The premature antifascists: North American volunteers in the Spanish Civil War, 1936-39 : an oral history
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Author Description
Spain's Civil War, a tune-up for WW II, began in 1936. In three years, 600,000 patriots lay dead. Americans played a role in the conflict and Gerassi has chronicled their experiences.... Gerassi interviewed Americans who survived the Spanish Civil War, creating an oral history from those interviews. But the author has done more than that; he has written a social history of the 1930s, providing a window into an era in which radicalism took many forms. His `people's history' of men in arms and why they chose to take them up is most enlightening. Choice
Menrva's Summary
THE THESIS
This work investigates the motivations and experiences of North American volunteers who participated in the Spanish Civil War between 1936 and 1939. John Gerassi, a scholar of political history, utilizes a collection of primary source oral interviews to reconstruct the ideological landscape of the 1930s. By focusing on the personal accounts of survivors, the author argues that these volunteers were driven by a specific brand of radicalism that defined the pre-World War II era.
THE SCOPE MAP
What You Will Find
- First-hand accounts from North American veterans of the Spanish Civil War
- A social history of 1930s political radicalism
- Contextual analysis of the Spanish Civil War as a precursor to World War II
Scope Limits
- Does not provide a comprehensive military strategy analysis of the entire conflict
- Focuses primarily on the North American volunteer perspective rather than the broader international or Spanish domestic political landscape
THE AUTHORITY PERSPECTIVE
Critics and historians recognize this text as a significant contribution to the oral history of the Spanish Civil War. Readers frequently note the value of the primary source interviews in providing a human-centric view of the ideological conflicts of the 1930s.
Page Count:
275
Publication Date:
1986-01-01
Publisher:
Praeger
ISBN-10:
0030062438
ISBN-13:
9780030062438
History
Civil War
Oral History
20th Century
Social History
Military History
Spain