Blood and Sand: 'Poor Humanity, crazed with fear, was fleeing in all directions''

Vicente Blasco Ibáñez was born in Valencia, Spain on 29th January 1867.

At university, he studied law and graduated in 1888 but never felt the urgency to practice - he was more interested in politics, journalism, literature and women.

Politically he was a militant Republican partisan and, in his youth, founded a newspaper, El Pueblo (The People). The newspaper was taken to court many times and he made many enemies. In one incident he was shot and almost killed. In 1896, Ibáñez was arrested ...