James Maley, George Watters, Donald Renton and Archibald Williams were members of Machine Gun Company No. 2 of the XV International Brigade. This is the first book to focus on a small group of men from different starting-points, ended up in the same battleground at Jarama, and then in the same prisons after capture by

Franco's forces.

Their remarkable story is told both in their own words and in the recollections of their sons and daughters, through a prison notebook, newspaper reports, stills cut from newsreels, interviews, anecdotes and memories, with a foreword by Daniel Gray.

Our Fathers Fought Franco is a collective biography that promises to add significantly to the understanding of the motives of those who 'went because their open eyes could see no other way'.

About the Author

WILLY MALEY is Professor of Renaissance Studies at the University of Glasgow, Fellow of the English Association (FEA), and founder, with Philip Hobsbaum, of Glasgow's Creative Writing programme. His father James Maley was a veteran of the Spanish Civil War.

TAM WATTERS is the son of George Watters.

JENNIE RENTON is the daughter of Donald Renton.

ROSEMARY WILLIAMS is the daughter of Archibald Williams.

Reviews

This wonderful and moving book adds something completely original to the Spanish Civil War narrative. - DANIEL GRAY, from the foreword

An extraordinary example, and an unforgettable, essential book. - ANGUS REID, The Morning Star

Such openness connects us readers to the vulnerabilities of a family, life in all its complexity and difficulty. This is a virtue of all four accounts in Our Fathers Fought Franco... What comes through persistently in 'Our Fathers Fought Franco' is a sense of how much we have to learn from the past. - ALAN RIACH, The National

Part first-person history, part war memoir, part working-class polemic, it is a valuable addition to the canon. - RB, The Scottish Field

Too often their experiences went unrecorded. - THE PENNILESS PRESS

Each of the authors calls us to read the signs for our own times in the legacy of these men of the IB. This book is a fine tribute to them and their comrades. - LESLEY ORR, Bella Caledonia

Book Information
ISBN 9781804250402
Author Willy Maley
Format Paperback
Page Count 192
Imprint Luath Press Ltd
Publisher Luath Press Ltd