“Las cartas de batallón Británico. Las Brigadas internacionales en la Guerra Civil Española” by Nacho Blanes, Adrián Sánchez Castillo and Paul Quinn. Catarata Ediciones, 2014. www,catarata.org.
Just released, this slim paperback of 158 pages is quite a pleasant surprise to read. For almost half of the book, a general history of the International Brigades aswell as the battles in which the British Battalion fought during the Spanish Civil War is discussed with maps of Spain to explain the different periods throughout the War. Finally, a selection of letters from British brigaders are included, including Albert Mackintosh, Tommy Moore, Clifford Wolstencroft, all from Manchester, aswell as Thomas Murray from Aberdeen. Finally a chapter on British Aid is given. Sadly, no illustrations, apart from some reasonable maps and a couple of original pages from the letters that are reproduced. It is brief, but a good summary, which might be of interest to school work here in Spain? I will recommend it to Spanish colleagues and I hope that it will raise further awareness of the International Brigades here in Spain in educational establishments.
I was pleased to see that CEDOBI, formerly of the University of Castille la Mancha in Albacete, but now part of the Instituto de Estudios Albacetenses (www.iealbacetenses.com) helped to produce this book.
In summary, not a huge amount of new information to get excited about, but an important entree into the World of the International Brigades.
Price 16€. Perhaps AABI might stock it?
Porta de la Historia's blog 