This history of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade relates the story of the 2,800 young Americans who volunteered to defend the Spanish Republic against Franco's rebellion of 1936 - and what became of them after Spain. Although the central event of their lives was a war they lost, they are viewed less in the context of their military activities than in the political and cultural climate that defined their commitment. The book follows the lives of the volunteers who survived (about one-third died in Spain) through World War II, the Cold War, and Vietnam to today.