Hell and Good Company: The Spanish Civil War and the World it Made

Written by Richard Rhodes

Narrated by Christian Coulson

From the Pulitzer Prize–winning and bestselling author of The Making of the Atomic Bomb, “The most extraordinary book about the Spanish Civil War ever encountered” (The Washington Post).

The Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) inspired and haunted an extraordinary number of exceptional artists and writers, including Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró, Martha Gellhorn, Ernest Hemingway, George Orwell, and John Dos Passos. The idealism of the cause—defending democracy from fascism at a time when Europe was darkening toward another world war—and the brutality of the conflict inspired some of their best work: Guernica, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Homage to Catalonia, The Spanish Earth.

The war spurred breakthroughs in military and medical technology as well. New aircraft, new weapons, new tactics and strategy all emerged during this time. Progress arose from the horror: the doctors and nurses who volunteered to serve with the Spanish defenders devised major advances in battlefield surgery and frontline blood transfusion. In those ways, and in many others, the Spanish Civil War served as a test bed for World War II, and for the entire twentieth century.

From the life of John James Audubon to the invention of the atomic bomb, readers have long relied on Richard Rhodes to explain, distill, and dramatize crucial moments in history. Now, he takes us into battlefields and bomb shelters, into the studios of artists, into the crowded wards of war hospitals, and into the hearts and minds of a rich cast of characters to show how the ideological, aesthetic, and technological developments that emerged in Spain and changed the world forever. “Hell and Good Company is vivid and emotive…thrilling reading” (The Wall Street Journal).

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: Feb 3, 2015
• ISBN: 9781442380486

Richard Rhodes

A Seattle, Washington-based sculptor, stonemason, entrepreneur, and scholar of stonework worldwide, Richard Rhodes apprenticed as a stonemason in Siena, Italy, after graduate studies at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. As the first non-Italian admitted into Siena’s medieval masonic guild (the operative branch of the Freemasons, heirs to the cathedral builders of Europe) in 726 years, he is known throughout the sculpture and stone community as the “last apprentice” since the guild collapsed in the mid-1990s. It was during his guild training that Rhodes first encountered the ancient rulesets called Sacred Geometries and the Sacred Rules of Bondwork, foundational knowledge from the 5,000-year tradition of stone expression. Though now branching into other media such as cast bronze, Rhodes credits his guild training as the major influence in his sculpture practice.

Reviews for Hell and Good Company

[Oren Zauder · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Having recently returned from a holiday in Spain I greatly enjoyed the wide range of topics it covered, history of the Spanish Civil war,art, literature,medical advancements within a narrative of the people who participated in the forerunner of the struggle against fascism in WW2.

[Alex Buttgenbach · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Richard Rhodes creates a disorganized, confusing and (mostly) non-Spanish centric history on the Spanish Civil War. Focusing mostly on foreign volunteers and journalists, with the exception of Franco, Picasso and a few Spanish doctors, Rhodes treats most of the Spanish men and women (who did the majority of fighting and suffering) as extras in a Hollywood movie. On top of that he bounces between the stories in a confusing manner and the chapters are set up in a meaningless manner that offer no needed organization. While his book is well researched and I did learn some things about the fascinating war, I don’t know who I would recommend this to. It is too confusing for those with a basic knowledge of the war, too basic for those with an advanced knowledge and too focused on foreigners and their lives, to explain the impact of the war on Spain or even the world for that matter.

[Blake Simpson · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Well-written and informative overview of the Spanish Civil War. The narrator demonstrates a baffling approach to Spanish pronunciation, sometimes knowingly implementing the Castillian lisp, then completely butchering other words like 'Dios' ("DEE-ose", anyone?) His French pronunciation (rarely used) is quite convincing, but then he pronounces 'guerra' as "gwera". This may not bother gringos, but I love the Spanish language. Wonderfully colorful portrayals of Hemingway, Orwell, Haldane, etc.

[Jeff Fambrough · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It’s amazing to see what happened just before world war 2…

[lostinalibrary · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

“’War is psychologically like hell, supernatural like it and also, as we have been taught to expect, full of good company’” -Edward Barsky, American surgeon, volunteerThe Spanish Civil War is often viewed as the real beginning of WWII. It has also become something of a touchstone for many Romantics and Idealists. As author Richard Rhodes says in his Introduction to his book Hell and Good Company, ‘[m]any books have been written about the Spanish Civil War’ but it is ’the human stories that had not been told or had not been told completely’ that he chooses to write about. In 1931, after centuries of rule by the Church, the Aristocracy, and the army, Spain finally became a Republic. In 1936, General Francisco Franco, with the support of Hitler and Mussolini, began a military revolt against this Republic. The war attracted many idealists from elsewhere to aid the new Republic in the struggle. They came from different countries and different walks of life. There were doctors, surgeons, nurses as well as labourers, engineers, writers, artists and WWI vets. Many formed their own brigades including the Abraham Lincoln Brigade from the United States. They represented many different political views but they had one thing in common – they were determined to stop fascism. In that, they failed but much of what they did including the art and the literature still inspire today including Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls and Picasso’s Guernica. Rhodes recounts their involvement along with other famous and not-so-famous people who were willing to risk it all for idealism, politics and, in more than a few cases, for the adventure.He also focuses on the medical professionals including Canadian surgeon Norman Bethune whose cobbled together mobile blood units helped reduce the number of casualties in combat and the Catalan doctor Josep Trueta whose method for cleaning, packing and casting wounds saved countless lives and preserved limbs that would have otherwise been amputated. Rhodes describes in fascinating detail the many innovative technologies that these and many other medical professionals developed which are still used today: ‘advances in blood collection, preservation, and storage; in field surgery; in the efficient sorting of casualties’. InHell and Good Company, Rhodes gives a well-researched, well-written, and fascinating look at the people, both national and international, who fought to preserve the Republic during the Spanish Civil War. He captures the hell of the war, its insanity and its horrors but, most of all he captures the bravery and the idealism of those who volunteered at such great risk to themselves – they were the best of good company.

[marshapetry · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Seems to be well-researched. Interesting "listen" but it jumped around a bit too much and made the audio book hard to follow - probably a much better "read" than listen. Overall recommend for WWII readers since this is one of the early conflicts either in or before WII (depending on your perspective). I found the personal stories about medical tactics and relationships more interesting than the leaders and their strategies since the pure politics and war positions jumped around a lot; however, the stories about lovers, and the stories about medical innovations were presented in order which made them easy to follow. Given that, I don't think I got a good sense of the order of the war so much as understanding some of the innovations that occurred. Overall recommend.

[Patricia · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

For a book that is supposed to be about the Spanish Civil War this book talked way to much about Picasso's pictures and Hemingway's everyday life in my opinion. I would have hoped for way more information about the ordinary people's lives and not some privilidged artists and what their pictures are supposed to symbolize and mean... how come we learned so little about the people – Spanish people – that actually lived through that war and didn't have the luxurious opportunity such as Hemingway and Picasso had them, to flee the war?