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

Books by Hochschild—King Leopold's Ghost and To End All Wars—have twice been finalists for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and his Bury the Chains was a finalist for the National Book Award. Here his subject is the Spanish Civil War (1936–39) viewed through the lens of the U.S. involvement in it. More than 3,000 Americans fought for the Republic; 2,300 came home. Besides reporters, novelists such as Ernest Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn were also in Spain at the time. The New York Times had correspondents on both sides, leading to wildly incompatible accounts of what actually was happening. Not all supported the republic faction; Texaco supplied oil to dictator Francisco Franco on credit and leaked information on Republican ship movement to Franco's allies so that Italian submarines could attack them. While other histories have depicted the war and the vicious infighting among Republican factions, Hochschild points out what was glorious in the conflict—more in aspiration than execution.