Introduction by Paul Preston with a foreword by Rodney Bickerstaffe This scrapbook, kept by a 17-year-old children's nurse in South Yorkshire, offers an insight into the political and emotional impact that the Spanish Civil War had on a generation who lived through the agonising defeat of the Spanish Republic. Elizabeth Pearl Bickerstaffe's cuttings reveal the extent of human suffering in the war in Spain - and likewise in China - in which civilians were the main casualties. They also tell of the vain efforts in Britain and by the International Brigade volunteers in Spain itself to prevent this latest triumph for the fascist powers in Europe. And we sense the fierce commitment to the cause of the Spanish Republic felt by the newspaper correspondents and photographers who witnessed this unfolding tragedy. The role of the foreign correspondents in Spain is discussed in an introduction by Paul Preston, the foremost historian of the Spanish Civil War. In his foreword, Rodney Bickerstaffe underlines the important part played both by the events in Spain and by his mother's scrapbook in shaping his political values. This point is amplified in Jim Jump's preface explaining more about the creation, context and consequences of Pearl Bickerstaffe's compelling scrapbook of one of the major episodes in twentieth-century history.

A moving anthology of poetry, this collection is devoted to pieces written by International Brigade volunteers who fought against the rise of fascism during the Spanish Civil War. Conveying the idealism and anguish felt by that extraordinary group of men and women--drawn from all social classes and all parts of Britain and Ireland--who risked their lives to defend democracy, the poems in this collection range from jaunty ballads penned in the trenches to explicit and insightful works of war poetry. Extensive notes and historical background on the poems and poets couple with verse from both famous poets--including John Cornford, Laurie Lee, and Sylvia Townsend Warner--and ordinary people trying to make sense of the history in which they were participating.

This book brings together leading British and Spanish historians in an examination of key aspects and themes of the Spanish Civil War. Contributors discuss the politics of memory; recent revisionist historiography; biographies of international volunteers; the experience of nursing in Catalonia; the baptism of fire of Jarama; Britain's blocking of aid to the Republic; Soviet intervention in the conflict; and the crimes of Franco, both during and after the war. Contributors: Richard Baxell, Julian Casanova, Helen Graham, Angela Jackson, Enrique Moradiellos, Paul Preston, Francisco J Romero Salvado and Angel Vinas Jim Jump is editor of Poems from Spain: British and Irish International Brigaders on the Spanish Civil War (2006); and co-editor of a Spanish anthology of poems by International Brigaders from the British Isles, Hablando de leyendas: Poemas para Espana (2009). The son of a British International Brigader and a Spanish Republican refugee, he is a trustee of the International Brigade Memorial Trust. Published in association with Canada Blanch Centre for Contemporary Spanish Studies

More than 2500 volunteers took the extraordinary decision to risk their lives in a foreign war, and more than 500 of them died. The book looks at their role in the key battles in Spain, including the heroic work of the medical volunteers. Drawing on contemporary photographs and images, Antifascistas documents the artistic and historical legacy of the International Brigades, and demonstrates the idealism, commitment and sacrifice of these exceptional men and women.