Norman Bethune in Spain

A Canadian physician and medical innovator, Norman Bethune struggled throughout his life to overcome deep emotional scars. Born in Ontario in 1890 to fanatical religious zealots, Bethune was deeply wounded by an unloving mother and a weak father whom he hated. Sexually inhibited and given to outbursts of near psychopathic rage, this wounded doctor healed himself through the healing others. In the mid-1930s, Bethune emerged as a renowned surgeon fighting the twin plagues of disease and fascism. During the Spanish Civil War, when Francisco Franco launched his offensive, Bethune travelled quickly to Madrid, organized a mobile transfusion service and, often under fire, transported blood to the wounded at the front lines. This book presents the complexity of Norman Bethune's unique activities and personality as they intersect with history: his engagement with medical, political, and military civil war players, as well as the Communist party * his cadaver blood transfusion work with the Nobel Prize-winning geneticist Hermann Muller * the profound effect that the Malaga atrocity had on him, and the role it played in his attempt to build "children's cities" outside war zones * his meeting with Graham Spry, a high-ranking functionary in the Canadian social democratic party, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation/CCF * the unravelling of Bethune's romantic relationship with the Swedish journalist Kasja Rothman * the implications of his friendship with Henning Sorensen, possibly a secret member of the Communist Party of Canada * the circumstances of the conspiracy that led to Bethune's ejection from Spain. The book concludes with Norman Bethune's political tour throughout North America, raising funds and public awareness on behalf of the Spanish Republic.