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This book looks at the reception of the Spanish Civil War in British popular culture, and how supporters of both sides in Britain used the rhetoric and imagery of the conflict to bolster support for their respective causes in the arena of British public opinion. Brian Shelmerdine finds that traditional notions of Spain as a country of bullfighting, bandits and flamenco were pervasive and were significant in shaping wider UK government policy towards Spain. He carefully assesses the different political perceptions of the 1930s Spanish scene, the role of the Catholic Church, the depiction of the two sides in terms of class, race and ethnicity, humanitarian appeals, and the plight of the Basques.
The book is fluently written, and should make fascinating and entertaining reading for scholars of British society and culture in the twentieth century, as well as those investigating international impact of the Spanish Civil War.
Introduction
1. Popular fiction and the British world views
2. Britons in pre-Civil War Spain
3. The Spanish political landscape
4. The role of the Spanish church
5. Class, race and ethnicity
6. ‘Two irreconcilable Spains’: Differing visions of a ‘new Spain’
7. British public responses
8. Conclusion