The Volunteer

Tribute for Robert Merriman

Warren Lerude — Tue, 20 Oct 2026 18:08:45 +0000

Robert and Marion in Spain. Merriman biographer Warren Lerude published the following in the Reno Gazette Journal on October 18. Reprinted with permission—the Editors. A legendary University of Nevada graduate who fought fascism in the Spanish Civil War is being honored by the University of California in the spirit of new generations speaking out for democracy today.

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New Podcast Episode

Patricia A. Schechter — Mon, 28 Sep 2026 10:13:39 +0000

Episode 13 of the podcast Family Secrets of the Spanish Civil War features a conversation with Alan Warren, a leading public historian on the Spanish Civil War, especially on the theme of democratic memory. Warren’s background is in archeology, and he taught in the UK at the University of South Wales, in Newport. He worked with a Welsh brigadista named Alun Menai Williams to publish his memoir…

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New IB book by Adrian Pole featured in podcast

Sebastiaan Faber — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 15:39:08 +0000

Adrian Pole’s sharp-eyed and sensitive new book notices what so many historians have missed about the International Brigades: that this army was filled with Spanish recruits. Interactions with everyday Spaniards made up a substantial chunk of foreign soldiers’ days in the rearguard. Due to the high mortality of Brigade units, maintaining fighting readiness demanded conscription of local Spanish…

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Amirah Inglis Photograph Collection

Chris Brooks — Sun, 30 Aug 2026 13:52:15 +0000

Amirah Inglis’s (1926-2015) collection of photographs assembled for her research on Australians in the Spanish Civil War (1987) is posted on JSTOR’s website. The collection includes 119 images varying from pamphlet covers, post cards, to photographs of volunteers who supported the Spanish Republic at home, and of volunteers who went to Spain. Inglis planned to do an updated version of her book on…

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The Volunteer in pdf (Vol. 43, No. 3, September 2026)

The editors — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 23:43:46 +0000

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New Spanish Civil War Board Game

The editors — Thu, 20 Aug 2026 22:26:48 +0000

Fort Circle Gamers, a DC-based company founded in 2017 to develop and publish beautiful board games that are grounded in historical events, is preparing to launch Land and Freedom: The Spanish Revolution and Civil War, a new 1-3 player war game created by Alex Knight. Each set will be sold with an insert that highlights ALBA’s educational programs, along with a 3,000-word essay on the war provided…

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In Memoriam Ellyn Polshek (1930-2026)

The editors — Thu, 20 Aug 2026 22:24:25 +0000

Ellyn Polshek. Photo courtesy of Catherine Chermayeff. Longtime ALBA board member Ellyn Polshek, who passed away peacfully at her home in Greenwich Village on May 12, was born Ellyn Margolis in Boston in 1930. After graduating from Western Reserve in Cleveland, Ohio, she embarked on a successful career in publishing—first as Managing Editor at Grossman Publishers, a Division of the Viking Press…

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Book Review: A Palestinian Memoir

Sune Haugbolle — Thu, 20 Aug 2026 22:20:20 +0000

Memoirs of a Palestinian Communist, by Najati Sidqi. University of Texas Press, 2025. 164 pp. $21.95 The early Palestinian Communist Najati Sidqi became well known as a writer between 1920 and 1940. He died in Greece in 1979 after a long life of activism, exile, and travels across Asia and Europe. His memoirs, now finally available in English, were originally published in Arabic in the 1970s.

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Poetry Feature: Shakespeare and McCarthy

Alan D. Entin — Thu, 20 Aug 2026 22:18:22 +0000

Seven of the Hollywood Ten, 1950 Shown from left: Samuel Ornitz, Ring Lardner Jr., Albert Maltz, Alvah Bessie, Lester Cole, Herbert Bieberman, Edward Dmytryk. Courtesy of Photofest To Be or Not to Be, Now or Ever: A Dialogue Between Shakespeare and McCarthy To be, or not to to be, that is the question Are you now, or have you ever been, that is the question Whether tis nobler in…

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Catalan Government Recovers Lincoln Brigade Remains

Steve Dinnen — Thu, 20 Aug 2026 22:14:34 +0000

Exhumation near La Bisbal de Montsant. Photo Steve Dinnen. No war goes gently. For the 2,700 Americans who went to Spain from 1936 onward, it was especially brutal. Nearly 800 men, close to one out of three, died on the battlefield or in field hospitals. Moreover, their burial spots are largely unknown. Soldiers killed in battle typically were buried where they fell, with no marking or…

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