Doves of War Book

Much has been written about the Spanish Civil War's effects on Spain and its citizens, but little attention has been paid to the women involved in the conflict. In this beautifully written biographical work, Paul Preston tells the forgotten war stories of four exceptional women of different nationalities, backgrounds, and ideologies whose lives were starkly altered by the war. The portraits in this provocative, yet objective volume mirror the war itself, with the left pitted against the right. On the left side are Margarita Nelken, the revolutionary feminist, writer, and politician who is juggling anxieties for her son and daughter with her frantic efforts to strengthen the Republican war effort against Franco; and Nan Green, the communist nurse who left her children behind in England to fight against fascism alongside her husband in the International Brigades. On the right side are Mercedes Sanz Bachiller, who, devastated by a miscarriage on hearing of her husband's death in battle, entered politics and became the most powerful woman in the Francoist zone; and Priscilla Scott-Ellis, the wealthy English socialite who traveled to Spain in the naïve hope of marrying the Spanish prince she so unrequitedly loved, and stayed to help the fascist war effort as a nurse on the front lines. Drawing on documentary material, letters, diaries, and memoirs, Preston follows the four from birth to death to show how, as women, wives, and mothers, they were affected by the political struggles of the 1930s, and how their lives were traumatized and forever changed by the Spanish Civil War and its consequences. Despite their different nationalities, social origins, and beliefs, these remarkable women are linked by their courage, determination, intelligence, compassion, and readiness to make personal sacrifices for others. These dramatic, poignant, and vivid portraits offer a fresh perspective on the experiences of women in the Spanish Civil War and shed new light on the emotional cost of the conflict that is often viewed as the last war fought for ideals.Read More