Posts Tagged ‘Paul Preston’

  1. Homage to Catalonia: the debate

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    March 4, 2013 by Lydia Syson

    “You’ve written a book about the Spanish Civil War?  Oh yes, Orwell, right?”

    “Mmm. Yes and no.”

    I’ve had a few conversations along these lines in recent months.  It’s hard to explain George Orwell’s complicated relationship to the complicated Civil War in Spain and its complicated historiography in just a few words.  As a teenager, I absolutely loved Homage to Catalonia keep reading


  2. 2nd March 2013 George Orwell’s ‘Homage to Catalonia’ 75 years on

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    January 29, 2013 by Lydia Syson

    I’m looking forward to the 2013 Len Crome Memorial Lecture, which this year will be held not at the Imperial War Museum as usual, but in Manchester, with speakers such as Richard Baxell, Tom Buchanan, Christopher Hall and Paul Preston. I’m sure there will be some extremely interesting exchanges of opinion. keep reading


  3. Talking about the Spanish Civil War

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    September 15, 2012 by Lydia Syson

    Paul Preston must know more about the history of twentieth-century Spain than anyone else alive.  A captivating speaker, who charms with his truculence, he’s a hero to thousands, including me.

    The first time I heard him in public I squeezed into the last seat of a dark and crowded basement at the Instituto Cervantes just as he began to introduce his fellow speaker, Julián Casanova.  The event was called  ‘Remembering the Spanish Civil War’. I gulped, keep reading



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