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We Saw Spain Die
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Spanish Civil War books
This is one of the most revealing books on the Span. Civil War. It brings together many disperse accounts by reviewing the lives of foreign correspondents in Spain at the time.
we saw spain die
A rambling account of the Spanish Civil war. More concerned with name dropping than giving an insight of what went on at the time.
On the whole a long disappointing read.
heavy going!! 
This is a book about the journalists who reported on the civil war, very little detail on events about the the war,
Very heavy going unless your interest is about journalists
What a let down...
We Saw Spain Die It was only recently that I started to take an interest in the Spanish Civil War, in my perception one of the least reported wars of the last 100 years. So I saw this book. The title 'We saw spain die' suggests the reader would share in the views of journalists' upon this excruciatingly tragic period. No such luck. All you get is who said what when upsetting who, getting hurt or be imprisoned where and the troubles they had of reporting to the outside world. Can I get my money back?
I Read Preston Live!... Mostly... 
Every time I read a book by Preston I feel humbled. Any time I think I know anything about the Spanish Civil War I am proved 100% that Preston is the leading authority on the subject in the UK. Here is another reason why.
The book is immense. As always, well researched and any footnote can be followed as appropriate. Although some of the chapters were a bit cumbersome and could have been broken down, I felt the sheer complexity and nature of the subject (both in political and personal terms of the journalists and the censorship apparatus on both sides of the divide) justified this length. A combination of a general chronology in the first part alongside more developed individual biographies in the second was entirely welcome.
It is a shame that it isn't a multi-volume series, for there are so many people that would be fascinating to follow, yet for lack of space Preston selects the most important AND interesting cases. I thought it was well written in this respect and was very selective in what to include, and what to omit for footnotes.
Particularly interesting was the different attitudes to censorship Preston brings out in a variety of ways. It shows just how tough the Republic had it, how Orwell betrayed trust in the cause of the left, and how utterly repulsive the Nationalist censor - Luis Bolin - is. I came across him before through Chalmers-Mitchell and Koestler, alongside his completely flawed work "Spain: The Vital Years" and this book drives home in personal and political terms how much of a nasty character he was.
I thought the other review did the book a bit of an injustice. While I can get on board with some of the enormous tangents involved (and straying either side of the conflict), some I felt were entirely necessary and helped to deepen understanding. At times I felt the book could benefit from a brief appendix, detailing who was who. For although he does this during the book in particular and painstaking detail, there are so many names I felt as if I was having another War and Peace flashback.
I felt moving from Josephine to Josie Herbst wasn't that much of an issue. All of the protagonists have unique names so I thought overlap unlikely. But there are SO many names I felt (as mentioned above) that an appendix could have been useful. Hemingway, Fischer and others I was suitably familiar with; Elizabeth Deeble I was not. For those coming to Preston for more excellent work on the SCW, I felt his implicit requirement for prior knowledge a little bit of a handicap, but not a major issue. Yes, the book has some issues but I felt it entirely appropriate to leave "La Pasionaria" out as she wasn't really involved in the journalist process.
Overall I thought "We Saw Spain Die" added a new and insightful dimension to the historiography. As always, I find Preston well read, and able to convey his message clearly and coherently. He develops our (or mine at least) understanding both of the politics of the journalists but also their personalities and how you can sit at the end of the book and think on behalf of the injustice of the Republic and the press: "Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?"
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related blog:
Simon P's Review: We Saw Spain Die, by Paul Preston | Bookgeeks
Book information. Filed under: Book Reviews Tags: History, Journalism and Current Affairs, politics, War UK publisher: Constable Edition reviewed: Paperback Publication date: 28th May 2009. ISBN: 1845299469 ...
http://www.bookgeeks.co.uk/2009/09/07/simon-ps-review-we-saw-spain-die-by-paul-preston/
