Spain in Our Hearts

Spain in Our Hearts: Americans in the Spanish Civil War, 1936–1939 is a non-fiction book by Adam Hochschild that was first published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt on March 29, 2016.

[13] The civil war was fought between the left-leaning Republicans who were loyal to the democratically elected Second Spanish Republic, and the right-wing Nationalists who were led by General Francisco Franco.

[13] While the Nationalists were backed by foreign fascist leaders Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, the Republicans were not supported by other Western democratic governments due to their communist-leaning ideologies.

[17][18] George Orwell was inspired by the experience to write Homage to Catalonia,[13] and anti-Stalinism was a key theme in his later works such as Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four.

[17][19] Spain in Our Hearts received many positive reviews for its "exceptional"[2][20] and "moving"[12][13][20] narrative, particularly its prose that historian Michael Kazin described in The New York Times as "consistently vivid yet emotionally restrained.

"[16] In a lukewarm review, Harper's Magazine's William Deresiewicz was critical of the book for not providing sufficient background and context to the war, citing its "rush narrative" that left many questions unanswered.

[3] Rich Benjamin, writing for The Guardian, felt that while the book sheds little new information about the war, overall, Hochschild provides new insight into the conflict through his gifted storytelling, deep knowledge of military history and "beautiful sense of private hurt.

[21][22] Many reviewers also praised the book for providing a "nuanced"[1] and "unromantic"[16] perspective of the war that does not gloss over the atrocities both sides committed despite Hochschild's clear sympathy for the Republic's cause.

[25] On the other hand, the World Socialist Web Site's reviewer considered Hochschild to have a poor grasp on the wider political issues surrounding the Spanish Civil War, asserting that the book perpetuates pro-Stalinist propaganda and understates the Republic's repression of POUM members.

[17][20] The Los Angeles Review of Books also gave Hochschild credit for "giv[ing] voice" to obscure writers through his comprehensive archival work that unyielded the previously unpublished writings of numerous American volunteers.

[20] The New Republic was very complimentary of the book, declaring that it surpasses George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia as the "best introduction" to the Spanish Civil War written in English.

George Orwell 's (pictured) Homage to Catalonia spurred Hochschild's interest in the Spanish Civil War
General Francisco Franco was the leader of the Nationalist faction
Adam Hochschild in 2017