Arms for Spain: The Untold Story of the Spanish Civil War

I won't dispute Carlos Villaroel's comments, but I think that Howson's book is still indispensable to the serious SCW scholar because of the Soviet archival material. No one book will satisfy everyone on the question of who is most to blame for the Republic's defeat. There are just too many factors to weigh, and politics will always color people's judgment. While one can make a strong case to blame the Non-Intervention Committee and USSR, the first and biggest nail in the Republic's coffin had to be German and Italian support of Franco. To me, this book was engaging and enlightening because I haven't yet read the mountains of SCW books published in Spain. Everyone studying the SCW must continually read and assemble a composite picture to gain a better understanding.