Hotel Florida

In the cultural biography Hotel Florida: Truth, Love, and Death in the Spanish Civil War (2014), Amanda Vaill tells the story of six people whose lives are changed forever when they meet in Europe during the 1936 Spanish Civil War. Critics praise the book for exploring pre-WWII Europe and the Spanish Civil War from a new angle. A journalist, Vaill writes nonfiction and screenplays. She previously worked in publishing, and she served as the executive director of a non-profit company. She is a past fellow of the NYU Center for Ballet and the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation.

In Hotel Florida, Vaill looks at events that unfolded in Madrid during the Spanish Civil War. The book begins in July 1936, just as war breaks out across the city. Revolutionaries, writers, artists, and journalists flock to Madrid to make sense of the unfolding situation. To these individuals, there is no better way to uncover the horrors of conflict and to record it for future generations than by experiencing it firsthand.

Vaill looks at the Spanish Civil War through the eyes of six eminent individuals staying at the Hotel Florida, a distinguished Madrid guesthouse. The guests include novelist Ernest Hemingway, journalist Martha Gellhorn, photographers Robert Capa and Gerda Taro, press officer Arturo Barea, and his deputy, Ilsa Kulcsar. Since these individuals are all liberals siding with the Republic, Vaill notes that they do not consider the conflict from both sides.



Vaill begins by describing the events leading up to the Spanish Civil War. Francisco Franco Bahamonde, an anti-socialist military leader, leaves his base in the Canaries to join his troops in mainland Spain. From here, he plans to destroy the socialist government to replace it with a dictatorship.

The government is fragmented at the time. There are many conflicting factions, with views ranging from radical anarchy to moderate socialism. The country is in chaos and the government is vulnerable to attack. Taking advantage of the government’s weakened position, Franco begins his campaign in Madrid.

The first major player, Arturo Barea, is a middle-aged Spanish socialist who runs the Madrid press office. His main challenge is finding a balance between reporting the truth and serving his party’s needs. He deliberately censors the news to skew it in favor of the Republic; his job makes him question the true role of the media in wartime reporting.



Barea soon meets Ilsa Kulcsar, an Austrian translator and also a communist determined to ensure that the Spanish Republic wins the Civil War. She and Barea find common ground through their mutual love of socialism, and she offers to work for him. She translates his press releases and discussions into Hungarian so that Austrians can better understand what is happening in Madrid.

Through their work, Barea and Kulcsar meet the other key players in the book. One of the first people they meet is the American writer, Ernest Hemingway who is looking for love, excitement, and most of all, material for a new story. Although Barea obscures the truth to support the Republican cause, Hemingway exaggerates the truth because drama makes for better storytelling.

Hemingway traveled to Madrid with Martha Gellhorn, an idealistic young journalist looking for her first big scoop. Convinced that covering the Spanish Civil War is her chance to break out, Hemingway invites her to travel with him. They stay at the Hotel California where they meet like-minded revolutionaries who want to crush the fascist forces. Vaill notes that, although Gellhorn reported factual events, there is no doubt that at least some of her stories are fabricated.



The other key couple is Robert Capa and Gerta Taro. Capa’s real name is Andre Friedman, and Taro’s is Gerta Pohorylle. They first met in Paris and, after falling in love, travel to Madrid to photograph the Spanish Civil War. Both aspiring photojournalists, they are convinced that taking wartime photographs is their best shot at a successful career.

However, before traveling to Madrid, they adopt false names for their own protection; their work is highly dangerous. Traveling into increasingly volatile locations, they go to extreme lengths to get the perfect shot. To Capa and Taro, the truth is worth capturing at any personal cost, and their relationship deepens as they support each other through the dangers of wartime reporting.

In Hotel Florida, Vaill ponders the nature of truth, asking readers to consider what truth is and whether it is possible to ever know the full story behind anything. Although each of the six key players travels to Madrid in search of the truth, it is unclear whether they find what they’re looking for, because stories are often fabricated, embellished, and censored. Through the eyes of these people, Vaill exposes the very personal and subjective nature of truth.