Thursday 28 August 2014

The Republican Army in the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939



Just to bring your attention to this high-quality book review of Michael Alpert's classical must-read work at the IIWW Military Operations Research Group blog (one that I strongly endorsed and you should follow in any case).

This book has an interesting story in itself:

The first edition  was published in Spanish in the late 60's but not in Spain;  this was the type of topic obvioulsy disliked by the Franco's regime censorship office!!  The edition was undertaken by Ruedo Ibérico, a France-based editorial group run by a group of  Spanish Republicans exiled in the country after 1939. 

Incidentally, my father (who was not exactly a great Franco fan) used to "smuggle" books from this editorial any time he had the opportunity to travel abroad ... and I'm now a proud owner of a first edition copy :-)

A second and greatly updated edition, after the declasification of some of the Civil War archives, was released a few years ago... and yes this time it was publised in Spain. 

Nonetheless, I must say  that the English edition is surprisingly pricey (GBP 65!!), specially compared to the Spanish edition (€25) and I don't understand why the price differential; although the book is highly recommendable, think twice before commiting to such an investment.
 

8 comments:

  1. Thanks for that! I agree that the £65 price tag is ridiculous though and it will stop a lot of people from accessing it.

    Jorge M. Reverte's forthcoming military history of the GCE is set at £55 and only 272 pages.

    Absurdo...

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    1. W-O-W 55 bucks??? Outrageous price for that book

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  2. This could be a highly interesting book but for the price. Have to look around on ebay and the like.

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  3. Fascinating history, Benito. It's crazy that a book like this is priced at £65. Very sad, as it puts it out of the range of so many of us who would be interested at a lower price. I have absolutely no idea why academic publishers like Cambridge University Press haven't got the idea of PDF only sales. Oh well, I'll enjoy the book through your fine research!

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  4. Ohh man, event with that price I may have to take the plunge. (I love the fact that your dad smuggled in books that the government didn't approve of - a man after my own heart).

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    1. Well, do not think as a hero or active anti-Franco fighter!!
      Just not aligned with the regime

      Another anecdote: My father had a good friend, much older than him and true old falangist ("camisa vieja") who fought in the Civil War; and I still remember (being in my early teens) this guy who was truly affectionate with my father, lecturing him in every visit home about the risk of owning such a library filled with (literally) "red-scum" and "marxist" literature. He begged him every time to get rid of those books (luckily he didn't do it) .

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  5. BTW and referring to the first part of your comment, I don not think the value for money relation is any attractive at all at GBP65. Won't recommend buying it at that premium

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    1. I found a good used copy for $51.00 CDN!

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