Paradise in Hell: Alcohol and Drugs in the Spanish Civil War

(Hardback)

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A comprehensive analysis of the role played by drugs (including alcohol) in cultural, political, economic, and social terms in modern and contemporary wars.

Paradise in Hell studies the role played by alcohol, morphine, cocaine, cannabis, and amphetamines in the Spanish Civil War. The book analyzes the moral discussions that were produced around these substances, the policies implemented by civil and military authorities, the consumption by combatants and civilians, and the role they played in the war effort. From these four perspectives, it explores the everyday experiences of soldiers and civilians, the physical, psychological, and emotional effects of war, the rituals of camaraderie, and the impact that the absence of these substances had on the morale of soldiers and civilians. The book also gives special attention to the role these substances played in the development of respectable, tough, and cocky masculinities, in the construction of a sense of national community and everyday nationalism, and in the dehumanization of the enemy in a way that legitimized violence.

Reviews

"In this crisply written and intellectually sparky book, Jorge Marco 'offers' his readers alcohol and drugs as a memorably tangible way into understanding the big processes of change that occurred in twentieth-century Spain. His richly documented and formidably wide-ranging analysis shows a country being sculpted from the outside by changing trade flows and expanding regimes of legislative control - while, inside Spain, in the face of rising social fears and moral panics, new configurations of state power emerged to speak the language of eugenics."-- "Emerita Professor Helen Graham, Royal Holloway, University of London"
"Jorge Marco is the most original and innovative young historian currently working on the Spanish Civil War. His highly readable account of the use of alcohol and drugs by front-line troops on both sides in the conflict provides fascinating insights into the horrors of that and many other wars."-- "Professor Sir Paul Preston, London School of Economics"

Author Bio

Jorge Marco is a senior lecturer in the Department of Politics, Languages, and International Studies at the University of Bath.