Foreign involvement in the Spanish Civil War Contingent. While not supported officially, many American volunteers such as the Abraham Lincoln Brigade fought for the Republicans. 'Spain' became the cause célèbre for the left-leaning intelligentsia across the Western world, and many prominent artists and writers entered the Republic's service. As well, it attracted a large number of foreign left-wing working class men, for whom the war offered not only idealistic adventure but also an escape from post-Depression unemployment. Among the more famous foreigners participating on the Republic's side was George Orwell, who went on to write about his experiences in "Homage to Catalonia". Orwell's novel "Animal Farm" was
Why Orwell Matters induced to return to the source." George Packer of "The Independent" gave the book a mixed review, however, remarking, ""Why Orwell Matters" is presented by its publisher as a case of posthumous affinity between writers across generations, but critic and subject turn out to be mismatched, and it's the critic who suffers as a result." Despite praising many of Hitchens's analyses of Orwell, Packer added, "For a slender book, "Why Orwell Matters" is oddly unfocused and hard to get through. What Hitchens has to say is what a sympathetic reader of Orwell would want said. But he never sustains a