Anarchy's Brief Summer: The Life and Death of Buenaventura Durruti

Anarchy's Brief Summer brings anarchism to life by focusing on the charismatic leader Buenaventura Durruti (1896-1936), who became a key figure in the Spanish Civil War after a militant and adventurous youth. The basis of the book is a compilation of texts: personal testimony, interviews with survivors, contemporary documents, memoirs, and academic assessments. They are all linked by Enzenberger's own assessment in a series of glosses--a literary form that is somewhere between retelling and reconstruction--with the contradiction between fiction and fact reflecting the political contradictions of the Spanish Revolution. On the trail of forgotten, half-suppressed struggles, Anarchy's Brief Summer offers a unique portrait of a revolutionary movement that is largely unknown outside Spain.