War Hotels

Kenneth Morrison, Abdallah El Binni

• Publisher: Merrion Press
• Year: 2022
• ISBN:
  9781785374043
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: World History
• Index: History

War Hotels is a gripping exploration of hotels in wartime and in other times of crisis, told through the prism of now iconic hotels that were frequented by foreign correspondents, diplomats, aid workers, politicians, paramilitaries and spies in conflicts in Northern Ireland, Vietnam, Cambodia, Lebanon, Iraq, and Bosnia & Herzegovina. It focuses on hotels that became closely associated with the brutal conflicts in which they were a part, such as the Europa Hotel in Belfast, the Continental and the Caravelle in Saigon, the Commodore in Beirut, and Sarajevo's Holiday Inn. Building upon the research undertaken for the Al Jazeera documentary series of the same name, this book tells the stories of these hotels in even more fascinating detail, drawing upon in-depth interviews with those who witnessed the tumultuous events that took place within or in the immediate environs of the buildings. By using war hotels as a locus of memory and a lens through which to convey the human stories and the conflicts, they provide not only viable 'micro-histories' but a rich vein of historical narratives and moving personal recollections.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Author Bio
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Dedication
• Acknowledgements
• List of Abbreviations
• Foreword
• Introduction: The War Hotel
• 1 The Continental and the Caravelle, Saigon, Vietnam
• 2 The Hôtel Le Royale, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
• 3 The Europa Hotel, Belfast, Northern Ireland
• 4 The Holiday Inn and the Commodore, Beirut, Lebanon
• 5 The Al Rasheed and the Palestine, Baghdad, Iraq
• 6 The Holiday Inn, Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina
• Postscript: The Demise of the War Hotel
• Select Bibliography
• Index
• Plates