether or not they had the backing of their populace. While Hitler's Germany and Mussolini's Italy poured troops and weapons into Francisco Franco's forces, the Republicans (as the outside world called the Spanish government forces) had to scrounge for basic supplies to keep its remaining loyal forces in the field. The only European nation that supported the Republicans in any significant way was Stalin's Soviet Union, which entered the conflict mostly for its own benefit (as did Germany and Italy) and eventually abandoned the cause in 1937.
Popular opinion in the West tended to side with the Republicans, especially as Franco's scorched-earth campaign reached its bloody stride. The concrete manifestation of this emotional support was the International Brigade, a loosely organized umbrella under which 60,000 men and women from around the world gathered to lend whatever aid they could to the cause. The primary characters in Hell and Good Company are drawn from this collection of romantic amateurs, opportunists, adventurers, true believers, and political activists who fought and died in their thousands for the losing side.
Because Guernica and Hemingway are about all most people now know about the Spanish Civil War, learning just how bloody an affair it was may come as a surprise: around half a million people died during thirty-two months of fighting, half of them civilians. (Another six figure's worth of the latter were killed after the Nationalists took over Spain and expended their surplus ammunition on their many internal enemies, real and imagined.) It's no wonder, then, that combat and emergency medicine became so important during the war and that this book pays so much attention to it. A number of American, Canadian, French, and Swiss doctors and nurses, freed from their hidebound medical establishments back home, made great strides in blood typing, mobile transfusion stations, triage, blood banking, wound care, and near-battlefield surgery. The author depicts these advancements, which saved countless hundreds of thousands of lives in WWII and beyond, as being seat-of-the-pants responses by overwhelmed medical volunteers trying to cope with the massive number of casualties each battle spun off. The details of operating mobile blood banks don't seem like the makings of great drama, but the author makes you feel it with his clear and confident prose.
WWI was the first war to be extensively documented in full motion. By the time the '30s rolled around, movie cameras were robust and portable enough that film crews could handily travel and shoot on the battlefield, and their film could be sent via cargo and passenger aircraft to far-flung audiences in record time. Likewise, foreign correspondents could now telegraph or phone their stories to home offices in New York or New Zealand at the end of the day and see their stories in print the next morning. Brand-name authors and artists were drawn by the scope and romance of the cause, using the written and visual arts to swing public opinion in ways not quite possible during the Great War. The author gives some attention to this, name-checking the usual suspects (Hemingway, Martha Gellhorn, John Dos Passos, George Orwell, and of course Picasso and Joan Miro) and the most familiar products (The Spanish Earth, Guernica, For Whom the Bell Tolls). Information warfare (as it eventually came to be known) entered its adolescence during WWI, but the Spanish Civil War became a training ground for the authors, reporters, filmmakers, and propagandists who in WWII would fully make the home front the fourth theater of war.
This is an interesting way of looking at a well-reported though oddly obscure conflict. However, the author's limited scope hobbles his thesis and knocks a couple stars off my rating. This isn't a story of battles and campaigns; the action rumbles on mostly in the background, providing something for our intrepid doctors and authors to do between drinks. This also means that we don't hear much about the advancements in tactics and weapons that the Spanish Civil War also enabled. This was where combined-arms warfare and close air support came fully of age, and where the rapid development of radios and radio direction finding began to revolutionize battlefield command and control and aerial navigation.
There's a reason for this general failing: Hell and Good Company doesn't feature the Spanish experience of the Spanish Civil War. The locals, when they appear at all, are extras in their own epic film. Also, the author never follows anyone on the Nationalist side, where most of the military experimentation was happening. Since the author's focus is entirely on the romantic International Brigade volunteers and there were hardly any true volunteers in Franco's forces (the Germans and Italians who fought in Spain were "voluntold" to go, as were the far-less-numerous Soviet pilots and technicians on the Republican side), we miss not only the half the conflict but also the other innovations that would bear bitter fruit in WWII.
Hell and Good Company is an engaging, well-written, blinkered, and incomplete telling of one small aspect of a war that would be so much more well-known had its big brother not stolen all its thunder soon after its end. If you go into this knowing its limitations, you'll be satisfied with what you get, but the dust jacket doesn't go out of its way to let you know what you're getting into. You may be better off reading a more comprehensive history of the war first so you know the big picture before you read this one. The dramatic detail from Guernica on this edition's front cover may be your best warning: this is just a small part of a huge story, though a compelling one.
March 3, 2015
A fascinating book about an amazing "little war." Sandwiched between the two World Wars from 1936-1939, Germany and Italy backed Franco to overpower the Republicans, backed by France, Britain, Russia, Canada and just about everyone else. It was a test run for the Axis vs. Allied of WW II. The supporters of the Republicans was an amazing mix of idealists from Hemingway to Picasso and Miro, Orwell fought for them, JS Haldane developed blood transport and storage for them. They developed an extensive medical support network, supplied in part by the Canadians. Many people raised funds for the Republicans including Paul Robeson. This book is like a lot of snapshots of the war, major battles (fire bombing of Guernica), major figures, major inventions. For a short (240 pg book) it has an amazing bibliography (over 20 pg!). Sadly the German and Italian firepower and air power just overwhelmed the Republicans and Franco ruled Spain for over 3 decades. Hitler got to try out military moves for WW II. A very interesting book.
March 2, 2015
“’War is psychologically like hell, supernatural like it and also, as we have been taught to expect, full of good company’”
-Edward Barsky, American surgeon, volunteer
The Spanish Civil War is often viewed as the real beginning of WWII. It has also become something of a touchstone for many Romantics and Idealists. As author Richard Rhodes says in his Introduction to his book Hell and Good Company, ‘[m]any books have been written about the Spanish Civil War’ but it is ’the human stories that had not been told or had not been told completely’ that he chooses to write about.
In 1931, after centuries of rule by the Church, the Aristocracy, and the army, Spain finally became a Republic. In 1936, General Francisco Franco, with the support of Hitler and Mussolini, began a military revolt against this Republic. The war attracted many idealists from elsewhere to aid the new Republic in the struggle. They came from different countries and different walks of life. There were doctors, surgeons, nurses as well as labourers, engineers, writers, artists and WWI vets. Many formed their own brigades including the Abraham Lincoln Brigade from the United States. They represented many different political views but they had one thing in common – they were determined to stop fascism. In that, they failed but much of what they did including the art and the literature still inspire today including Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls and Picasso’s Guernica. Rhodes recounts their involvement along with other famous and not-so-famous people who were willing to risk it all for idealism, politics and, in more than a few cases, for the adventure.
He also focuses on the medical professionals including Canadian surgeon Norman Bethune whose cobbled together mobile blood units helped reduce the number of casualties in combat and the Catalan doctor Josep Trueta whose method for cleaning, packing and casting wounds saved countless lives and preserved limbs that would have otherwise been amputated. Rhodes describes in fascinating detail the many innovative technologies that these and many other medical professionals developed which are still used today: ‘advances in blood collection, preservation, and storage; in field surgery; in the efficient sorting of casualties’.
In Hell and Good Company, Rhodes gives a well-researched, well-written, and fascinating look at the people, both national and international, who fought to preserve the Republic during the Spanish Civil War. He captures the hell of the war, its insanity and its horrors but, most of all he captures the bravery and the idealism of those who volunteered at such great risk to themselves – they were the best of good company.
-Edward Barsky, American surgeon, volunteer
The Spanish Civil War is often viewed as the real beginning of WWII. It has also become something of a touchstone for many Romantics and Idealists. As author Richard Rhodes says in his Introduction to his book Hell and Good Company, ‘[m]any books have been written about the Spanish Civil War’ but it is ’the human stories that had not been told or had not been told completely’ that he chooses to write about.
In 1931, after centuries of rule by the Church, the Aristocracy, and the army, Spain finally became a Republic. In 1936, General Francisco Franco, with the support of Hitler and Mussolini, began a military revolt against this Republic. The war attracted many idealists from elsewhere to aid the new Republic in the struggle. They came from different countries and different walks of life. There were doctors, surgeons, nurses as well as labourers, engineers, writers, artists and WWI vets. Many formed their own brigades including the Abraham Lincoln Brigade from the United States. They represented many different political views but they had one thing in common – they were determined to stop fascism. In that, they failed but much of what they did including the art and the literature still inspire today including Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls and Picasso’s Guernica. Rhodes recounts their involvement along with other famous and not-so-famous people who were willing to risk it all for idealism, politics and, in more than a few cases, for the adventure.
He also focuses on the medical professionals including Canadian surgeon Norman Bethune whose cobbled together mobile blood units helped reduce the number of casualties in combat and the Catalan doctor Josep Trueta whose method for cleaning, packing and casting wounds saved countless lives and preserved limbs that would have otherwise been amputated. Rhodes describes in fascinating detail the many innovative technologies that these and many other medical professionals developed which are still used today: ‘advances in blood collection, preservation, and storage; in field surgery; in the efficient sorting of casualties’.
In Hell and Good Company, Rhodes gives a well-researched, well-written, and fascinating look at the people, both national and international, who fought to preserve the Republic during the Spanish Civil War. He captures the hell of the war, its insanity and its horrors but, most of all he captures the bravery and the idealism of those who volunteered at such great risk to themselves – they were the best of good company.
April 1, 2015
A wonderfully done story of the Spanish Civil War, taking the accounts of all kinds of people involved, from Hemingway to Picasso to the doctors and nurses on the front lines. A really interesting discussion of how the art that came out of it, Guernica in particular, was influenced by the events of the war. Just a fascinating story of a terrible event. I learned a lot about the medical innovations of the war as well. A good book for the person interested in the topic, but it's also very compelling on its own. It is nonfiction, but it has a strong narrative voice.
February 2, 2016
Richard Rhodes, not a scholar of the Spanish Civil war, nor of Spain in general, is a fine explainer of interesting things, from the life of "John James Audubon" to "The Making of the Atomic Bomb," and with this, adds a very nice volume to the histories of that war and that fracturing nation: "Hell and Good Company: The Spanish Civil War and the World it Made" (2015). Not a military history, though including moving descriptions of several of the battles – Madrid and the Jarama valley, among others– it does a particularly good job with what most war writing omits — the challenge to and courage of those responsible for the care and healing of the wounded. American and British medical personnel, and particularly the work of British nurses, get much of his attention. He is interested in, he tells us, “the human stories … not yet told, or told only completely. I was drawn as well to the technical developments of the war … especially constructive technology which amplifies compassion….” As a non-Spaniard looking in, he scatters the pages with accounts of non-Spanish participants — George Orwell, Ernest Hemingway, Martha Gellhorn, Antoine de Saint-Exupery, Andre Malraux among many– to give today’s reader a strong impression of what moved so many to risk their lives.
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February 7, 2015
This is a different style of history. It reads more like and historical novel, where the characters are more important than the actions of the military. It gives you the story from the perspective of the people who fought on the side of the Republic. Between 1936 and 1939 more than one hundred thousand volunteers poured into Republican Spain to try and stop the Nationalist troops under Franco.
People who are familiar with the war have heard the stories about Ernest Hemingway and Martha Gelhorn, but most don’t know that George Orwell, and John Dos Passos also fought on the side of the Republic. Both Pablo Picasso and Joan Miro created world famous paintings for the 1937 Spanish Pavilion at the Paris World’s Fair.
But it was the men who fought in the International Brigades (IB) and the doctors and nurses who worked in the 24 IB hospitals that really made a difference. During the war they devised the first mobile blood bank, the use of triage in emergency situations and remarkable new ways of treating wounds from shrapnel and bullets. The soldiers of the IB stopped the first attempt by Franco to take Madrid.
On the fascist side the Germans were able to try out new theories of war, such as the use of carpet bombing to destroy cities and the morale of the people in them. They were also able to try out many new weapons, most of which they later used in the “blitzkrieg” that helped them conquer most of Western Europe and large chunks of the Soviet Union.
For the Soviet Union, it was their first try at creating a communist state outside of eastern Europe. Their destruction of their anarchist and republican allies in battles in Barcelona was one of the reasons that the Republicans lost the war. But for Stalin and company it was a lesson they would apply to Eastern Europe after World War Two.
For anyone who likes to read about war from the viewpoint of the soldiers and civilians who lived through it, this is the book for you.
Zeb Kantrowitz zworstblog.blogspot.com
People who are familiar with the war have heard the stories about Ernest Hemingway and Martha Gelhorn, but most don’t know that George Orwell, and John Dos Passos also fought on the side of the Republic. Both Pablo Picasso and Joan Miro created world famous paintings for the 1937 Spanish Pavilion at the Paris World’s Fair.
But it was the men who fought in the International Brigades (IB) and the doctors and nurses who worked in the 24 IB hospitals that really made a difference. During the war they devised the first mobile blood bank, the use of triage in emergency situations and remarkable new ways of treating wounds from shrapnel and bullets. The soldiers of the IB stopped the first attempt by Franco to take Madrid.
On the fascist side the Germans were able to try out new theories of war, such as the use of carpet bombing to destroy cities and the morale of the people in them. They were also able to try out many new weapons, most of which they later used in the “blitzkrieg” that helped them conquer most of Western Europe and large chunks of the Soviet Union.
For the Soviet Union, it was their first try at creating a communist state outside of eastern Europe. Their destruction of their anarchist and republican allies in battles in Barcelona was one of the reasons that the Republicans lost the war. But for Stalin and company it was a lesson they would apply to Eastern Europe after World War Two.
For anyone who likes to read about war from the viewpoint of the soldiers and civilians who lived through it, this is the book for you.
Zeb Kantrowitz zworstblog.blogspot.com
February 5, 2015
The Spanish Civil War is one of the less heavily studied wars of the twentieth century, yet it served as a proving ground for all sorts of technologies and methods destined to be used only a couple of years later by Hitler's Wehrmacht. Rhodes (you may know him from his equally splendid volume on the development of the atomic bomb) does a superb job of revealing both the events and the people involved in this war. An entire generation of artists and writers - ranging from Pablo Picasso to Ernest Hemingway and George Orwell- were inspired by this brutal conflict, much as the Romantics were inspired by the Greek fight for independence over a century before. The idealism of the cause of defending democracy from fascism produced some of their best work. Tens of thousands of foreign volunteers went to fight in Spain. The war also sped up breakthroughs in military technology and medical techniques, many of which were applied to European and North African battlefields between 1939 and 1945. Indiscriminate destruction raining from the sky became a reality for the first time and foreshadowed World War II.
April 8, 2015
Simply a terrific read. Rhodes, best known for his books on the Making of the Atomic and Hydrogen bombs takes his turn at the Spanish Civil War. Based on unpublished memoirs of participants, most of whom are at NYU in NY, this is more social history then political. If you are looking for a detailed analysis of battles or politics this is not the book. It is a very narrow, wonderfully written narrative history of the war as seen through the eyes of those unpublished manuscripts.
The war is also examined from the point of view of art. Both Pacasso and Miro have their works examined as are many of those literary lights, like dos Pasos, Hemmingway, Orwell and Stephen Spendor.
The war was not only a testing ground for war tactics and technology but for medicine. Blood transfusions were perfected and used, blood collection and storage was perfected and used, and triage, so common now, was introduced for the first time.
Rhodes writes with a fluidity and brio that is enviable. Even if the subject matter does not interest you his writing will captivate. A recommended read.
The war is also examined from the point of view of art. Both Pacasso and Miro have their works examined as are many of those literary lights, like dos Pasos, Hemmingway, Orwell and Stephen Spendor.
The war was not only a testing ground for war tactics and technology but for medicine. Blood transfusions were perfected and used, blood collection and storage was perfected and used, and triage, so common now, was introduced for the first time.
Rhodes writes with a fluidity and brio that is enviable. Even if the subject matter does not interest you his writing will captivate. A recommended read.
July 10, 2019
Richard Rhodes has received awards and many accolades for his writing. I can see why. This book is well written in the sense that it reads well; it is easy and pleasurable to read. It is never clunky or repetitive. And yet it does not hit the mark for me as the premise is too slim and feels like an afterthought.
Rhodes masterfully weaves together diary, memoir and journalism of the many foreigners who came to Spain to fight for democracy and socialism and against fascism. He asserts that the pressure of this conflict pushed along advances in medicine such as blood collection and storage and aesthetic advances such as Picasso's Guernica.
The reader comes away with what happened but not why it happened. Individuals politics are discussed, but the politics of the conflict seem incidental to his story. Rhodes' sympathies lie with the Republic, of this there is no doubt, but he curiously avoids the politics of the war internationally and ideologically.
Rhodes masterfully weaves together diary, memoir and journalism of the many foreigners who came to Spain to fight for democracy and socialism and against fascism. He asserts that the pressure of this conflict pushed along advances in medicine such as blood collection and storage and aesthetic advances such as Picasso's Guernica.
The reader comes away with what happened but not why it happened. Individuals politics are discussed, but the politics of the conflict seem incidental to his story. Rhodes' sympathies lie with the Republic, of this there is no doubt, but he curiously avoids the politics of the war internationally and ideologically.
April 3, 2015
The entirety of this book is anecdotes about nurses/doctors working on the Republican side, writers (Hemingway, Orwell) and artists (mainly Picasso painting Guernica.) All interesting but so what? Nothing new here and while Rhodes is a great historian, I’m not sure why this book exists.
June 29, 2019
Not a great book if you're looking for blow-by-blow and battle-by-battle lists of campaigns. Instead s story of the Spanish Civil War through the lives of great nurses, doctors, poets, and artists.
January 16, 2022
What a disappointing book. It made me question the veracity of Richard Rhodes' *The Making of the Atomic Bomb* and *Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb*, both of which I enjoyed and accepted as reliable histories of those events.
Taken at face value, the Spanish Civil War (according to Rhodes's book) was fought with Franco as the only actual Spanish nationalist. He commanded hordes of bloodthirsty Moroccan mercenaries, and uncountable German and Italian troops, but not a single other Spaniard.
For, according to Rhodes, the entirety of Spain's cities, the countryside, the fresh-faced young men, the pretty chicas, the fathers, the mothers, were 99.44% for the republic. Which, of course, was not at all Communist (despite proclaiming itself, even in the 13-point proposal for a diplomatic solution it generously issues in 1938, as a "People's Republic"). The USSR backed the Spanish Republic for un-democratic reasons, Rhodes allows, but got out early so of course had no control over or influence on the Republic, you see.
Again, taken at face value, the reader is left with many questions. Why, exactly, is Dos Passos upset as he leaves Spain and the war? What is POUM, the organization that appears out of nowhere to threaten Orwell and his wife's lives at the end of their stay in the country? If every Spaniard is for the Republic, and the Republic is constantly winning the tough battles with the help of the plucky democracy-loving foreign volunteers, why is the Republic always losing ground? And what about the Republican forces' murders of priest and nuns, and its own terror bombings against civilians, each of which Rhodes mentions exactly once in his book before quickly assuring readers that such only happened very early in the war? (After all, since according to the author all Spaniards barring Franco and the occasional fifth columnist were for the Republic, there couldn't have been any civilians for the Republic to terrorize.)
I only give two stars because of the many interesting personal accounts Rhodes relates. I am surely not the only reader who followed Patience Darton's story only to be saddened, not just by her widowhood (which, admittedly, felt inevitable) but how she voluntarily ended up in the "People's Republic of" China in the late 1950s. Her time in Spain apparently hadn't taught Ms. Darton anything about totalitarian dictatorships ... or taught her too much. I'm not sure what's worse.
Taken at face value, the Spanish Civil War (according to Rhodes's book) was fought with Franco as the only actual Spanish nationalist. He commanded hordes of bloodthirsty Moroccan mercenaries, and uncountable German and Italian troops, but not a single other Spaniard.
For, according to Rhodes, the entirety of Spain's cities, the countryside, the fresh-faced young men, the pretty chicas, the fathers, the mothers, were 99.44% for the republic. Which, of course, was not at all Communist (despite proclaiming itself, even in the 13-point proposal for a diplomatic solution it generously issues in 1938, as a "People's Republic"). The USSR backed the Spanish Republic for un-democratic reasons, Rhodes allows, but got out early so of course had no control over or influence on the Republic, you see.
Again, taken at face value, the reader is left with many questions. Why, exactly, is Dos Passos upset as he leaves Spain and the war? What is POUM, the organization that appears out of nowhere to threaten Orwell and his wife's lives at the end of their stay in the country? If every Spaniard is for the Republic, and the Republic is constantly winning the tough battles with the help of the plucky democracy-loving foreign volunteers, why is the Republic always losing ground? And what about the Republican forces' murders of priest and nuns, and its own terror bombings against civilians, each of which Rhodes mentions exactly once in his book before quickly assuring readers that such only happened very early in the war? (After all, since according to the author all Spaniards barring Franco and the occasional fifth columnist were for the Republic, there couldn't have been any civilians for the Republic to terrorize.)
I only give two stars because of the many interesting personal accounts Rhodes relates. I am surely not the only reader who followed Patience Darton's story only to be saddened, not just by her widowhood (which, admittedly, felt inevitable) but how she voluntarily ended up in the "People's Republic of" China in the late 1950s. Her time in Spain apparently hadn't taught Ms. Darton anything about totalitarian dictatorships ... or taught her too much. I'm not sure what's worse.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 11, 2021
I specialised in the Spanish Civil War for my Masters thesis and yet have mountains still to learn about this conflict, its context and its cost. For a relatively slim volume, this really packs a punch. The particular lenses used to tell the story, from art history, medical innovation and personal relationships is an interesting and engaging way to grapple with the subject. I recommend this if you're new to this period and want something emotive and immersive.
October 15, 2024
Difficult writing style to read. Many facts compressed and comingled for a reader not familiar with the subject.
July 15, 2020
Why was this book made? It seems as if the author looked at the large number of books that are written about the Spanish Civil War, almost all of which are grossly unjust in bias towards the reds and against the whites, and the author decided that the historiography was not biased enough and so he needed to make an even more lopsidedly balanced book. How biased is this book? The author simultaneously mocks the bullying that Francisco Franco suffered from the hands of his abusive father and cruel schoolmates without showing any sympathy for him and then spends a significant amount of time in this book showing the behavior of nurses on the side of the reds so that they can look extra human while completely making the whites out to be inhumanely cruel. This is a book that seems to exist mainly for the author to get credit and clout with an increasingly more extreme leftist world of Academia, which, it bears repeating as a man who has read a lot of biased books on the Spanish Civil War, is already an extremely biased field as well.
This book is between 200 and 250 pages and is divided into three parts and thirteen chapters. The preface begins the work with a justification of the book's existence. After that the first part of the book discusses the overthrown past that the author is nostalgic for (I), with chapters on the death of people in nationalist zones (1), the light of the burning city of Madrid (2), the heroic reds (3), and the bombs falling thanks to the superiority of nationalist artillery and planes (4). After that the author whines about the dream and supposed lie of Franco (II), discussing the propaganda of Guernica (5), the fight for Jarama (6), the battle over homesteads and property (7), daily life (8), the sea of suffering and death in the battles (9), idealists who were disabused of their naivete (10), and the foolish hope of the Republic in the face of defeats and losses (11). Finally, the author very briefly covers the defeat of the Republicans (III), with chapters on the victory of Franco (12), the history written by the defeated (13), and an epilogue that tries to point to triumphalism in the period after Franco's death (14), after which the book ends with acknowledgements, notes, a bibliography, index, and credits.
Overall, this is a terrible book largely in what it omits. What it presents is a view of the Spanish Civil War that looks at those like George Orwell who were hostile to Stalinism with a condescending view, has no milk of human kindness for those who were right of center, viewing them as fascists and not having any interest in talking about something that would view them in a complex or nuanced or human fashion. What is included in this book, aside from the usual leftist bias taken to an even larger extreme, is a discussion of the sort of people who fought on the side of the reds, and what they suffered, and the way that their suffering motivated them to make their sacrifices worthwhile. Of course, the cause that the author supports is a terrible cause, but there is a lot of tension here between the author's desire to praise the leftists for being more successful or more resilient than given credit for while also portraying the whites as being cruel and barbaric monsters, and the end result is that some aspects of the author's bias undercut other aspects of it and reveal much of the leftist reportage of the Spanish Civil War, including this book, as mere propaganda.
This book is between 200 and 250 pages and is divided into three parts and thirteen chapters. The preface begins the work with a justification of the book's existence. After that the first part of the book discusses the overthrown past that the author is nostalgic for (I), with chapters on the death of people in nationalist zones (1), the light of the burning city of Madrid (2), the heroic reds (3), and the bombs falling thanks to the superiority of nationalist artillery and planes (4). After that the author whines about the dream and supposed lie of Franco (II), discussing the propaganda of Guernica (5), the fight for Jarama (6), the battle over homesteads and property (7), daily life (8), the sea of suffering and death in the battles (9), idealists who were disabused of their naivete (10), and the foolish hope of the Republic in the face of defeats and losses (11). Finally, the author very briefly covers the defeat of the Republicans (III), with chapters on the victory of Franco (12), the history written by the defeated (13), and an epilogue that tries to point to triumphalism in the period after Franco's death (14), after which the book ends with acknowledgements, notes, a bibliography, index, and credits.
Overall, this is a terrible book largely in what it omits. What it presents is a view of the Spanish Civil War that looks at those like George Orwell who were hostile to Stalinism with a condescending view, has no milk of human kindness for those who were right of center, viewing them as fascists and not having any interest in talking about something that would view them in a complex or nuanced or human fashion. What is included in this book, aside from the usual leftist bias taken to an even larger extreme, is a discussion of the sort of people who fought on the side of the reds, and what they suffered, and the way that their suffering motivated them to make their sacrifices worthwhile. Of course, the cause that the author supports is a terrible cause, but there is a lot of tension here between the author's desire to praise the leftists for being more successful or more resilient than given credit for while also portraying the whites as being cruel and barbaric monsters, and the end result is that some aspects of the author's bias undercut other aspects of it and reveal much of the leftist reportage of the Spanish Civil War, including this book, as mere propaganda.
May 9, 2015
If the tags don't give a clue about this book, let's just say it covers lots of territory!
Author Rhodes has delivered another readable and well done work regardless of what it is 'supposed' to be about. There are a lot of prerequisite assumptions placed on the reader. The background of the Spanish Civil War, the entirety of early/mid twentieth century international politics and governance, the nature of celebrity in the era in question, and art history . . . Wow!
The Spanish Civil War was rather unique with the legitimate democratic government being revolutionary and extraordinarily leftist. The opposition and rebels were militaristic and tyrannical. This of course is a reversal from much of the rest of the 20th century experience. That the western powers that had emerged from WWI were hesitant if not opposed to supporting a democratically elected government was further proof that the world was in chaos. With an overt facist rebellion (one still shakes their head at that formulation even though the German fascist were themselves revolutionaries) that the West could have resisted prior to the outbreak of global hostilities in WWII, they instead chose to mostly sit on the sidelines. After all, the 'good guys' were anarchists, communists and socialists.
This book tries through anecdote, diary and letter excerpts, and unpublished work to expand the common view of the Civil War. The level of innovation in warfare that occurred is highlighted. The extent though is at places only hinted at or stated in too matter-of-fact fashion.
Is this an entry point book for the Spanish Civil War in terms of history? The clear answer is no. If it is the readers first exposure to a book length exposition it will not be a waste of time, just incomplete. For other and more thoroughly familiar reader this book offers some level of detail that is unique.
There are some chronological deficiencies and shortcomings that I am surprised Rhodes indulged in. His sources while not wrong, are at odds with other equally valid material, of course, none of which is verifiable as the aftermath of the event was clouded by WWII. Then with Franco's iron rule for decades, the ability for historians to do their work was at best, limited. Examples include Hemingway's itinerary in Spain, the work of Picasso and Miro' in preparation for the exhibition, and the very limited commentary of the rise of Franco and his supporters. Eclectic with an almost mythical bias in places.
Could have been a 4 star book with a modified approach such as a greater focus on the medical advances pioneered during the Civil War. The internal turmoil in the Republican (i.e. elected and official) government is a favorite topic that Rhodes mentions but does not effectively follow up on in this work.
Good sourcing if unusual in places. Could be a lot more if Rhodes had even included the back story of how he wrote this book and the current on the ground experts he consulted.
Author Rhodes has delivered another readable and well done work regardless of what it is 'supposed' to be about. There are a lot of prerequisite assumptions placed on the reader. The background of the Spanish Civil War, the entirety of early/mid twentieth century international politics and governance, the nature of celebrity in the era in question, and art history . . . Wow!
The Spanish Civil War was rather unique with the legitimate democratic government being revolutionary and extraordinarily leftist. The opposition and rebels were militaristic and tyrannical. This of course is a reversal from much of the rest of the 20th century experience. That the western powers that had emerged from WWI were hesitant if not opposed to supporting a democratically elected government was further proof that the world was in chaos. With an overt facist rebellion (one still shakes their head at that formulation even though the German fascist were themselves revolutionaries) that the West could have resisted prior to the outbreak of global hostilities in WWII, they instead chose to mostly sit on the sidelines. After all, the 'good guys' were anarchists, communists and socialists.
This book tries through anecdote, diary and letter excerpts, and unpublished work to expand the common view of the Civil War. The level of innovation in warfare that occurred is highlighted. The extent though is at places only hinted at or stated in too matter-of-fact fashion.
Is this an entry point book for the Spanish Civil War in terms of history? The clear answer is no. If it is the readers first exposure to a book length exposition it will not be a waste of time, just incomplete. For other and more thoroughly familiar reader this book offers some level of detail that is unique.
There are some chronological deficiencies and shortcomings that I am surprised Rhodes indulged in. His sources while not wrong, are at odds with other equally valid material, of course, none of which is verifiable as the aftermath of the event was clouded by WWII. Then with Franco's iron rule for decades, the ability for historians to do their work was at best, limited. Examples include Hemingway's itinerary in Spain, the work of Picasso and Miro' in preparation for the exhibition, and the very limited commentary of the rise of Franco and his supporters. Eclectic with an almost mythical bias in places.
Could have been a 4 star book with a modified approach such as a greater focus on the medical advances pioneered during the Civil War. The internal turmoil in the Republican (i.e. elected and official) government is a favorite topic that Rhodes mentions but does not effectively follow up on in this work.
Good sourcing if unusual in places. Could be a lot more if Rhodes had even included the back story of how he wrote this book and the current on the ground experts he consulted.
April 12, 2015
“Hell and Good Company: The Spanish Civil War and the World It Made,” by Richard Rhodes (Simon and Schuster, 2015). Stunning. Devastating. Fascinating. I would say depressing, except that throughout Rhodes describes the strange exhilaration and foolish optimism of the republicans and their international allies, the hospitality and generosity of the Spanish people, and whatever good came out of the war, primarily in terms of medicine. Anyway, this is Rhodes at his best. The Spanish Civil War hasn’t been mined as deeply as WWII, and although I knew the general outlines I did not know the details of the fighting and the tremendous differences between the two sides. The nationalists—Franco, the fascists---were extraordinarily brutal. Colonial troops used to brutalizing “the natives” were brought to Europe to do the same thing. They slaughtered everyone indiscriminately and deliberately, to spread terror. They tortured; they cut off genitals and hung them from their bayonets. They were reactionaries of the worst sort, with more and more support from Mussolini and Hitler. The republicans were Spaniards who had finally tired of the cruel regimes they had suffered under, communists, socialists, peasants, intellectuals, idealists---they were the legal, official government. It’s a short book, just 239 pages, and a very fast read. But it is packed with information, especially about the foreigners, the journalists, writers, artists, who flocked to the cause (I have not heard of any important figure who sided with Franco). Hemingway is not a drunken showoff and buffoon. He had created an image, but he was also a very keen observer, a great writer, generous and brave. Rhodes details the medical developments forced by the fighting: primarily the perfection of blood transfusions, which saved thousands of lives. He describes some of the wartime romances—poet Muriel Rukeyser, 22, who had a passionate affair with a German on a train south, for a few days. He went to war and she never saw him again. Patience Darton, a British nurse who was not just a brilliant caregiver, but also had a brief, passionate affair with a fighter who was killed. Rhodes explains very simply what happened: the western powers refused to get involved; first Mussolini and then Hitler threw more and more onto Franco’s side; Stalin at first supported the republicans, which gave them air superiority and better armor at the beginning. But Stalin eventually decided, maybe because he realized he wasn’t going to get a communist state in Spain, to pull out, and the republicans, fierce, courageous, determined and clever as they were, were overwhelmed. Franco was a beast. Rhodes’ writing is clear and uncomplicated. He doesn’t get sidetracked into ideological details, but gives enough for a sense of the politics on the republican side. Tough book.
http://richardrhodes.com
http://richardrhodes.com
May 15, 2015
The planet was on fire in the late 1930s: America was inching upwards from the Great Depression's rock bottom and frenzied totalitarianism was malevolently masticating Germany and Japan. Yet the far Western World (i.e., the U.S.) was on the whole oblivious to the rising evil. Stoking the international inferno, albeit on a comparatively limited basis, was the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). This domestic conflict, which brought Francisco Franco to world prominence, was a fascinating mix of ideology and innovation. The war pitted republicans against Franco's nationalists. But it also highlighted breakthroughs in medical treatment like lifesaving blood transfusion and surgical practice in theaters of war. Thanks to these new approaches to old concerns, the war served as a "test bed" for related efforts in both World War II and the skermishes that followed it. But as in World War II, the test bed was made and lain in an atmosphere tainted by both dictatorship and destruction. Added to the Spanish Civil War's incongruous blend of hell and healing was the glamorous heroism the likes of Hemingway and Picasso brought to it, thus injecting the war with angry art. Rhodes very compellingly weaves the new technology and timeless humanity (or lack thereof) in a very interesting and unique telling of la guerra civil de Espana. "What survives are documents, paintings, methods, technologies -- and bones in a basement, bones scattered across a peaceful field." And memories.
February 24, 2015
This is a one volume history of the Spanish Civil War. It is not exhaustive but hits the highlights of why the war was so important at the time and why it is still important today. The author tells the story will a focus on a few key characters and key events to anchor the narrative. The motivating intuition is that the war was a mini version of the World War 2, which began only half a year after the Spanish Civil War ended in 1939. He chooses good characters to follow, especially the doctors and nurses who helped develop modern practices their field hospotals around blood banks, surgery, setting broken bones, protection against infection, and triaiging. The role of western intellectuals in the war is also well done, including accounts of Hemingway, Gellhorn, Spender, and Dos Passos. His discussion of Picasso and the background to his "Guernica" is especially good. The background on the Nationalists and their support from Nazi Germany and fascist Italy was also good. The book and its exhibits also gives the reader a chance to follow the course of the war more than I have found in other partial accounts. More about the conflicts within the Republican side and the role of the Communists would have been helpful. Koestler and Orwell are mentioned but not discussed in much detail. It was an entertaining and informative book.
June 10, 2015
a good general re-hash of the civil war, would be excellent for anyone just getting into reading about spain and the politics, art, and dictatorships old and new. has nice pics, hella bibliography, good index, map.
has some interesting angles coming from artists pov, but all in all just a survey of spain in 20th cent. centering on war years of 1930's.
some more interesting and in-depth reads: The New Spaniards ; this is maybe best one for hard core readers of the civil war We Saw Spain Die: Foreign Correspondents in the Spanish Civil War ; Ghosts of Spain: Travels Through Spain and Its Silent Past ; and payne has dedicated his whole intellectual life to the war, so is very informative, if a bit conservative Franco: A Personal and Political Biography
has some interesting angles coming from artists pov, but all in all just a survey of spain in 20th cent. centering on war years of 1930's.
some more interesting and in-depth reads: The New Spaniards ; this is maybe best one for hard core readers of the civil war We Saw Spain Die: Foreign Correspondents in the Spanish Civil War ; Ghosts of Spain: Travels Through Spain and Its Silent Past ; and payne has dedicated his whole intellectual life to the war, so is very informative, if a bit conservative Franco: A Personal and Political Biography
June 28, 2023
My wife says (a) when we go to a bookstore, I go straight to the boring section; and (b) I am the only person she knows with a favorite decade. As to the later, [sigh!] oh what a decade the 1930s were!. Depression, Japanese expansionism, rise of Hitler, Spanish Civil War. I have always been intrigued by the Spanish Civil War - the Spanish republic was a world cause, and many non-Spaniards enlisted to fight Franco. The most ideological war ever, perhaps?
An anecdotal history of the war, touching on Picasso's and his painting Guernica, Joan Miro's art, the technological advances that improved blood transfusions and saved lives, life at the Hotel Florida, home of Ernest Hemingway and, his "friend", Martha Gellhorn, an accomplished writer in her own right.
Rhodes observes correctly that during the war, the Axis powers provided military support to their right-wing allies in Spain, and the Soviet Union likewise to the Spanish Communists. But the Western democracies declined to support the Spanish democrats. Anti-interventionism was the principle of the hour among the Western powers; and the hour concluded with democracy’s defeat and a fateful forward lurch for the fascists of Europe and the outbreak of a much wider war
An anecdotal history of the war, touching on Picasso's and his painting Guernica, Joan Miro's art, the technological advances that improved blood transfusions and saved lives, life at the Hotel Florida, home of Ernest Hemingway and, his "friend", Martha Gellhorn, an accomplished writer in her own right.
Rhodes observes correctly that during the war, the Axis powers provided military support to their right-wing allies in Spain, and the Soviet Union likewise to the Spanish Communists. But the Western democracies declined to support the Spanish democrats. Anti-interventionism was the principle of the hour among the Western powers; and the hour concluded with democracy’s defeat and a fateful forward lurch for the fascists of Europe and the outbreak of a much wider war
February 11, 2015
Hell and Good Company is much more than a history of the Spanish Civil War. Rather, it’s a study of the impact that war had on multiple fields: art, literature, medicine, and war itself. Richard Rhodes offers his usual crisp, engaging prose.
Over the course of this book we meet members of the different international brigades that fought alongside the Republicans. We see significant shifts in medical care, particularly in the storage and transfusion of blood. We follow Picasso’s process composing and painting Guernica. We spend time with George Orwell and Ernest Hemingway.
The Spanish Civil War was, in many ways, a prelude to World War II. The Nationalists received support from Nazi Germany, which both let the Germans experiment with new equipment and tactics and provided a distraction from Nazi maneuvering in Eastern Europe.
If you’re looking for a chronological history of the war, this book will disappoint—but that’s not what it’s intended to be. It’s a book that reflects on the impact of war on many efforts of human endeavor, that examines the war’s influence long after it ended.
Over the course of this book we meet members of the different international brigades that fought alongside the Republicans. We see significant shifts in medical care, particularly in the storage and transfusion of blood. We follow Picasso’s process composing and painting Guernica. We spend time with George Orwell and Ernest Hemingway.
The Spanish Civil War was, in many ways, a prelude to World War II. The Nationalists received support from Nazi Germany, which both let the Germans experiment with new equipment and tactics and provided a distraction from Nazi maneuvering in Eastern Europe.
If you’re looking for a chronological history of the war, this book will disappoint—but that’s not what it’s intended to be. It’s a book that reflects on the impact of war on many efforts of human endeavor, that examines the war’s influence long after it ended.
February 16, 2015
Pulitzer Prize winning author of the making of the atomic bomb Richard Rhoads is no one hit wonder. All of his work is excellent. He reliably writes complex, humane, multifaceted, insightful and extraordinarily well researched histories of war and violence.
This book is no exception. It's about the Spanish Civil War. But far from a blow by blow description of battles and politics, it's a view from the ground as seen from some of the periods most important innovators, intellectuals and artists.
It's about Ernest Hemingway, Pablo Picasso, JBS Haldane, George Orwell and many others who became involved in the war for idealistic personal and professional reasons. It's about the scientific advances and artistic masterworks they created, born out of necessity. It's about blood and ink and oil paint. It's about the birth of modernity.
This fascinating little book will change the way I view this particular chunk of history. But perhaps more importantly it will change the way I view that generation of people. It was an exciting and horrific time and it was an amazing group of brilliant individuals that came together to fight fascism.
This book is no exception. It's about the Spanish Civil War. But far from a blow by blow description of battles and politics, it's a view from the ground as seen from some of the periods most important innovators, intellectuals and artists.
It's about Ernest Hemingway, Pablo Picasso, JBS Haldane, George Orwell and many others who became involved in the war for idealistic personal and professional reasons. It's about the scientific advances and artistic masterworks they created, born out of necessity. It's about blood and ink and oil paint. It's about the birth of modernity.
This fascinating little book will change the way I view this particular chunk of history. But perhaps more importantly it will change the way I view that generation of people. It was an exciting and horrific time and it was an amazing group of brilliant individuals that came together to fight fascism.
April 6, 2015
Like many people fascinated with how the first half of the 20th century shaped our modern world, I like reading as much as possible about the Spanish Civil War. Rhodes's efforts teaches you about the war itself, but it is not a war book. Instead, in this work you learn about how war shaped a society through its "romantic" appeal, through the ideological prism in which the world saw the conflict, and just as importantly through the art crafted as a result of this modern conflict. Orwell and Hemingway's literature, Picasso's art, and others are discussed in the context of how the war experiences defined their purpose in life. Modern technical advances are discussed, such as a better system of triage, yet, for me, the contributions of this book rest on cultural side of the ledger.
February 15, 2015
This one is a fairly disjoint review of the Spanish Civil War with heavy emphasis on field hospitals and artists, all from the republican point of view. The foreign medical personnel overcome enormous odds with primitive conditions but are typically undercut and thwarted by dull-witted communists. As for the artists, we find Picasso and Miro far from danger, in Paris, creating the ugly paintings they forwarded to the Spanish Pavilion exhibit in 1937. The "...world it made" claim is rather overstated: I left with the same viewpoint that I took in, that this was a ghastly conflict with two repellent "sides."
November 3, 2015
I think Rhodes is a great author but, I must say, I do not find this one of his better books.
There is lots of interesting background information here on the Spanish civil war (which I knew little about before reading this book.
That said, it was not clear to me what the common theme(s) of this book might be. In a word, to me, it seemed a bit disjointed.
There is lots of interesting background information here on the Spanish civil war (which I knew little about before reading this book.
That said, it was not clear to me what the common theme(s) of this book might be. In a word, to me, it seemed a bit disjointed.
June 26, 2015
An fascinating look at the European and American medical personnel, volunteer soldiers, writers, artists and intellectuals who were in Spain during the Civil War fighting, each in their own way for the Republican cause versus Franco and his fascist allies.
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