"Live Souls" is a book of previously lost photographic reportage taken during the Spanish Civil War. It alson contains an unfinished memoir & an inventory of official documents from the period. It has a great deal of interest to offer both for the committed reader & those new to the subject. Importantly it is also a son's tribute to an extraordinary father, Alec Wainman, whose singular contrbution to the Spanish conflict has hitherto remained untreated & untouched, but for my own film collaboration of 2014, called "Without You I Would Not Exist". An exemplary force in the fight against fascism, & a wonderful photographer, this fascinating tribute to Alec Wainman is highly recommended. - Sonia Boue, International Brigade Memorial Trust, February 2016

“The images don’t tell the story of the battles or of the high politics but, overall, the collective body of work sheds light on everyday life during the civil war, normality existing within, or side by side with, the madness and horror of the war. Wainman’s images may not carry the authority and power of Capa’s or Centelles’, nor the compositional skill of Cartier-Bresson’s or Taro’s, but they do possess an immediacy and their understatedness is, in many ways, their great strength. Rather than carefully constructed artefacts trying to tell a greater story, these are intimate and deeply personal snapshots of existence.” - Richard Baxell London School of Economics and Political Science, Journal of the Association for Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies Dec 2016

“Live Souls, live Memories. After almost eighty years since the beginning of the Spanish Civil War, the story of this human tragedy comes to life again in a gripping narrative and numerous photographs by Alec Wainman — a participant of this war with the British Medical Unit. This eminent humanitarian’s tale combined with his many pictures — each worth hundreds of words — is a timely reminder of war-time camaraderie, heroism and human suffering.” —Richard V. Mattessich, Professor emeritus, University of British Columbia

“A singular life and a singular gaze, Wainman’s rediscovered photographs help us understand anew, and with piercing clarity, the human cost of the war for the beleaguered Republic, but also the energy and resilience of those who supported it.” —Helen Graham, author of The Spanish Republic at War 1936–1939

“Alec Wainman’s memoir is a frank and revealing account of a remarkable man’s unique experiences in the Spanish Civil War. His photographs, many beautifully composed, offer an intimate and deeply personal reflection of what he saw and lived.” —Michael Petrou, author of Renegades: Canadians in the Spanish Civil War