IGUERRA!

by Jason Webster

This is an excellent and very readable account of Spain's Civil War, uncovering the hidden and shocking events which still reverberate in Spanish society today. He succeeds in exposing the best and the worst of both sides, while never losing the attention of the reader - a great storyteller.
I am sorry to say that Britain's official role was shabby, Chamberlain preferring to overlook fascist atrocity for the sake of appeasing Hitler. George Orwell, who was to join the throngs of young men travelling to Spain to help in the Republican struggle against Franco would be so affected by the experience that his biographer called it the 'defining experience of Orwell's life". It provided the stimulus for "Animal Farm" and "1984", two books that I am going to re-visit, and definitely worth their shelf-space in any library.
I also read "Duende" several years ago, another of Jason Webster's Spanish memoirs, based around the gypsy community of Andalucia and its rich and vibrant flamenco tradition.
Webster is unapologetic about his love for all things Spanish, and paints such vivid portraits of the people and place it is easy to be seduced into total agreement.