Doves of War: Four Women of Spain

Description

Love, war, duty, faith, betrayal and belief - an alternative view of the Spanish Civil War through the eyes and experiences of the women who endured it. Here are the stories of four extraordinary women whose personal histories should dispel any illusions that the Spanish Civil War was an all-male war. Theirs are human dramas in which moral issues, right and wrong, Fascism and Communism, melt away. Pip Scott-Ellis fell in love with a Spanish prince and set off for Madrid in a chauffeur-driven limousine. She ended up nursing in front-line Francoist hospitals. Nan Green, by contrast, travelled to war third class. Leaving her children behind in England, she went to fight for the International Brigade. Margarita Nelken was an art critic and novelist, who had translated Kafka into Spanish. Denounced as a whore by the Catholic Right, she became a radical politician. Mercedes Sanz-Bachiller, a fascist, miscarried her baby after hearing that her husband had been killed in the fighting. She then went on to set up a welfare organisation that was to change the face of Spain.

Paul Preston is Principe de Asturias Professor of Contemporary Spanish History and Director of the Canada Blanch Centre of Contemporary Spanish Studies at the LSE. He was lecturer at the University of Reading then successively lecturer in, reader in and Professor of History at Queen Mary College, University of London. In 2006 he was awarded the International Ramon Llull Prize by the Catalan Government. Among his many works are The Triumph of Democracy in Spain (1986), Franco: A Biography (1993), A Concise History of the Spanish Civil War (1996), Comrades (1999), Doves of War: Four Women in Spain (2002), Juan Carlos (2004) and The Spanish Civil War (2006). He was decorated by Spanish King Juan Carlos a 'Comendador de la Orden de Merito Civil' and in 2007, the 'Gran Cruz de la Orden de Isabel la Catolica'. In 2000 he was awarded a CBE.

'A magnificent achievement. Preston combines the skills of the professional historian with a profound understanding of women. Eminently readable, this is narrative history at its best.' Literary Review 'Newcomers to the Spanish conflict could hardly find a better place to start.' Sunday Times On Comrades: 'Paul Preston knows more about the Spanish Civil War than any other Englishman; more, even, than those who fought it. Anyone interested in Spain will want this book.' ALLAN MASSIE, Daily Telegraph On Franco: 'It is difficult to see this marvellous, brilliantly written and surely authoritative biography ever being matched. It is a book any historian would have been proud to have written.' IAN KERSHAW, THES On A Concise History of the Spanish Civil War: 'Paul Preston has an exceptional gift of lucid exposition, clarifying but not over-simplifying political situations often bafflingly complicated.' V. G. KIERNAN