MY MISSION TO SPAIN

by Claude G. Bowers ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 27, 1954

This is subtitled ""Watching the Rehearsal of World War II"" and is the record of six years as Ambassador to Spain, six pregnant years during which democracy in Spain fell before the Axis powers. The manuscript is a ""now it can be told"" of a true liberal who can speak out fourteen years later. In his introduction he points out the danger today that in fighting communism we may lose sight of the antidemocratic ideology of the still menacing Nazi-Fascist totalitarianism. This is a portrait of a Spain of peace as well as war; it is based on diaries, records of conversations, dispatches. It has the immediacy of contemporary recording; it has the high purpose of a passionate faith in democracy, wherever found -- and he believed the Spanish republicans stood for that faith. His testament is convincing. His pen portraits of political and non-political figures are unforgettable:- Azana, the statesman, Lerroux, the boss, de los Rios, Prieto, Zamora, Gil Robels, Negrin, Madariaga, Romanones; Belmonte the matador, Zulcaga the painter, and many more. One sees with him the lovely bits of Spain, towns and villages, mountains and plains, the peasants, the workers, the gypsies. One gets a sense of a long history, the record left in buildings and works of art, in holidays and Holy Days. One senses the quick comeback after moments of desperation, the quick shifts, the overlying threat of coup d'etat, the ability to live fully between storms. He scotches some of the false propaganda that has been accepted as fact; he substitutes fact for fiction; he does not hesitate to express horror of some of the actions of both sides; he pulls no punches in blaming the western democracies for the policy of nonintervention, for blindness and stupidity, for which they paid in blood. He analyzes the extent of the communist part and aces it as a very minor factor; the Spanish temperament, he says, is not compatible with Communism. And he closes with a summary of his final report to Washington on his recall after Franco's victory. Even at this late, date, an important book, from a man of sensitive appreciation, perception, understanding. And he can write.

Pub Date: May 27, 1954

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1954

Categories: NONFICTION