Gary Thacker

I was talking to friend, author, Hispanophile and Spanish resident Gary Thacker recently. The conversation inevitably turned to books about Spain. Gary is a published author who has written two of my favourite novels about football in Spain. I was interested in his thoughts about which books he has read and can recommend to those looking to learn about Spain ….. although not necessarily only football.

He kindly compiled a list which I think looks very comprehensive. He also kindly allowed me to reproduce it

Gary Thacker – Books on Spain

· An Anarchist’s Story (Chris Dolan)

·The Transformation of Spain (David Gilmour)

· Homage to Caledonia (Daniel Gray)

· Tales of The Alhambra (Washington Irving)

· The Anarchists in the Spanish Civil War (Robert Alexander)

· A New International History of the Spanish Civil War (Michael Alpert)

· Unlikely Heroes (Richard Baxell)

· For Whom the Bell Tolls (Ernest Hemmingway)

· Barcelona (Robert Hughes) · Durruti (Abel Paz)

· The Spanish Civil War (Mark Lawrence)

· Homage to Catalonia (George Orwell)

· After the Civil War (Michael Richards)

· A People Betrayed (Paul Preston)

· The Spanish Civil War (Paul Preston)

· Comrades! (Paul Preston)

· The Last Days of the Spanish Republic (Paul Preston)

· Doves of War (Paul Preston)

· Hell and Good company (Richard Rhodes)

· The Last Stalinist – The Life of Santiago Carillo (Paul Preston)

· The Spanish Civil War (Francisco J Romero Salvado)

· Twentieth Century Spain (Francisco J Romero Salvado)

· Britons in Spain (William Rust)

· Brother Against Brother (Ed. Frank Thomas)

· To Make the People Smile Again (George Wheeler)

· Carteles de la Guerra Civil Espanol (Various)

· British Volunteers in the Spanish Civil War (Richard Baxell)

· The Spanish Second Republic Revisited (Manuel Alvares Tarido & Fernando del Reguillo)

· The Battle for Spain – The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 (Antony Beevor)

· Guernica (Dave Bolling)

· To Remember Spain: The Anarchist & Syndicalist Revolution of 1936 (Murray Brookchin)

· I am Spain (David Boyd Haycock)

· The Life & Death of the Spanish Republic (Henry Buckley)

· Blood & Faith – The Purging of Muslim Spain 1492-1614 (Matthew Carr)

· The Moor’s Last Stand (Elizabeth Drayson)

· Brigadista – An Irishman’s Fight Against Fascism (Bob Doyle)

· Modern Spain 1875-1980 (Raymond Carr)

I would personally add Morbo: The Story of Spanish Football (Phil Ball) and Fear and Loathing in La Liga (Sid Lowe) although I recognise that they are about football IN Spain rather than about Spain per se. Certainly, I believe if you follow Gary’s choices you have a fantastic overview of Spain through the centuries and, as importantly, Spain’s transformation in the last 50 years from a dictatorship to a forward-looking, economically-sound world power.

Whilst Gary might be too modest to promote his own books, I do not have that constraint. So, let’s look at his Spanish books in depth.

 

The Games People Play / A Whole New Ball Game – Gary Thacker

Two seasons and two separate docu-novels about life in levels 9 and 10 of the Spanish structure.
Far-fetched? Yes. Impossible? Absolutely not. Life away from Real Madrid, Barcelona and others.
These novels follow an English coach in the lower leagues of Spanish football and his relationships, his successes and defeats both on and off the pitch. It is great escapist fiction, perhaps for your summer holidays by the pool or in the English driving rain as you dream about a holiday in Spain!