NIGHTLY READING THREAD: Welcome to Edition #76 of #GMGReads. Every night through this weird time, I'm tweeting out a list of my five favorite books around a general theme—and a link to an indie bookstore where you can order them online....
Tonight, I want to feature books about the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939, which was such a hinge in history—filled with historic visions of romance, great writers, and the first stage of the titanic battle to come between fascism and democracy just a few years later:
1) Antony Beevor's THE BATTLE FOR SPAIN is probably the strongest single-volume narrative history of the war: magersandquinn.com/product_info?p…
PS: If you're looking for something shorter, but equally strong as history, Helen Graham’s THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR: A VERY SHORT INTRODUCTION is supposed to be great: magersandquinn.com/product_info?p…
2) Adam Hochschild's has written incredible books on some of history's most traumatic moments, and his SPAIN IN OUR HEARTS, focusing on the Americans drawn to the moment and cause, inspires awe (also, it'll make you never shop at a Texaco again): magersandquinn.com/product_info?p…
3) Part of what makes the Spanish Civil War so incredible in history is the rogues gallery of writers it attracted, including George Orwell's nonfiction HOMAGE TO CATALONIA magersandquinn.com/product_info?p… and Ernest Hemingway's novel FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS: magersandquinn.com/product_info?p…
4) Few works about this period (and few writers) are more captivating though than Martha Gellhorn and her memoir THE FACE OF WAR: magersandquinn.com/product_info?p…
5) Richard Rhodes, the author of the definitive books on the atomic bomb, wrote HELL AND GOOD COMPANY, a technological history of the war, which foresaw so much of the tactics of World War II: magersandquinn.com/product_info?p…
Those are tonight's #GMGReads. What are your favorite books on Spain or the Spanish Civil War? What are you reading this weekend? Share! #avidreadersunite
