"When the first version of this book was published in 1982 under the title, The Spanish Civil War, Gerald Brenan described it as 'by a long way the best, and fairest and the most accurate book upon it'. Over the intervening years, a huge amount of new material has appeared in Spain and from documents finally emerging from Russian, German and other archives. Antony Beevor's Spanish publisher persuaded him that the time was right, with the approach of the war's seventieth anniversary, to rewrite the book taking advantage of the new information and reinforcing it with new research. " "Antony Beevor charts not only the course of the war in a fresh light, but illuminates the vicious infighting on both sides. The hopes and fears of a whole generation foundered in disillusionment and despair at the cruel war which destroyed the Spanish Republic. "--Jacket.