This Time a Better Earth, by Ted Allan: A Critical Edition

By Ted Allan and Bart Vautour

A young Canadian marches over the Pyrenees and enters into history by joining the International Brigades—men and women from around the world who volunteered to fight against fascism in the Spanish Civil War. This new edition of Ted Allan’s novel, This Time a Better Earth, reintroduces readers to the electrifying milieu of the Spanish Civil War and Madrid, which for a short time in the 1930s became the epicentre of a global struggle between democracy and fascism. This Time a Better Earth, first published in 1939, tells the story of Canadian Bob Curtis from the time of his arrival in Spain and the idealism and trials of the international volunteers. Allan’s novel achieves the distinction of being both a work of considerable literary and historical significance and a real page-turner.

This is the first installment of a series of titles to be published in the Canadian Literature Collection under the Canada and the Spanish Civil War banner. This is a large-scale project devoted to the recovery and presentation of Canadian cultural production about the Spanish Civil War (spanishcivilwar.ca), directed by Bart Vautour and Emily Robins Sharpe.

• Language: English
• Publisher: University of Ottawa Press
• Release date: Jan 22, 2015
• ISBN: 9780776621654

Ted Allan

Ted Allan (1916-1995) was a playwright, actor, screenwriter, novelist, and biographer. A dedicated Young Communist, Allan's works include This Time a Better Earth (1939) and Love Is a Long Shot (1984), which won the Stephen Leacock Award. The Scalpel, the Sword: The Story of Doctor Norman Bethune (1952) is his best-known work.

Book preview