George Orwell's journal impressions of his (relatively brief) time in Spain during their Civil War are a fascinating Briton's sympathetic impression of a lost cause and some of the reasons it was lost (for all its noble intentions and aspirations) and a good counterbalance to Ernest Hemmingway's fictionalized treatment in FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS. I use it that way in a university "cultural history" course I teach every year. While other Orwell books (1984 and ANIMAL FARM) have out stripped HOMAGE TO CATALONIA in fame and familiarity, this work is far more personal and doubly interesting in that Orwell is not afraid to cast himself in a bad, possibly shallow light. Such honesty increases his credibility even while the reader may be surprised (as with John Griffin's equally important BLACK LIKE ME) at how brief the experiences actually documented were!

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