Lord of All the Dead: A Nonfiction Novel

A deeply personal work of historical interrogation from the acclaimed author of Outlaws. Javier Cercas, "the bard of [the] movement for the recovery of Spain's suppressed memory" (The New York Times Book Review), unpacks the legacy of the Spanish Civil War by way of his own family's history.

Growing up, Cercas was inculcated with the legend of his beloved great-uncle, Manuel Mena, who died at nineteen in the bloodiest battle of the Spanish Civil War--while fighting for Franco. Who was this young man? A fascist hero whose memory is now an embarrassment or a committed idealist who happened to fall on the wrong side of history? In Lord of All the Dead, Cercas pieces together the life of his enigmatic relative and in so doing tells the story of an entire generation. Combining intimate family history, investigative scholarship, personal confession, and a novelist's imagination, Cercas has crafted a transcendent portrait of a country's indelible scars, a book about heroism, death, the persistence of the past, and the meaning of an individual life against the tapestry of history.

Author: Javier Cercas
Publisher: Vintage
Published: 12/01/2020
Pages: 288
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.55lbs
Size: 7.90h x 5.20w x 0.90d
ISBN13: 9780525562504
ISBN10: 0525562508
BISAC Categories:
- Biography & Autobiography | Personal Memoirs
- History | Europe | Spain
- Biography & Autobiography | Military

About the Author
Javier Cercas was born in Spain in 1962. He is a novelist and columnist, and he has received numerous international awards. His books include Soldiers of Salamis (which has sold more than a million copies worldwide), The Anatomy of a Moment, The Tenant and The Motive, The Speed of Light, and The Impostor. His books have been translated into more than thirty languages. He lives in Barcelona.