Homage to Catalonia

By: George Orwell

Narrated by: Frederick Davidson

In 1936, George Orwell went to Spain to report on the civil war and instead joined the P.O.U.M. militia to fight against the Fascists. In this now justly famous account of his experience, he describes both the bleak and the comic aspects of trench warfare on the Aragon front, the Barcelona uprising in May 1937, his nearly fatal wounding just two weeks later, and his escape from Barcelona into France after the P.O.U.M. was suppressed. As important as the story of the war itself is Orwell's analysis of why the Communist Party sabotaged the workers' revolution and branded the P.O.U.M. as Trotskyist, which provides an essential key to understanding the outcome of the war and an ironic sidelight on international Communism. It was during this period in Spain that Orwell learned for himself the nature of totalitarianism in practice, an education that laid the groundwork for his great books Animal Farm and 1984.©1980 The Estate of the Late Sonia Brownell Orwell (P)1992 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"[A] triumph.... The audio presentation adds a new dimension to a text which is required reading for any student of the Spanish Civil War." (AudioFile)

A great read for our polarized reality

There’s an old saying that history repeats itself and that particular statement seems to ring true today as we find ourselves in a hopelessly polarized time in which we continue to repeat mistakes of the past. Some of the content in this particular book is scary to consider, but still has plenty of relevancy. The Spanish civil war was so complicated because of polarization into political factions but despite Orwell’s clear biases he still manages to give a truthful and often very descriptive view of his experiences during the Spanish civil war in which the fascists lead by Franco ultimately won through a mix of aid from other fascist powers and the Republican army purging anti signs of resistance in the form of anarchists and syndicalists.

Welles' Spanish War tales read by FD

Frederick Davidson's reading of Orson Welles' limited war experience during Spanish Civil War. Love Davidson reading just about anything. Welles gives political information about the war from a pre-WWII perspective.

His inspiration for 1984

you can see where he got all the anti-stalinism from.
His storytelling really puts you IN Catalonia, at the front.

Brilliant!

Four pooints why the revolution failed:

1. Communism sabotaged the labor revolution.
2. Global Capitalism was the reason for the sntsabotage.
3. Lack of Unity by labor (too many factions)
4. Lack of Communication (ex. reporters not reporting, sabotage of intel)

First hand account

Interesting first hand account of authors experience of the spanish civil war. Insights and observations of republican divisions particularly interesting as they proved so costly. Would have liked an historical epilogue for context

What a treat

Perfect read for these all too interesting times. Nothing much has changed. Orwell is a delightful writer even when his subject is not.

Good book, boring performance

Somehow the reader made a story about war exhausting to listen to. I’ve read the actual book, I’d recommend it over this audiobook

Terrific Account of the Spanish Civil War

One of the best written things I have ever read/listened to. Irony, facts, humor and tragedy.

Devil-may-care adventurer, idealist, author

Orwell was quite the adventurer, the account is the worm's eye view of history during the Spanish civil war just prior to the much larger war. I legitimately felt he was far too casual about his own life and it was frightful to put his wife through that. You can watch in real time as Orwell's Socialist idealism shifts. The reader had a heightened received pronunciation accent which was probably pretty close to Orwell. I really enjoyed it.

Wonderful

Orwell made Imortal by his writing may he live on forever in our hearts. Sleep well Prince Orwell