The Battle for Spain

The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939

By: Antony Beevor

Narrated by: Sean Barrett

Length: 18 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

A fresh and acclaimed account of the Spanish Civil War by the best-selling author of Stalingrad and The Fall of Berlin 1945.

To mark the 70th anniversary of the Spanish Civil War's outbreak, Antony Beevor has written a completely updated and revised account of one of the most bitter and hard-fought wars of the 20th century. With new material gleaned from Russian archives and numerous other sources, this brisk and accessible audiobook (Spain's number-one best seller for 12 weeks) provides a balanced and penetrating perspective, explaining the tensions that led to this terrible overture to World War II and affording new insights into the war - its causes, course, and consequences.

©2006 Ocito Ltd (P)2011 Orion Publishing Group Limited

Well Researched but difficult to listen to

The narrator spoke so fast, I put the speed at .75, which helped a lot. The names of most of the people were difficult to keep track of, because they were Spanish and Russian, so that also made it difficult. I have the book and with that in hand, I'm going to listen to the book again and that should help. I got the 'gist' of the book, and it seemed to me that everyone was a loser in that war. Brutality at its worst by both sides but especially the Nationalist 's, I could only feel great sorrow for the people of Spain. Antony Beevor did a great job, lots of details in this book.

Fantastic!

Like an onion, one layer of understanding after another. Each time you read or listen to this story, the richer it grows

Complete but obviously biased

Over all a comprehensive account of the Spanish Civil War. It should be noted that the author is most definitely biased and strongly favors the left / communists / socialists by his portrayal of events. In a conflict were both sides were decidedly awful, the author takes every opportunity to minimize the atrocities and mismanagement of the left. Worth reading, but with a critical ear.

Best book available on the subject.

On a subject this fraught, there's always going to be accusations of bias. I didn't really see it. This is an extremely thorough, extremely well researched book. This was a horrible conflict with terrible atrocities on both sides, that has been long overshadowed by the much more horrible world war that immediately followed it. But had nothing else happened, this would be a great War for the ages. Tragic loss of life, tragic story, and a very good book on the subject.

Captivating, moving and Complete

This is an excellent book about one of the only few wars in the 20th century in which the "bad guys" won. This is one of the most captivating texts on modern history I have read so far. Descriptions and narratives flow very well, the book is well researched and the author makes a good effort to provide lots of background and to avoid leaning on either side too heavily. It does a great job covering the aftermath of the war as well. I highly recommend listening to this title to all students of WW2 history, as this topic is often neglected, but it serves as a perfect prologue to the horrors that came after.

Great book but narrator talks way too fast

Beevor’s work is tremendous but the speed of the narrator makes it very difficult to follow names, locations, and sequences of events unless you focus intently on the audio. You can slow playback to 0.7 speed but then it sounds like the narrator is heavily inebriated. This books deserves a re-recording with a narrator who respects the fact that the audience doesn’t have the text in front of them.

Antony Beevor inspirational Historic tell

The Battle for Spain gives great details into the causes and effects of the civil war without taking on a preferred side.

The Spanish Civil War

Excellent presentation and well-narrated production. Author arranged material in a well-organized and easy to follow format. He attempts to show himself as an objective observer of the events and details surrounding the conflict, yet can’t avoid projecting his own obvious biases into the story. Overall a very fascinating read, and well-formatted production.

Loved this book

The book goes into detail about the war and battles. In some cases it maybe too much detail but he does discuss how this war affected the Second World War. It really was a precursor as Fascist Germany and Italy were aligned with the Nationalists while Russia backed the Republic. This was brutal on the general public, and the church. The vile murder that took place on both sides against ones own people is really startling and revealing. Civil Wars like this demonstrate so much hatred from differing points of political views. It seems to me civil wars are the worst wars of all based on the both the US and Spanish Civil War.
If you interested in this engagement I highly recommend it. I have read many books on wars from Napoleon, WW 1 and 2 to Vietnam and the Gulf. This is one of the best I have read of the Spanish conflict.

Detailed

This book is about 15 hours longer than my level of interest. It’s a very detailed account. It’s well-suited for someone who already has good familiarity and wants to go deeper.