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BarkellWH -> Book Review: "The Hotel Florida," by Amanda Vaill (Jul. 13 2014 16:21:15)
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I have just finished reading and would like to recommend "The Hotel Florida," by Amanda Vaill. It primarily concerns six people caught up in the Spanish Civil War and how they tried to shape perceptions and opinion of the conflict in the United States and Europe. Although many well-known writers and others run through the pages of Ms. Vaill's work, the prominent six are writers Ernest Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn, photo journalists Robert Capa and Gerda Taro, and the Loyalist Spanish government's press officer Arturo Barea and his deputy, the Hungarian Ilsa Kulcsar. All supported the loyalist cause. The title of the book refers to the once fashionable Hotel Florida in Madrid, where the six (and many others) crossed paths, and which they used as a hub for their activities when not in the field.
There have been many books written about the Spanish Civil War, from the British historian Hugh Thomas's "The Spanish Civil War," (In my opinion still the best history of the conflict) to George Orwell's "Homage to Catalonia." Ms. Vaill's work is not a history of the Spanish Civil War, and she does not attempt to "set the record straight." Rather, she recounts the actions and motives of prominent individuals who went to Spain to assist, through their writings and film, the Loyalists. It was tricky territory, as the Soviet Union (cynically and for their own ideological purposes) supported the Loyalists and the International Brigades, and the Nazis supported Franco's forces, using the conflict to perfect bombing techniques they would later use against Poland at the beginning of World War II.
Some of the writers and other foreigners were true believers and risked much, but quite a few were what we would call "revolutionary tourists," parachuting in for the glamour and press coverage of "being on the right side" of history, but not at all taking risks, courting danger, or understanding the true nature of the conflict (sort of like today's "do-gooders," such as Bono parachuting into African countries and declaring "debt relief" the solution to development, without an understanding of development, or Angelina Jolie adopting African children as her contribution to...what?) At any rate, this is a good book and recommended for those interested in the Spanish Civil War and the various famous individuals who went to Spain to act as True Believers in the Cause, Propagandists, or Revolutionary Tourists.
Bill
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