Homage to Catalonia

Book review by Joel
This book was written in 1936 after George went to Spain to fight for the freedom of the working man in the Spanish Revolution. He gives a first hand account of what it was like to join the militia in Spain, especially the political climate (at least what he was able to figure out from first-hand sources). There was a scourge of misinformation and propaganda leaking to the press and he felt there was a need to get the story straight. He doesn’t hold back from either side although he was partial to the working man’s party (POUM), and to the anarchists (CNT).

This book is definitely for the hard core history student. There were way more acronyms than I could keep up with--he apologizes for that and even tries to keep chapters separate for that reason.
It was a good, realistic snapshot of what it was like for a foreigner (Englishman) joining a war in another country for idealistic reasons and finding himself not understanding the language or the culture as well as he thought he did. This misunderstanding nearly cost him his life. When the revolution turned to favor the Communists, the whole flavor of the country turned and people fighting for particular factions were being rounded up. Unfortunately for George he was in one of those factions (POUM-party of Marxist unification). It was funny to see how he saw the Spanish people who were fighting the war--they were laid back, always saying “manana”, and terrible shots. You can get a sense of the English colonialist in George from time to time.

I would not recommend this book unless you’re REALLY interested in the Spanish Civil War. It was a book I read because of the author. I really didn’t know what it was about. It does a good job of telling the story. I did like it, but it could be tedious in spots.

Joel.