Spain in Our Hearts: Americans in the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939

Adam Hochschild tracks the experiences of several dozen Americans who volunteered for the International Brigades to fight against Francisco Franco’s fascist insurgency. The narrative follows the specific trajectories of the Lincoln Battalion, focusing on figures like writer Ernest Hemingway, journalist Martha Gellhorn, and volunteer Lois Orr. Hochschild details the logistics of the conflict, from the Soviet Union’s manipulation of Republican politics to the clandestine supply of oil from American corporations to the Nationalists. He examines how these individuals navigated the internal purges coordinated by Stalinist agents while facing superior military technology on the battlefield.

Historians and political science students read this work to understand the ideological tensions of the 1930s and the prelude to World War II. Readers learn how private American commercial interests influenced foreign battlefields despite official US neutrality laws. The book provides a technical look at how volunteers with minimal training adapted to modern trench warfare and aircraft bombings. By the final page, the reader understands the tactical failures of the Republican side and the human cost of a conflict defined by conflicting loyalties between democratic ideals and authoritarian reality.