Art and culture

• Two posters: Les milicies us necessiten and Rope sandal crushing swastika
• Civil war posters: Rosa del Foc, Anarchist Bookshop, Joaquín Costa 34 Mon-Sat 4-9pm and Sat mornings
• American mass culture in Barcelona
• How the Spanish Republic saved the Prado’s masterpieces A fascinating story
• Guernica: The Biography of a Twentieth-Century Icon by Gijs van Hensbergen. This book tells the complete story. A visit to the Reina Sofia in Madrid to see Guernica is stronger recommended and not just for the painting. The whole exhibition around it is brilliant, telling the story of the Pavilion of the Republic at the 1937 Paris World Fair and other artworks associated with the war. In 2017, the Reina Sofia published online a stunning new web called Rethinking Guernica with hundreds of remarkable images and interesting text. In Barcelona, the MNAC, the Catalan art museum in Montjüic, has an interesting permanent exhibition on the SCW, including a wallful of original posters. AUDIO. In Our Time BBC discussion. Picasso’s Guernica.
• Death of truth: when propaganda and ‘alternative facts’ Excellent article from The Guardian about the rise of propaganda throughout the world in the 1930s.

Literature

• AUDIO: LSE Literary Festival 2016: Fact versus Fiction? The Spanish Civil War in the Literary Imagination. With Paul Preston and Helen Graham. Literary Festival 2016: Fact versus Fiction? The Spanish Civil War in the Literary Imagination.
• No Pasarán! Writings from the Spanish Civil War (2016) A fine and unusual collection of fiction and essay by Spanish and international writers.
• The Forging of a Rebel (1941-46, La Forja de un Rebelde). The classic trilogy of the Civil War by Republican exile Arturo Barea.
• Uncertain Glory (1956, Incerta glòria). A grim indictment of violence on both sides by Catalan novelist Joan Sales.
• The Time of Doves (1980, La plaça del Diamant). Mercè Rodoreda’s classic Catalan novel telling of a young woman’s struggles in life to the backdrop of the Republic and the war.
• Soldiers of Salamis (2001, Soldados de Salamina) by Javier Cercas. This complex detective-story blend of fact and fiction is a wonderful read and was a publishing phenomenon.
• The Blind Sunflowers (2004, Los girasoles ciegos) by Alberto Méndez.
• Winter in Madrid (2006). Atmospheric English-language thriller set in postwar Madrid by C.J. Sansom.
• The man who loved dogs (2009, El hombre que amaba a los perros). Novel by Cuban author Leonardo Padura about the parallel stories of Trotsky, Ramon Mercader the Barcelonan assassin who killed him and a Cuban dissident who stumbles on the past.
• See also here our longer compilation of novels on the Spanish Civil War (everything from Icelandic, Albanian through to English and Catalan)

Graphic Novels

• Los surcos del azar (By Paco Roca, The Furrows of Chance). Tells the moving and heroic tale of the Spaniards who helped liberate Paris. Review in English from The Volunteer)

Cinema

• Land and Freedom – Ken Loach
• Butterfly’s Tongue (La lengua de las mariposas)- José Luis Cuerda
• Soldiers of Salamis (Soldados de Salamina) – David Trueba
• The Blind Sunflowers (Los girasoles ciegos) – José Luis Cuerda

Photography and journalism

• The Spanish Civil War and War Photography (UCSD)
• The Aura of the Cause: Photographs from the Spanish Civil War
• Robert Capa (Wikipedia)
• Agusti Centelles (Wikipedia) (Photos here).
• Gerda Taro (Wikipedia) and Gerda Taro The Life and work of Gerda Taro (YouTube – excellent lecture on her life)
• VIDEO. Documentary The Mexican Suitcase (YouTube – Trailer to documentary)
• Ricard Martinez a colleague of ours runs his own excellent tour “Fighting Gazes” – a walking tour around the city as seen through the eyes of international photojournalists who witnessed the Spanish Civil War. If you are interested his email is ricard@arqueologiadelpuntdevista.org
• Book. We saw Spain die. Paul Preston’s superb study of foreign journalists in the conflict. See also the study (pdf) The British media and the Spanish Civil War.