Let me recommend "The Cypresses Believe in God," (Los cipreses creen en Dios), the epic Spanish Civil War trilogy by Jose Maria Gironella. It heartbreakingly lays out the conflicts before, during, and immediately after the war, by following the fortunes of one family in the Catalan province. Through them, you get a sympathetic, almost intimate view of every major faction involved: anarchist, Communist, Catholic, royalist, fascist, existentialist, and others.
It's a book I lay next to my heart.
It’s a book I lay next to my heart.