Let me be honest and say that this is my first book review. I decided to write this because it is about a little known book, written by a little known man and it is about a little known time and place in American history. I am passionate about the history this book covers and the story that it tells. The famous playwright Arthur Miller that this to say about it...
"It's very well done, brought it all back, the grandeur and the betrayal."--Arthur Miller
"Another Hill" is a book by Milton Wolff that covers his experience while fighting in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). Wolff was one of over 3,000 American Leftist, Communist and Socialist to fight in the war on behalf of the Democratically elected Republic of Spain against the Fascist uprising of Francisco Franco who received vast quantities of tanks, planes and even troops from Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. I could go into the long political history of the Civil War, but that would take too much space. If you are interested I would encourage you to read the wikipedia article on it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
"Another Hill" is simply one of the best war novels I have ever read. I rank it up there with "All Quiet on the Western Front" that is how high I place it. Wolff tells the story from the point of view of two characters one being himself (he changes his own name to Mitch Castle) and another being a sympathetic coward (Leo, who really did exist in real life). It really is an all encompassing tale that will make you both admire the Americans yet show just how horrible and wretched war really is. The combat scenes are second to none especially the scene where they storm the Church in the town of Belchite. Many of you have seen this Church because it was featured in the opening scenes of the movie "Pan's Labyrinth." There are several scenes where our fellow Americans are going against Italian tanks and German bombers with nothing more than rifles fighting and dying while the rest of the world did nothing (I might add that of the 1,500 Americans who died in Spain not one of them is listed on the WWII memorial).
The story also goes into a great deal of political detail over the various factions that tore the Anti-Fascist coalition apart. Wolff and the Americans make no secret that they hate the various "Anarchist" forces fighting with them. They regard them as little better than the Fascist. It really is a lesson on how the Left can destroy itself. The book also has a number of real life historical figures that interacted with Wolff while he was in Spain such as Ernest Hemingway and Martha Gelhorn. Hemingway in particular has a number of scenes in the novel and it provides interesting insight into what type of man he was.
In short, I cannot recommend this book enough. It is well written, has great characters and you really will experience such a wide range of motion throughout the book. Even the main character of Mitch Castle (Wolff) you will feel admiration for him, but find him disgusting all at the same time. The novel is amazingly and surprisingly honest in how it deals with complex real life characters.
I will leave you with one scene that I loved from the book and I think it relates to our struggles today. Mitch Castle (Wolff) is stranded behind enemy lines. He is cold, hungry and wounded. He comes across a peasant woman who gives him some food even though she knows if the Fascist see her she, and her family, is dead. Castle initially refuses and tell her to leave, but she insist that he take it. Castle smiles and thanks her and then she gives him a salute and says, "We will win won't we?" Castle then salutes her back and says, "Yes... yes we must." He says that even though he knows the war is lost at that point.
Read this book if you are a serious progressive.This really is one of the greatest and most interesting moments in American History. You can find the link to it below.
http://www.press.uillinois.edu/...